Penguins score six in win against Wild

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby had three assists to move into second on the Pittsburgh Penguins scoring list in a 6-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

Crosby passed Jaromir Jagr with his 1,080th point when he set up a one-timer from Dominik Simon that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 3:54 of the first period. Mario Lemieux is first with 1,723 points.
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Penguins highlights]
"I think you just feel more confident. You see things a little bit more [when you score regularly]," said Crosby, who has 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) during a nine-game point streak. "When it's going like that, it's fun to play. You tend to think of the ones you miss or could've had more than the ones that you actually convert on."
Evgeni Malkin (two goals, one assist) and Phil Kessel (three assists) had three points each, and rookie goaltender Casey DeSmith made 23 saves in his fourth straight start for the Penguins (27-21-3), who are 7-2-0 in their past nine games.
"We're in a fight for the playoffs here," DeSmith said. "With the guys this locker room, it's no surprise they're elevating their game each and every game. It's a good time to do it, for sure."
Minnesota (26-18-5) had its six-game point streak end.
Malkin made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 9:09 of the first period. After receiving a pass from Crosby, Malkin carried it behind the Wild net and attempted a pass that hit Ryan Suter's leg and ricocheted off the back of Devan Dubnyk's left skate.
Carl Hagelin extended the lead to 3-0 at 9:28 of the second before Dumoulin scored 1:27 later.

Crosby batted a puck down and turned up ice, sending a cross-ice pass to Hagelin, who quickly returned it to Crosby who tapped a pass to Dumoulin drifting toward the left post. Dumoulin took a wrist shot to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-0.
Alex Stalock replaced Dubnyk, who made 17 saves on 21 shots, following Dumoulin's goal. Stalock stopped 16 of 18 shots.
"[Pittsburgh's] a good hockey team. They have a lot of speed and a lot of firepower," Dubnyk said. "So, sometimes they're going to be able to play well. They're going to be able to force you and pressure and make plays. You can't keep giving it back to them. You can't keep giving the puck back to them.
"They're going to make you pay for it. At some point, you have to try to get your game together and we shot ourselves in the foot over and over."
Malkin scored another power-play goal, which deflected off Suter's skate, to make it 5-0 at 1:42 of the third.
Simon pushed it to 6-0 with his second goal at 2:32.
Wild coach Bruce Boudreau called a timeout following Simon's goal and told his players he wanted them to show pride in the remaining 17:28. Minnesota responded with three straight goals.
"We may not win the game, but you've got to get back to the way you're supposed to play; the basics," Boudreau said.
Eric Staal scored at 8:44 when he got to the loose puck off Nate Prosser's blocked shot and beat DeSmith glove side to make it 6-1.

Mikael Granlund made it 6-2 with a power-play goal at 10:50 before Jonas Brodin scored 56 seconds later to make it 6-3.
Staal said the Wild wanted to push back but weren't fooled into thinking they had a chance to win at that point.
"The game was over already," Staal said. "It's 6-0. We wanted to show a little bit, obviously. But we needed one more to make it 6-4 and then pull the goalie. I think it was too big a hill."

Goal of the game

Malkin's goal at 1:42 of the third period.

Save of the game

DeSmith's save on Suter at 18:18 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Dumoulin's goal at 10:55 of the second period.

They said it

"I think all of the elite players in the game, they tend to see the game quicker. They see it before other people on the rink ... I think Sid is one of those elite guys." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"We got killed. We got outplayed in every facet of the game. When you score three goals late, it makes it look a little bit better. ... When they turned it on, we had no answer for them."-- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

Crosby remains one goal shy of 400 in the NHL. He is on a five-game goal drought since scoring his 399th against the New York Rangers on Jan. 14. … Wild forward Matt Cullen returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since signing with Minnesota on Aug. 16. He won the Stanley Cup twice and had 63 points (29 goals, 34 assists) in two seasons with the Penguins. … Penguins defenseman Matt Hunwick, who Sullivan listed as day to day, did not play with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Ian Cole replaced him after being a healthy scratch the past seven games.

What's next

Wild: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)