Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby each had an impact for their clubs during their Friday night tilt, but neither emerged as the true game-changer during the shootout affair.

Netminder Marc-Andre Fleury took those honors, turning aside 40-of-42 shots and coming up with more than a few exceptionally clutch saves in overtime to keep his team alive.

Twice during the extra frame, Edmonton seemed moments away from closing it out, with clear shots at open cages and clear-cut breakaways.

Pittsburgh's veteran netminder shut the door, however, at one point coming up with a timely stop on a wide-open Ryan Nugent-Hopkins:

He also stymied McDavid on a wide-open breakaway chance, keeping Pittsburgh's hopes for a win intact:

The 32-year-old stood tall in the shootout as well, quashing the Oilers' first two attempts from Leon Draisaitl and Mark Letestu. McDavid nearly brought his club back with a tally on Edmonton's third attempt, but it wasn't enough, as Crosby and Phil Kessel both converted to earn Pittsburgh the win.

Fleury's performance served as yet another piece of evidence that general manager Jim Rutherford was wise to keep him at the trade deadline, the veteran netminder putting on an exceptional display to keep Pittsburgh in the win column with starter Matt Murray taking the night off.

Given Edmonton's 42 shots, and a stellar effort by their young captain - McDavid finished with a power-play goal, a shootout tally, and nine total shots - it's fair to assume Pittsburgh may have been on the losing end of the tilt had they traded Fleury away, leaving them with a lesser back-up option.

Luckily for Crosby and Co., Rutherford stood pat, leaving Pittsburgh with a fighting chance even with Murray on the bench.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Chicago Blackhawks' most dangerous player was his toughest critic following a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.

Patrick Kane looked inward after the Blackhawks came up short in their final visit to Joe Louis Arena.

“Last game at the Joe, you think you’d have a lot of jump and energy,” he told reporters, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Lazerus.

“So it was frustrating. … It probably falls on myself tonight. A lot of bad turnovers and plays, and missed coverage in our end. And being on (the ice) for four goals against isn’t good enough. I’ve got to be better than that.”

Kane was on the ice for - and helped facilitate - Artemi Panarin's goal that opened the scoring on the Blackhawks' first shot less than five minutes into the game, but he finished with only two shots on goal and was Chicago's third-worst forward in terms of even-strength Corsi For at 40 percent, according to Corsica Hockey.

After reeling off seven straight victories, the Blackhawks have now lost two straight games. Chicago was shut out by the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The St. Louis Blues are a timely bunch, it seems.

After opening the scoring just 12 seconds into their matchup with the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night, the Blues finished things off in similar fashion, netting the game-winner with 20 seconds remaining in the tilt.

Joel Edmundson potted the decisive goal, capitalizing off a tremendous rush that saw fellow defender Robert Bortuzzo burst into Anaheim's zone, side step a check, and dish a cross-ice feed to the eventual scorer.

The 4-3 victory was the Blues' third straight win, leaving them in the second Western Conference wild-card spot with 73 points.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

DETROIT - Tomas Tatar had two goals and an assist, Jimmy Howard made 24 saves in his return, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Friday night.

Howard saw his first NHL action since injuring a knee Dec. 20 at Tampa Bay.

Tatar scored what proved to be the winner late in the second period and added an insurance goal in the third period to end Detroit's three-game losing streak. He has a team-high 17 goals.

Andreas Athanasiou and Xavier Ouellet also scored for Detroit.

The Blackhawks lost for the second straight night and had their club-record road winning streak end at eight games. Trevor Van Riemsdyk and Artemi Panarin scored for Chicago.

The Blackhawks opened the scoring at 4:23 of the first period on an impressive display of skill by Panarin and Patrick Kane. Just outside the Detroit zone, Panarin slid a backhand pass through defenseman Danny DeKeyser's legs to Kane, who carried the puck into the Detroit end. Kane zipped a quick cross-ice pass to a closing Panarin and he drove a one-timer past Howard.

Detroit tied it with 3:35 left in the period. Using Tatar as a screen, Ouellet drove a rising shot from the point past goalie Corey Crawford for his third goal of the season.

With only eight seconds to play in the second, Detroit regained the lead. Athanasiou accepted a drop pass from Nick Jensen and zipped a low shot by Crawford, who was again screened by Tatar.

The Wings increased their lead to 3-1 15:17 into the second period. Gus Nyquist carried the puck into the Chicago zone and dropped a pass to Henrik Zetterberg. Crawford stopped Zetterberg's shot but Tatar was on the doorstep to smack the rebound home.

A low point shot by Van Riemsdyk beat Howard on the stick side with just 44.3 seconds left in the second period to narrow Detroit's advantage to a goal.

Tatar completed the scoring at 15:31 of the third period. Nyquist forced a turnover along the boards and fed the puck to Zetterberg. He relayed it to Tatar in the high slot and he whipped a shot past Crawford.

