PITTSBURGH (AP) — A renewed commitment to defense has the Pittsburgh Penguins back on track after a bumpy November.The Penguins’ dynamic offense appears to have found its stride http://www.officialknightsproshop.com , too.Kris Letang and Phil Kessel each scored twice, and the Penguins beat the New York Islanders 6-2 on Thursday night.“Obviously, this year hasn’t started off the best for us, but we’re right in it,” Kessel said. “There’s a lot of hockey to play and we just gotta keep improving and getting better.”Kessel, who also had two assists, tied Ed Olczyk, Scott Young and Brian Rolston for 10th all-time in career goals by an American-born player with 342. Letang’s two goals moved him in front of Larry Murphy for most multigoal home games for a Penguins’ defenseman in franchise history.Sidney Crosby scored his 15th goal and had two assists. Crosby tied Jaromir Jagr for second-most home goals in franchise history with 232. Riley Sheahan scored his fourth goal for Pittsburgh, which pulled into a third-place tie in the Metropolitan Division with the Islanders and New York Rangers. The Penguins have won two straight and five of eight following a slump in which they won once in 10 games.Jake Guentzel had three assists and established a career-best six-game point streak for Pittsburgh, which scored six or more goals in back-to-back games for the second time this season.Casey DeSmith made 19 saves to win for the fifth time in six starts.“I think we’ve really improved in our own end,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re not giving up nearly as many chances as we did in probably the first 20 games of the season. We’re cutting down not only the quantity of chances, but the quality on most nights. We have our hiccups, but we’re certainly trending in the right direction.”New York’s Anders Lee scored for the fourth straight game, his 11th of the season. Brock Nelson’s 10th was a short-handed goal for the Islanders Vegas Golden Knights T-Shirts Authentic , who have one win in their last five games.Thomas Greiss stopped 16 shots through two periods before he was replaced by Christopher Gibson, who made six saves.“It definitely wasn’t the standard that we needed to come to play with, so it’s on us,” Nelson said. “They got a couple, and it’s times like that on the road where you kind of have to find a way to stop it, get some momentum back and get back on the attack. It’s frustrating, for sure.”After Letang scored on a give-and-go with Derick Brassard, Nelson tied it late in the first period. It was the fourth short-handed goal allowed by Pittsburgh in five games and its league-worst eighth this season.Letang helped the Penguins recover when he scored again with 29 seconds left in the period on a slap shot from center point.Sheahan batted the rebound from Evgeni Malkin’s shot to make it 3-1, and Kessel scored twice in a six-minute span later in the second period. Crosby and Guentzel assisted on both goals.Kessel’s first was a slick passing sequence in which Guentzel sent a quick pass to Crosby at the near post, who one-touched the puck to the opposite post. Kessel finished the play into a partially open net.“Those are easy ones,” Kessel said. “You just try not to miss them.”Kessel’s second was another one-timer, this time on a 2-on-1 with Crosby. The Penguins’ captain added his own goal in the third when he squeezed a bad-angle shot between Gibson’s helmet and the post from near the goal line.NOTES: Crosby has points in 15 of his last 17 games against the Islanders, and Malkin has points in 16 of 20 versus New York. … Penguins F Patric Hornqvist left the game after the first period for undisclosed reasons. … Penguins F Dominik Simon missed the game because of a lower-body injury. … Islanders G Robin Lehner skated Thursday but was not available to back up Greiss. … Pittsburgh has won four of its last five home games. … G Matt Murray and F Matt Cullen both skated prior to the game for Pittsburgh.UP NEXTIslanders: Visit Detroit on Saturday.Penguins: Begin a three-game trip Saturday at Ottawa. DALLAS (AP) Rasmus Dahlin went first overall to the Buffalo Sabres, Commissioner Gary Bettman was booed relentlessly by the crowd all night and trade chatter didn’t amount to a whole lot of movement.With the exception of one trade by the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals Vegas Golden Knights Hoodies Authentic , the first round of the NHL draft went off without many surprises. Only two players and a handful of picks were traded Friday night, leaving general managers hoping for more on Day Two.”That was kind of a boring first day or first round,” Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall said. ”It’s not typical for this day.”The Sabres picking Dahlin at No. 1 and the Carolina Hurricanes taking Russian winger Andrei Svechnikov at No. 2 got the draft itself off to a predictable start. Montreal taking Finnish center Jesperi Kotkaniemi third and Arizona going a bit off the board with center Barrett Hayton fifth allowed high-scoring Czech winger Filip Zadina to fall to Detroit with the sixth pick.”I’m telling my agent if they will pass on me, I will fill their net with the puck,” Zadina said. ”I want to prove them that they have done, like, bad decision.”Not a whole lot of big decisions happened Friday night at American Airlines Center. The Sabres taking Dahlin was automatic since they won the draft lottery in April, and the 18-year-old wore a Buffalo Bills hat Friday prior to the selection. Svechnikov got to try on the Hurricanes’ draft hat before he was the No. 2 pick just as general manager Don Waddell acknowledged recently.Dahlin is the second Swedish player to be taken No. 1 and the first since Mats Sundin in 1989. Sundin went on to a Hall of Fame career.”It’s pretty crazy actually,” Dahlin said. ”He’s a legend in the hockey world. It’s kind of weird but amazing.”GMs found it weird that there weren’t more trades consummated. A few teams swapped picks late in the first round, but the big shakeup came a half-hour before the draft when the Capitals traded veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik and backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer to the Colorado Avalanche for a second-round pick.The trade netted Washington the 47th pick but most importantly cleared significant salary-cap space to attempt to re-sign pending free agent defensemen John Carlson and Michal Kempny. MacLellan said he was close to getting a deal done with Carlson, so he had to prepare.”It’s hard to do, but we had to create some room to sign some players,” MacLellan said.Grubauer was the first domino to fall in what could be a fascinating goaltending market. Ottawa’s Craig Anderson is reportedly available, and Columbus might have to make a decision on Sergei Bobrovsky if like winger Artemi Panarin the two-time Vezina winner isn’t willing to talk about a contract extension with just a year left before free agency.The Capitals and Hurricanes discussed a trade for Grubauer that would’ve given Washington a higher second-round pick Vegas Golden Knights Hats Authentic , but MacLellan opted to send the 26-year-old German to the Western Conference rather than giftwrap him for a division rival, and Colorado’s Joe Sakic was willing to take on Orpik’s salary to get Grubauer.”We knew the asking price was high and we had the cap room that we can give cap flexibility for us to not have to give up more than we did,” said Sakic, who added he’ll look to trade Orpik or buy out the 37-year-old. ”We felt it was important to get Grubauer. We just like what he can do for us.”The Sabres love what they’re getting in Dahlin, who should spark the rebuilding process for a team that has missed the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons. The smooth-skating playmaker was considered the consensus first pick for more than a year.”It’s been a long waiting,” Dahlin said. ”You can’t really plan anything. Finally today I can plan my future. I love to call my new town Buffalo.”After co-owner Kim Pegula made some opening remarks, general manager Jason Botterill announced Dahlin as the top pick. In the corner of the arena, Sabres fans in attendance chanted, ”Dahlin! Dahlin!”Bills draft pick Josh Allen tweeted after the pick: ”Welcome to Buffalo (at)rasmusdahlin00! Can’t wait to watch you play, wings on me later this summer.”Dahlin will jump to the NHL right away and should help the club’s league-worst offense that contributed to its last-place finish. He had six assists in seven games at the world junior championships in Buffalo and put up 20 points in 41 games in Sweden’s top pro league this season.—AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed to this report.—