Crosby, Penguins defeat Red Wings to move into 2nd wild card

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby got his 1,000th NHL assist with a pass to Erik Karlsson, who scored 1:40 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 6-5 win against the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

“If it's one thing he's done throughout his career, it's delivering when you need it the most, and today was nothing different than that,” Karlsson said of Crosby.

Crosby and Bryan Rust each had a goal and two assists, and Reilly Smith had two assists for the Penguins (37-30-12), who are 7-0-3 in their past 10 games. Alex Nedeljkovic, who has started each of the past 10, made 25 saves.

With the win, Pittsburgh moved into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Penguins are one point ahead of the Red Wings and Washington Capitals, who lost 4-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

“You’ve got to find ways to win,” Crosby said. “We still have to learn from this, and we have been in these situations and done a better job in certain ones than others, but the fact is it’s not always going to go perfect.

“I think there’s some games through this stretch we’ve done a better job, and tonight we didn’t, and we still found a way.”

Lucas Raymond had three goals and an assist, Dylan Larkin had a goal and two assists, and Alex DeBrincat had three assists for the Red Wings (38-32-9), who have lost seven of nine (2-4-3). Alex Lyon made 21 saves.

"We'd love to walk out of here with two points,” Raymond said. “Got one point. We'll take that. But obviously, we'd love to walk out of here with two points.”

Larkin cut it to 5-4 at 12:56 of the third period, scoring with a wrist shot from the top of the crease off a centering pass from Raymond.

Raymond then completed his second NHL hat trick on a breakaway set up by Larkin to tie it 5-5 at 14:53.

"Guys did a great job,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “I don't usually address the guys after a game, but I had to address them after this simply because that was a huge point. ... I give our guys a ton of credit for battling, staying in it and getting a point. There's still a path there because of that point."

Drew O'Connor put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 at 2:40 of the first period, putting in the rebound of Rust’s shot with a backhand in the crease.

Raymond tied it 1-1 at 3:39 with a backhand in front.

Kris Letang gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead at 15:09 with a wrist shot from the slot.

Raymond tied it 2-2 at 19:46, taking a pass from DeBrincat on a 2-on-1 rush and going forehand to backhand around Nedeljkovic’s right pad.

Crosby put the Penguins back in front 3-2 at 7:58 of the second period, tapping in a pass from Rust at the left post.

Crosby has 1,591 points (591 goals, 1,000 assists) in 1,269 games, passing Phil Esposito (1,590 points; 717 goals, 873 assists) for 10th in NHL history.

“Just think about that for a second,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “That puts him in real elite company. The milestones that he’s achieving now, I think they’re self-explanatory. It puts him in just elite company of the greatest players of all-time.”

Rust made it 4-2 at 12:44 with a snap shot from the high slot.

Jeff Petry cut it to 4-3 at 19:24 on a slap shot from the top of the right circle.

Jeff Carter extended the lead to 5-3 at 3:32 of the third, scoring short-handed with a wrist shot from the right circle.

"It was extremely frustrating,” Larkin said. “We're on the power play, we're trying to get back in the game, (and) we give up a shorty this time of year. ... When you get a power play in the third, we have to get something going and we didn't get it going.”

NOTES: Crosby needed the seventh-fewest games to reach 1,000 NHL assists (1,269 games). Only Wayne Gretzky (645), Mario Lemieux (856), Paul Coffey (1,105), Adam Oates (1,174), Ron Francis (1,235) and Marcel Dionne (1,259) reached the mark faster. Crosby is also the seventh player to have 1,000 assists with one team. ... Larkin passed 500 points in the NHL. He has 502 points (211 goals, 291 assists) in 649 games.