Crosby, Penguins stifle Red Wings for 4th straight win

DETROIT -- Sidney Crosby had two assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins win their fourth straight game, 4-1 against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

The Penguins swept the home-and-home series, winning 4-3 in overtime at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist, and Yegor Chinakhov scored for Pittsburgh (19-12-9). Parker Wotherspoon had two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 11 saves.

"Any time you get 12 shots against a very good team like that, it is very impressive by the defense," Skinner said. "We didn't give them anything all night."

Alex DeBrincat scored for Detroit (24-15-4), which had a season-low 12 shots on goal. John Gibson made 27 saves.

"It's evident that we have work to do," Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. "The Pittsburgh team was everything we wanted to be tonight -- they started with intensity that backed us off, they were faster than we were, and they smothered us in all three zones."

Rust gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 3:44 of the first period, taking a cross-ice pass from Crosby and beating Gibson from the left face-off circle.

Crosby extended his point streak to six games (10 points; four goals, six assists), including five points (two goals, three assists) in the home-and-home series.

"I think we played a good, fast game," Penguins coach Dan Muse said. "We talked coming out of the (holiday) break about taking the next step and I think we're doing a nice job of it."

Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead at 17:30 when Chinakhov took a long pass from Ben Kindel and broke in alone to slide the puck between Gibson's pads for his fourth goal of the season and first with the Penguins. He was acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.

"That's just game management," McLellan said. "We had a [defenseman] jump into the rush with tired forwards. We lobbed a saucer pass into the middle, and it came right back at us."

DeBrincat made it 2-1 at 15:06 of the second period, beating the Penguins to a loose puck and breaking down the left wing to beat Skinner over his glove from the face-off circle.

Protecting a one-goal lead, the Penguins held the Red Wings to three shots on goal in the third period. They did not get their 10th shot on goal of the game until the 4:53 mark.

"I don't think it mattered if we got traffic in front of the net, because we weren't getting the puck to the net," Red Wings forward J.T. Compher said. "On the bench, the message was to shoot the puck, and then we got out there and didn't shoot."

Rickard Rakell scored an empty-net goal at 19:00 to make it 3-1, and Connor Dewar added another empty-net goal at 19:28 for the 4-1 final.

"This is what you want to see over the course of the season," Muse said. "It wasn't sitting back -- we played hard at both ends -- and the guys did an outstanding job executing in the late-game situation."

NOTES: The Red Wings had more shot attempts that were blocked (14) and missed the net (16) than shots on goal. … Defenseman Brett Kulak had a game-high four blocks for the Penguins. … Crosby extended his point streak against the Red Wings to nine games (18 points; six goals, 12 assists). He has 53 points (20 goals, 33 assists) in 40 regular-season games against them. Crosby also had his 257th multiassist game to pass Marcel Dionne for sole possession of eighth all time in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky leads with 575 such games. … DeBrincat has 27 points (18 goals, nine assists) in his past 27 games.