PITTSBURGH — Pascal Dupuis scored twice and had an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat the slumping Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Wednesday night for their seventh consecutive victory.
Jordan Staal added a goal and an assist to extend his points streak to a career-best six games and rookie Brad Thiessen stopped 22 shots.
The Penguins started the day by unveiling a statue honoring Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux outside Consol Energy Center. The three-time MVP, now the team owner, watched from his box as Pittsburgh won for the 11th time in its past 12 home games to strengthen its hold on fourth-place in the Eastern Conference.
Phil Kessel and Carl Gunnarsson scored for Toronto. The Maple Leafs let an early two-goal lead slip away while falling to 1-2 since Randy Carlyle took over as coach following Ron Wilson’s firing.
The 4,700-pound statue of Lemieux depicts him splitting a pair of defensemen on his way to scoring a goal against the New York Islanders in 1988.
Sculptor Bruce Wolfe spent 15 months on the project, which is based on a picture that ran in Sports Illustrated. Lemieux called it a “special day” during a brief ceremony.
SABRES 3, HURRICANES 2 (OT)
In Buffalo, N.Y., Jason Pominville scored on a power play 56 seconds into overtime to give the Sabres a victory over Carolina.
Thomas Vanek and Tyler Myers also scored to help the Sabres (31-28-8) jump into a tie with Washington for ninth place in the Eastern Conference. Ryan Miller stopped 22 shots, Pominville and Vanek also had assists, and the Sabres outshot the Hurricanes 42-24.
Jaroslav Spacek and Chad LaRose scored for the Hurricanes. Coming off a 4-3 overtime win at Washington, Carolina dropped to 8-14-9 on the road and failed to win consecutive road games for the first time since October.
