PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored a goal and set up another with as the Pittsburgh Penguins matched a franchise record for most victories in their first 25 games by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in the NHL on Wednesday.

The Penguins have won 17- games and lost eight, with five victories in six games since losing four in a row and five of six. The only other seasons they won 17 of their first 25 were 1995-96 and 1994-95, when there were tied games.

Crosby has four goals and an assist as the Penguins have outscored Montreal 9-2 in two games in Pittsburgh, including a 6-1 victory on Oct. 28 in which Crosby had his only three-goal game this season. Bill Guerin and Sergei Gonchar also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves, allowing only Max Pacioretty's third-period goal.

Capitals 2, Sabres 0

At Washington, Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves for his first regular-season shutout, and Alex Ovechkin scored his team-high 17th goal before drawing a third-period ejection in Washington's victory over Buffalo.

Eric Fehr also scored for the Capitals.

Ovechkin drew a major foul for boarding and a game misconduct 3:38 into the third period when he ran Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta into the boards opposite the benches. It was the second career ejection for Ovechkin, and both have come against Buffalo at Verizon Center. The other was Dec. 2, 2006, when he checked Daniel Briere from behind.

Thrashers 2, Red Wings 0

At Detroit, Ondrej Pavelec made 40 saves for Atlanta for his second shutout of the season and his career, and Vyacheslav Kozlov had a goal and an assist.

Nik Antropov also scored to help Atlanta snap a three-game losing streak. Jimmy Howard stopped 23 shots for Detroit. The Red Wings have lost four of their last five.

Maple Leafs 4, Lightning 3

At Tampa Florida, Niklas Hagman had two goals and Matt Stajan scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period for Toronto.

Nikolai Kulemin also scored to help the Maple Leafs improve to 5-11-7. Rookie defenseman Carl Gunnarsson had three assists in his sixth career NHL game.

Andrej Meszaros, Vincent Lecavalier and Ryan Malone scored for Tampa Bay.

Rangers 2, Panthers 1, SO

At Sunrise, Florida, P.A. Parenteau scored in a shootout for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Florida shooters.

Marian Gaborik scored a power-play goal in the second period for New York, his NHL-leading 19th goal of the season. Dominic Moore tied it for Florida with 4:53 left in the third period.

Flyers 2, Islanders 1

At Uniondale, New York, Scott Hartnell scored from the high slot with 5:27 left and Brian Boucher made 28 saves for Philadelphia.

Mike Richards added his 10th goal for Philadelphia. Trent Hunter had a first-period goal for Islanders, and former Flyers goalie Martin Biron stopped 26 shots.

Devils 3, Senators 1

At Newark, New Jersey, Niclas Bergfors, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner scored, and Martin Brodeur made 24 saves to help New Jersey end a three-game losing streak.

Andy Greene had two assists for the Devils. Milan Michalek scored for Ottawa.

Blues 4, Stars 3, SO

At Dallas, Brad Boyes scored in the second round of the shootout, and Ty Conklin stopped Stephane Robidas in the third to give St. Louis the victory.

Dallas' Brenden Morrow tied it at 3 with 25.4 seconds left in regulation and goalie Mart Turco off for a sixth attacker.

T.J. Oshie, Erik Johnson and David Backes scored for St. Louis, and Conklin stopped 34 shots. Robidas and Toby Petersen added goal for Dallas.