NOTES: Including this game, Chicago will close out the regular season with 16 games over a 30-day span. ... Facing his former Detroit teammates for the first time, left-winger Tomas Jurco skated on a line with Marian Hossa and Marcus Kruger. ... Saying he was unhappy with his play in recent games, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill made rookie right winger Anthony Mantha, tied for second on the team with 14 goals, a healthy scratch . . . Defenseman Robbie Russo and forward Mitch Callahan made their Joe Louis Arena debuts as Red Wings . . . The Van Riemsdyk family has scored twice on the Wings this week. Trevor's older brother, James, scored for Toronto in the Maple Leafs' 3-2 win over the Red Wings on Tuesday night.

UP NEXT:

Blackhawks: Welcome the Minnesota Wild to the United Center on Sunday in a potential showdown for first place in the Central Division.

Red Wings: Host the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Tom Sestito admits he could have done more to prevent the hit that gave Toby Enstrom a concussion, but the Pittsburgh Penguins pest also placed blame on the Winnipeg Jets defenseman.

"I thought he would take the hit," Sestito told reporters Friday. "It happens quick out there. They analyze it frame by frame, and it looks like I could have changed directions, but in my mind, I thought he saw it coming."

The Penguins forward wished Enstrom a speedy recovery but said his opponent had a responsibility to be more aware prior to the hit.

"I think the onus has to be on the player with the puck (to) know where you are on the boards," Sestito said. "The players have to (make an effort to) avoid (going) into the boards, but he made eye contact with me so he knew I was coming."

Sesito was suspended four games Thursday for the incident, which occurred Wednesday night, and Jets head coach Paul Maurice announced Friday that Enstrom will be out indefinitely with the head injury.

"It's not a fun thing to go through, especially when you see a guy get hurt, you don't want to see that," Sestito said. "It's a long process. That 24 hours seemed like it took three days, but I got through it. I'll sit my time out and hopefully get back to playing."

Sestito was called up Wednesday ahead of the highly anticipated rematch following a testy previous meeting between the two clubs. That game included a headshot by Evgeni Malkin on Blake Wheeler that didn't garner supplemental discipline.

It was Sestito's ninth NHL game of the season, and his first with the Penguins since Nov. 16.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Scratch Connor McDavid's name off the list of potential Selke Trophy nominees.

The Oilers phenom had a rare inglorious moment during Friday night's tilt against the Penguins, as his clearing attempt bounced off goaltender Cam Talbot and into Edmonton's net. The own goal was officially credited to Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin.

McDavid began the game with a near goal on a vintage cut through the offensive zone, but plays like the one above left Edmonton trailing 2-0 after the first period.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

That didn't take long.

Just 12 second into his club's Friday night tilt with the Anaheim Ducks, winger Vladimir Tarasenko decisively ended his nagging five-game pointless drought, snapping off a quick shot to put the St. Louis Blues up 1-0.

The goal also marked the first shot faced by Anaheim netminder John Gibson since missing six games due to injury.

With the tally in tow, Tarasenko has now posted 30 or more goals in three straight seasons.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Zach Werenski is the most productive rookie in Columbus Blue Jackets history.

The 19-year-old collected an assist on Nick Foligno's first-period goal Friday night against the Buffalo Sabres, notching his 40th point to pass Rick Nash for top spot on the franchise's all-time rookie points list.

Werenski's achievement is impressive for a couple of reasons. For one, he's a defenseman, and secondly, he needed only 66 games to hit the 40-point mark, whereas Nash required 74 to put up his 39 points in 2002-03.

It was also good news for his bank account.

The Blue Jackets' eighth overall pick in 2015 ranks sixth on the NHL's rookie points list this season, and has more points than any other rookie blue-liner in 2016-17.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Safe to say this isn't how Jimmy Howard envisioned his first game back in the Detroit Red Wings' net.

Playing in his first game in three months, Howard was burned on the Chicago Blackhawks' first shot of the game Friday when Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane pulled off their usual offensive wizardry to confuse the Wings' defense and beat the veteran.

The tally was Panarin's 21st of the season. Kane's assist allowed him to take sole possession of second place in league scoring with 71 total points.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Sergei Bobrovsky finally allowed a goal, and it came from a rather unlikely source.

Buffalo Sabres forward Evan Rodrigues beat the Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender with a beautiful shot early in Friday's game, opening the scoring and ending Bobrovsky's shutout streak at 182:50.

The Blue Jackets netminder posted three straight shutouts before allowing the goal less than three minutes into Friday's contest.

He fell about 17 minutes short of Columbus' franchise-best shutout streak of 199:28, accomplished by Steve Mason in 2008-09, according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.

It was Rodrigues' third goal in his 16th game of the season. The undrafted 23-year-old has spent most of the last two campaigns in the AHL, appearing in his first two NHL contests in 2015-16.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.