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Wilson leads Seahawks past Eagles 17-9

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Luzerne County Courthouse will have 500+ new windows

<p>PITTSBURGH &#8212; Joel Quenneville insisted when he agreed to coach the Florida Panthers last spring the perpetually struggling club was close to figuring it out.</p><p>Following a sluggish start, it looks as if Quenneville might be right.</p><p>Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist, rookie Chris Driedger stopped 31 shots and the Panthers ended an eight-game losing streak on Pittsburgh ice with a 4-1 victory over the Penguins on Sunday night.</p><p>&#8220;It was good that we played a full 60 minutes,&#8221; said center Vincent Trochek, who set up Brett Connolly&#8217;s goal late midway through the first period that gave the Panthers a lead they would never relinquish. &#8220;It&#8217;s been an issue of ours, closing out games in the third period, coming out a little bit flat when we have a lead. Tonight, we came out in the third and played just as well as we did in the first and second.&#8221;</p><p>Frank Vatrano had his ninth and Evgenii Dadonov added an empty-netter for his 18th. Florida bounced back from a loss to Buffalo on Saturday by winning in Pittsburgh for the first time since Jan. 20, 2014.</p><p>Driedger, who played well in relief after replacing Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled against the Sabres, didn&#8217;t hesitate when asked if the victory felt like the most important of the season.</p><p>&#8220;Yeah, honestly,&#8221; Driedger said. &#8220;The guys did a great job. I think, the last game, we weren&#8217;t happy with the loss there. Kind of rallied and try to do little things a little bit better.&#8221;</p><p>Jared McCann scored his 11th for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry finished with 31 saves, but the Penguins looked out of gas at times while playing for the third time in four nights.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think we had the juice that we have had in a number of the games, in most of the games this year,&#8221; Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. &#8220;But I think one of the challenges of this league is the grind of the schedule and good teams just need to understand how to manage those games.&#8221;</p><p>For once, the Penguins couldn&#8217;t.</p><p>Pittsburgh reached the season&#8217;s halfway point with the NHL&#8217;s fourth-best record following an overtime victory in Montreal on Saturday night, heady territory for a club that&#8217;s been riddled with injuries since opening night and spent the last two months playing without captain Sidney Crosby. Their formula during the first 41 games has been remarkably simple: avoid major mistakes, play smart in front Jarry and Matt Murray and take care of business at PPG Paints Arena.</p><p>Pittsburgh arrived at work Sunday with an NHL-high 16 home victories thanks in large part to stellar play from Jarry, who leads the NHL in save percentage and goals-against average and entered Sunday unbeaten in regulation in his last seven home starts.</p><p>Yet a sluggish opening period less than 24 hours removed from a quick trip to Canada cost Pittsburgh. Vatrano chased down a lead pass from Hoffman then raced around Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang &#8212; one of the fastest skaters in the league &#8212; and jammed the puck by Jarry to give the Panthers the lead just 2:28 into the game.</p><p>McCann tied it 1:24 later thanks to some excellent work by linemate Dominik Simon. Simon skated through the neutral zone, drew two Panthers and passed to McCann, who ripped one by Driedger to pull the Penguins even.</p><p>Yet Pittsburgh isn&#8217;t the only pleasant surprise during the NHL&#8217;s first half. The Panthers are in the mix in the Atlantic Division behind a potent offense that ranks fourth in the league in goals. Florida can skate and score, and Connolly put the Panthers in front 10:44 into the first when Trochek &#8212; working behind the net &#8212; found Connolly in the slot.</p><p>And for the first time in a long time for Florida in Pittsburgh, the Panthers didn&#8217;t give it back.</p><p>Though Jarry settled down and kept the Penguins in the game with some timely stops, Driedger was every bit his match. Jarry made a sprawling stick save on Aaron Ekblad early in the second and Driedger matched it with a terrific blocker save on a charging Simon.</p><p>&#8220;They had a couple two&#8212;on-ones tonight that he bailed us out on, that&#8217;s huge,&#8221; Trochek said.</p><p>Hoffman gave the Panthers a two-goal advantage 8:52 into the third with a shot that zipped over Jarry&#8217;s shoulder. Driedger and the defense did the rest to give Florida just its second victory in Pittsburgh since 2009.