NHL Daily Sweep – 19 November 2016

In Brooklyn Friday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Kris Letang scored early in overtime to give the Pens a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.

“We were fresh against some tired guys,” Sidney Crosby said of the game-winner. “You want to make them count. I held on to the puck and got a play there.”

Crosby and Trevor Daley  scored for the Pens in regulation.

Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier scored for the Isles who fell to 5-8-4 on the season.

“At the end of the day, the guys are coming in and they’re working hard,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “You can’t beat them down. You’ve got to stay with it, you’ve got to show them confidence, and eventually you hope this will turn for the guys.”

WATCH: All Penguins vs. Islanders highlights

Jaroslav Halak had 32 saves in the loss and was in shooting gallery in the first period when the Pens outshot the Isles 16-5.

“I thought it was a pretty solid effort,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I really liked our first period; a lot of energy, we were playing the game the right way. We put pucks on the net. We could have had a few more goals there in the first period. They pushed back, but I really liked the response in the third period.”

Matt Murray made 20 saves in the win for Pittsburgh.

“I think [Jaroslav] Halak was the only reason it got to overtime. We were pretty good there in the third period,” Murray said. “In overtime, you see Sid making an unbelievable play to set up [Kris Letang]. I like how we stuck with it. Really good effort by everybody.”

In Raleigh, the Carolina Hurricanes got back to .500 hockey with a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Cam Ward made 31 saves and held the Canes in the game through two periods when their offense was still getting dressed in the locker room; the Canes had eight shots on goal through the first forty minutes of the game.

“We’re building some momentum here at home,” Ward said. “I’m just trying to be relaxed out there, and fortunately things have been going well for me.”

WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Hurricanes highlights

The momentum did not come Friday until the third period when the Canes managed three goals on 10 shots.

“We weren’t playing terrible, but we certainly weren’t playing good. We just weren’t generating much,”  the Hurricanes’ Ron Hainsey said after the game. “When you get it in, if it’s not dumped in the right spot, they rip it right back out. Ninety-five percent of the time we could not get any staying power in their end for all of those two periods.”

Al Montoya made 15 saves for the Habs who lost their third straight game.

“We played a really good road game. When you’re on the road and you give up 18 shots and you’ve got over 30, usually you win those types of hockey games. The effort was there. You need puck luck, and we don’t have puck luck lately,” Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien said of the team’s effort in the loss.

Victor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen and  Jeff Skinner scored for Carolina.

The Canes improved to 6-6-4 on the season.

Andrew Shaw  and Jeff Petry  scored the Montreal goals.

In Calgary, the Chicago Blackhawks’ Corey Crawford made 28 saves as the Hawks defeated the host Flames, 3-2.

Marian Hossa scored with under three minutes left in regulation for the game-winner.

“I think now the new guys and the younger guys are more understanding what the coaching staff wants from the system,” Hossa said. “Now everyone is syncing to the same page, everybody understands the system better, and right now I think we’re playing better.”