It was Crosby's third four-point game in a season in which concussion troubles have limited him to 18 games. Crosby's performance came one night after his nose was bloodied when he was hit by a puck in a 5-3 loss to the Islanders.
"Not really getting much air through there right now," Crosby said. "But other than that, it's pretty good."
Crosby became the N.H.L.'s seventh-youngest player to reach the 600-point mark. He now has 220 goals and 381 assists in 430 career games. At 24 years 236 days, Crosby is the youngest player to reach 600 points since Pierre Turgeon did it with the Islanders in 1994.
"He's the greatest thing I've ever seen," the Penguins' backup goalie, Brent Johnson, said of Crosby. "Coming back the way he has is just fantastic. He's priceless."
Johnson had 25 saves. Pittsburgh's Pascal Dupuis had two assists to extend his points streak 13 games, best in the N.H.L. this season. Steve Sullivan had a goal and two assists, and Evgeni Malkin added a goal and an assist for the Penguins.
The Penguins rebounded from two straight losses to the Islanders and moved 4 points ahead of fifth-place Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference standings. Pittsburgh is 5 points behind the first-place Rangers.
The loss by the Sabres allowed the idle Boston Bruins to clinch a playoff berth.
Thomas Vanek, Tyler Ennis and Jordan Leopold scored for Buffalo, which lost for the first time in regulation in 10 games (7-1-2).
PREDATORS 4, RED WINGS 1 Gabriel Bourque and Francis Bouillon scored in the second period, and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves to help Nashville won in Detroit for Coach Barry Trotz's 500th victory with the franchise.
Trotz is the fifth coach to win 500 games with one franchise, joining the Islanders' Al Arbour, Buffalo's Lindy Ruff, Chicago's Billy Reay and Montreal's Toe Blake.
Nashville moved a point ahead of Detroit for second place in the Central Division with four games left. The second-place finisher will be seeded fourth and earn home ice in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
"It doesn't mean anything right now," Nashville's Shea Weber said. "It gives us some confidence that we can come in here and win. If we don't win against Chicago, we'll be back in the same situation with Detroit right on us."
The Predators play the Blackhawks on Saturday.
Detroit's Jimmy Howard stopped 23 shots after missing four straight games with a groin injury.
KINGS 4, OILERS 1 Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist as Los Angeles took over the Pacific Division lead with a win in Edmonton.
Mike Richards, Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez also scored to help the Kings jump from eighth place in the West to the conference's third seed.
Jonathan Quick made 13 saves, allowing only Jordan Eberle's power-play goal. The Kings outshot Edmonton, 32-14.
AVALANCHE 4, FLAMES 1 Semyon Varlamov made 38 saves to lead visiting Colorado past Calgary.
Mark Olver, David Jones, Milan Hejduk and Peter Mueller scored to help the Avalanche end a four-game winless streak.
Jarome Iginla scored a power-play goal for Calgary with 38 seconds left.
JETS 4, PANTHERS 3 Andrew Ladd scored 16 seconds into overtime as visiting Winnipeg beat Carolina, eliminating the Hurricanes from playoff contention.
Kyle Wellwood scored the tying goal with 4 minutes 47 seconds left in regulation and added an assist.
Jim Slater and Nik Antropov also scored for the Jets. Winnipeg trailed by 3-1 midway through the second period.
Eric Staal scored his 250th career goal for the Hurricanes. Derek Joslin and Brandon Sutter also scored.
Chris Mason stopped 30 shots for the Jets. Cam Ward finished with 31 saves for Carolina.
BLUE JACKETS 4, PANTHERS 1 Defenseman Nikita Nikitin scored twice and had an assist as host Columbus defeated Florida.
R. J. Umberger also had two goals for the Blue Jackets. Allen York made 30 saves.
Tomas Kopecky spoiled York's shutout bid, scoring off a rebound with 7:57 left in the third.
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