</p><p>&#8220;I think we played the clock, the score, against a good team,&#8221; Quenneville said. &#8220;They&#8217;ve been on a roll. I liked the commitment that the guys had, putting the puck in the safe areas. You don&#8217;t always have to manufacture stuff and if we keep improving that in our game, we&#8217;re going to be a much better team.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Capitals 5, Sharks 4</strong></p><p>WASHINGTON &#8212; Lars Eller scored with 2:59 remaining in overtime after the Washington Capitals rallied from two goals down in the final minute of regulation, completing a stunning victory over the San Jose Sharks.</p><p>T.J. Oshie tied it with 14.2 seconds left, and Eller also assisted Jakub Vrana&#8217;s second goal of the game inside the final minute.</p><p>Evander Kane had his third career hat trick for San Jose, which never trailed before Eller&#8217;s winner. Logan Couture also scored for the Sharks.</p><p>Nic Dowd had a second-period goal for Washington. Braden Holtby made 25 saves to snap a three-game losing streak in net and picked up an assist on Eller&#8217;s decisive goal, pushing the puck up ice to John Carlson.</p><p><strong>Lightning 3, Hurricanes 1</strong></p><p>RALEIGH, N.C. &#8212; Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, Nikita Kucherov had two assists and Tampa Bay got its seventh straight victory.</p><p>Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots and Mitchell Stephens and Brayden Point also scored for the Lightning.</p><p>Andrei Svechnikov scored for Carolina, which lost its second straight and fell to 2-2 on its seven-game homestand.</p><p><strong>Blackhawks 4, Red Wings 2</strong></p><p>CHICAGO &#8212; Adam Boqvist snapped a third-period tie, Dylan Sikura scored his first NHL goal and the Chicago Blackhawks rallied past the lowly Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>Dylan Strome also scored for Chicago (19-18-6), which won for the fourth time in five games. Corey Crawford made 19 saves in his first start since he was pulled in the second period of an ugly 7-1 loss to New Jersey on Dec. 23.</p><p>Detroit dropped to 3-18-2 in its last 23 games. Filip Zadina and Luke Glendening scored for the NHL-worst Red Wings (10-30-3), and Jimmy Howard made 23 stops.</p><p>The game was tied at 2 when Boqvist skated past Detroit forward Darren Helm near the blue line and beat Howard on the glove side 8:47 into the third. It was the second goal for the rookie defenseman in his 18th NHL game.</p><p>Dominik Kubalik added an empty-netter with 20 seconds left as the Blackhawks improved to 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.</p><p><strong>Flames 5, Wild 4</strong></p><p>ST. PAUL, Minn. &#8212; Dillon Dube scored in the seventh-round of the shootout to give the Calgary Flames a win over the Minnesota Wild.</p><p>David Rittich stopped six of seven Wild shooters.</p><p>Dube beat Alex Stalock with a quick move for his first career shootout goal on his first chance. Derek Ryan also scored in the shootout for the Flames, 4-0 in tiebreakers this season.</p><p>Milan Lucic, Travis Hamonic, Michael Stone and Mark Giordano scored for Calgary, 4-5-1 in its last 10 games after winning seven straight during a stretch of nine consecutive outings with at least a point. Ryan Donato had a goal in the shootout, and Rittich finished with 30 saves.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The Florida Panthers&#8217; Frank Vatrano (77) puts a rebound behind Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry during the first period of an NHL game in Pittsburgh on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124272670-49e079d7ab4b42b19da5855948c87be2.jpg</photo0><caption0>The Florida Panthers&#8217; Frank Vatrano (77) puts a rebound behind Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry during the first period of an NHL game in Pittsburgh on Sunday. </caption0><photoCredit0>AP photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124272670-8dfbd51d0acc45d8ab4b8377c4fd8f94.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A shot by Pittsburgh Penguins' Jared McCann gets past Florida Panthers goaltender Chris Driedger, right, for a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124272670-8dfbd51d0acc45d8ab4b8377c4fd8f94.jpg</photo1><caption1>A shot by Pittsburgh Penguins' Jared McCann gets past Florida Panthers goaltender Chris Driedger, right, for a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)</caption1><photoCredit1>AP photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124272670-e34d1b0d76884a3c83a5b714bef059b1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville gives instructions during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124272670-e34d1b0d76884a3c83a5b714bef059b1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville gives instructions during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)</caption2><photoCredit2>AP photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>The Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Rare win in Pittsburgh for Panthers