PENGUINS TAKE BATTLE OF LEAGUE’S BEST
Brandon Sutter scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of the shootout to edge the Penguins past the Ducks 3-2 in a battle of conference leaders. Pittsburgh (42-17-4) leads the Eastern Conference with 88 points while Anaheim (43-14-7) paces the West with 93 points.

* Evgeni Malkin posted a goal and assist, giving him (19-45—64) in just 52 games this season.

* Sidney Crosby earned his League-leading 55th assist and 84th point (29-55—84).

* Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for his League-best 33rd win of the season.

* Corey Perry scored his 33rd and 34th goals of the season, passing Phil Kessel (33) for second overall in the NHL. Alex Ovechkin leads the League with 44.

LUONGO SHINES IN FLORIDA RETURN
In his first start for the Panthers since 2006, Roberto Luongo made 25 saves in a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. The shutout performance was his fourth of the season, and a franchise record 27th with Florida. Luongo also built on his franchise records for games played (318) and wins (109). It marked the 66th shutout of his career and moved him into a tie with Patrick Roy for 14th on the NHL’s all-time list.

CONSISTENT SCORERS
Devils’ forward Jaromir Jagr scored his 20th goal of the season against Detroit on Friday night. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marked the 18th time in his NHL career that Jagr has scored 20 goals in a season. Jagr's total of 18 seasons with 20 goals is the highest by any active NHL player and fifth-most in League history behind only Gordie Howe (22), Ron Francis (20), Dave Andreychuk (19) and Brendan Shanahan (19). At age 42 years, 20 days, Jagr became the second player in NHL history who was at least 42 years old at the time he scored his 20th goal of a season. Gordie Howe was 42 years, 324 days old when he reached the 20-goal plateau for the 22nd and final time in his legendary NHL career on Feb. 18, 1971.

Rangers’ forward Rick Nash also potted his 20th goal of the season on Friday night. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Nash has scored at least 20 goals in 10 consecutive seasons, the longest current streak of 20-goal seasons in the NHL. Alex Ovechkin and Thomas Vanek have scored 20 or more goals in each of the last nine seasons (spanning their entire NHL careers).

LOOSE PUCKS
Ryan McDonagh (NYR) scored a shorthanded goal for the second consecutive game. The last NHL defenseman to score shorthanded in each of two consecutive team games was the Rangers' Michal Rozsival on Nov. 17 and Nov. 19, 2007 (Elias)… Derek Stepan (NYR) extended his assist/point streak to five games (1-6—7)… Joe Colborne (CGY) scored twice in the third period for his first career multi-goal game and Markus Granlund scored his first shorthanded goal just one game after notching his first career NHL tally… Vincent Trocheck (FLA) logged 17:35 in his first career NHL game… Anton Khudobin (CAR) made a season-high 40 saves… Andrej Sekera (CAR) skated in his 400th career NHL game…Brendan Smith (DET) scored his third goal of the season in his 100th career NHL contest…Josh Bailey (NYI) earned his 100th career assist…

SNEAK PEEK AT SATURDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Ottawa @ Winnipeg, 3:00 p.m., CBC, TVA
St. Louis @ Colorado, 3:00 p.m., FS-MW, ALT
Philadelphia @ Toronto, 7:00 p.m., CBC, CSN-PH
Boston @ Tampa Bay, 7:00 p.m., RDS, NESN, SUN
Carolina @ New Jersey, 7:00 p.m., FS-CR, MSG PLUS
Phoenix @ Washington, 7:00 p.m., FS-A, CSN-DC
Columbus @ Nashville, 8:00 p.m., FS-O, FS-TN
Minnesota @ Dallas, 8:30 p.m., NHLN-US, FS-N, FS-SW
Calgary @ Vancouver, 10:00 p.m., CBC
Montreal @ San Jose, 10:00 p.m., CBC, RDS, CSN-CA