Sidney Crosby's 4-Point Night, Auston Matthews' 43rd Goal, Top Highlights

Sidney Crosby has been the best player in the NHL at producing a high volume of goals and assists in single games since he entered the league in 2005. 

The 32-year-old scored one goal and provided three assists in the Pittsburgh Penguins' 5-2 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday to earn his 34th-career performance with four or more points. 

Crosby contributed three of his four points on the power play in a victory that pushed the Penguins one point above the Washington Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division. 

The one bright spot from Toronto's perspective was Auston Matthews moving ahead of David Pastrnak atop the NHL scoring chart with his 43rd goal. 

Forty-eight tallies were netted across Tuesday's seven-game slate, which caused plenty of movement in the playoff standings. 

The Philadelphia Flyers made the biggest leap, as they went from second in the Eastern Conference wild-card race to third in the Metropolitan Division by beating the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Tuesday NHL Scores

Philadelphia 5, Columbus 1

Pittsburgh 5, Toronto 2

Ottawa 7, Buffalo 4

Detroit 4, Montreal 3

St. Louis 3, New Jersey 0

Carolina 4, Nashville 1

Winnipeg 6, Los Angeles 3

Sidney Crosby's 4-Point Night

Auston Matthews Takes NHL Scoring Lead

Claude Giroux Sets Flyers Record For Most Power-Play Assists

Sean Couturier Slides Puck Between Goalie's Legs

Artem Anisimov Scores 2 Of Ottawa's 7 Goals

Andreas Athanasiou's Game-Winner

Ivan Barbashev's 2-Goal Night

Andrei Svechnikov's Close-Range Slap Shot

Dustin Brown Nets A Pair

Jordan Binnington Shuts Out New Jersey

Crosby's 4-Point Night Pushes Pittsburgh Into 1st Place

Crosby helped Pittsburgh earn its 37th victory and extend its winning streak to three games. 

Most importantly, the Penguins are now one point ahead of the Capitals with a game in hand. Washington has lost its last two contests. 

Crosby did most of his damage on the man advantage and received praise for that from Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, per the team's official Twitter account: 

The four-point showing was the 34th of the Canadian's career, which is six more than Alexander Ovechkin has since the start of the 2005 season, per NHL Public Relations: 

Pittsburgh also has two games in hand on the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning in the fight for home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference. 

Boston sits atop the Atlantic Division with 86 points, while Tampa Bay has 85 points. Pittsburgh reached the 80-point mark Tuesday. 

The Penguins can create more separation between themselves and the Capitals Sunday, when the two sides face off at Capital One Arena. 

The trip to Washington, D.C. is part of a four-game road swing, and Pittsburgh plays five of its next six away from home. 

Philadelphia, Carolina Shake Up Eastern Conference Standings

The Flyers altered the complexion of the Eastern Conference wild-card race with their win over the Blue Jackets. 

Philadelphia jumped over the New York Islanders, who are now level with the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets in the wild-card standings.

Alain Vigneault's side benefited from five goals on 15 shots on target, which made it the second side in the last three seasons to achieve that feat, per the Elias Sports Bureau: 

Five players put a goal into the net at Wells Fargo Center on a night when the Flyers did not think they played their best, per NHL.com's Adam Kimelman.

"I honestly don't think it was one of our best games," Flyers forward Kevin Hayes said. "Obviously the score doesn't say that, but we should be better next game. I know we scored five goals, but I think we definitely didn't have our A-game. We got some puck luck, and it's a huge two points."

Carolina put four shots past the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena to close the gap in the wild-card hunt. 

Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov were among the scorers in what head coach Rod Brind'Amour described as a complete team effort, per Michael Smith of the team's official website. 

"That was a great effort, right from the start. I thought we were engaged, everybody. We got a great effort from all 20 guys," Brind'Amour said. "Everybody was digging in, making some good plays and battling when they had to battle. That's a pretty good effort."

The standings could change again Wednesday, when the Islanders play one of their games in hand against the Colorado Avalanche. 

After Tuesday, the Isles have played 58 games, Carolina has skated 59 times, Philadelphia has 60 games played and Columbus has 61.

Wednesday NHL Schedule

New York Rangers at Chicago (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN) 

Boston at Edmonton (8:30 p.m. ET) 

Arizona at Dallas (8:30 p.m. ET) 

Florida at Anaheim (10 p.m. ET) 

New York Islanders at Colorado (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+)

Minnesota at Vancouver (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+) 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90

Statistics obtained from NHL.com