Penguins erase 2-goal deficit, beat Capitals 3-2 in Game 1
By STEPHEN WHYNO, AP Hockey Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Patric Hornqvist, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel scored in a 4:49 span to help the Pittsburgh Penguins rally to beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 1 of the second-round series.
Down 2-0 early in the third period and playing without Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin, Pittsburgh turned it around with all three of its top-line forwards chipping in a goal. Crosby scored the tying goal when the puck bounced to him off Alex Ovechkin’s stick, and assisted on Guentzel’s go-ahead goal.
Matt Murray stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced to put the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions ahead in yet another series with Game 2 on Sunday in Washington. The Penguins have won nine in a row under coach Mike Sullivan dating to 2016, including the past two meetings against Washington.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 17 seconds in and Ovechkin beat Murray 28 seconds into the third period for the Capitals, who lost a game started by Braden Holtby for the first time in these playoffs. Holtby was one of the best players on the ice in the first two periods before he and his teammates blew another two-goal lead.
Holtby allowed three goals on 25 shots, including at least one he’d like to have back during the Penguins’ comeback. It was his worst game since replacing Philipp Grubauer in net during the first round against Columbus.
It also was another stellar showing by Murray, who made his best save with 2:30 left when he got his stick on a shot by Brett Connolly. Murray earlier kept the puck out against a net-crashing Devante Smith-Pelly and made a save on a point-blank chance by Michal Kempny.
Murray took a shot off the mask from Ovechkin in the third but made save after save down the stretch with the Capitals pressing.
NOTES: Kuznetsov’s goal was the second-fastest in Capitals playoff history after Mike Gartner scored 15 seconds in against the Islanders in 1987. … The Capitals have killed 18 consecutive penalties dating to Game 2 against Columbus. .., Malkin skated Thursday morning with teammates, while Hagelin did not make the trip. Malkin could be an option for Game 2 if his apparent leg injury has healed enough. … Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan opted to maintain balance in his lineup, putting Riley Sheahan with Simon and Phil Kessel and keeping Derick Brassard with Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust.
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Guentzel scores 4 goals to lead Penguins to Game 6 clinch
By DAN GELSTON, AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored four straight goals to help send the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins into the next round with an 8-5 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 on Sunday.
The Penguins play the winner of the Washington-Columbus series in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Washington leads that series 3-2.
Sean Couturier also had a hat trick for the Flyers, who haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975.
Guentzel, not Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel or the injured Evgeni Malkin, won the game for the Penguins with goals off costly Flyers turnovers, leading them to their ninth straight playoff series win.
He tied the game at 4 with 54 seconds left in the second period off a Flyers turnover. He scored 30 seconds into the third for the lead off another giveaway, and sealed one more lopsided win over the Flyers with two goals 10 seconds apart late in the period.
It was 2-2 after one period, 4-4 after two, and nothing was decided in the fiercest game of the series between the longstanding rivals until Guentzel took control.
The Flyers lost all three games at home and not even a solid start could help them get out of the first round for the first time since 2012.
Couturier had been the Flyers’ postseason savior, returning from a serious leg injury to score the Game 5 winner and then open Game 6 with his third goal of the series just 2:15 into the game.
The Penguins, who won Games 3 and 4 in Philly, took aim on the road sweep with two straight goals. Crosby, naturally, tied the game when he knocked in a rebound off Kris Letang’s point shot for his whopping sixth goal of the series. His goal was still being announced when Carl Hagelin made it 2-1 when he was left all alone in front of the net for the easy goal.
Philly’s defense was nonexistent and the Flyers had no bodies on Crosby and especially Hagelin on the gimme goals against Michal Neuvirth.
Andrew MacDonald tied it 2-all on a sizzling shot. The defenseman briefly gave his team the spark needed to go toe-to-toe with the Penguins. Couturier scored his second of the game on a beautiful breakaway to open the second period and Scott Laughton scored on a long wrister and nearly pulled off a Lambeau Leap over the boards in celebration.
Matt Murray should have stopped the goal — the kind of bad goal usually allowed by the Flyers — and the crowd derisively chanted his name.
Patric Hornqvist scored his second of the series to pull the Penguins to 4-3.
The series had been more cordial than confrontational but both teams cranked up the nastiness levels in Game 6. Penguins forward Carter Rowney cross-checked Travis Konency and roughed him up on the ice while the officials just watched. Konecny jumped up and — like a wrestling heel smacking his opponent with a steel chair — cracked Sheary in the back with his stick and was whistled for roughing. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol gave the refs an earful while the fans howled as the hits were shown on replay.
But that was about the last crowd-pleasing play by the Flyers. The Flyers failed to take a shot on goal until nearly 12 minutes into the third period and Couturier capped his three-goal game with 2:53 left to play.
Bryan Rust scored an empty-netter with 30 seconds left to ensure the Penguins got all four of their wins by at least three goals.
NOTES: Malkin was scratched with a leg injury. … The so-called home ice edge in Philly lost some shine with large pockets of empty seats for a must-win Game 6. … The Penguins scored five-plus goals against the Flyers eight times in 10 games this season. … It wasn’t all bad news for Philly in its rivalry with Pittsburgh: The Phillies completed a four-game sweep of the Pirates across the street.
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Couturier scores late, Flyers edge Penguins to force Game 6
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sean Couturier’s long shot from the point got past Matt Murray with 1:17 left and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Friday night to force sixth game in the first-round series.
The Flyers cut the Penguins’ series lead to 3-2 going into Game 6 on Sunday in Philadelphia.
After missing Game 4 with a lower-body injury, Couturier extended his team’s season at least two more days by picking up his second goal of the series. Claude Giroux, Valtteri Filppula and Matt Read also scored for the Flyers. Michal Neuvirth stopped 30 shots, including a diving stop on the doorstep to deny Penguins star Sidney Crosby shortly after Couturier’s knuckler put Philadelphia in front.
Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins. Matt Murray made 21 saves but had no chance on Couturier’s winner as the puck found its way through a sea of players and into the net.
A series that figured to be taut instead started with four straight blowouts, most of them ending with the Flyers skating off the ice wondering what they needed to do to keep pace with cross-state rivals.
Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol, perhaps fighting for his job, made his first significant change in an effort to keep his team’s season alive, giving Neuvirth his first playoff start in nearly two years and his first start of any variety in more than two months after Brian Elliott couldn’t shake out of a funk that saw him pulled in Game 1 and again in Game 4.
The Flyers also Couturier back to center the third line just three days removed from a scary practice collision with teammate Radko Judas that left Couturier with a lower-body injury that forced him to watch Pittsburgh’s clinical 5-0 Game 4 romp from the press box.
There was no need for change in Pittsburgh, which has developed a killer instinct under coach Mike Sullivan it lacked at times earlier in the Crosby/Malkin era. The Penguins came in 8-5 in potential close-out games since Sullivan took over in December, 2015, including a 5-2 mark at home.
Make it 5-3.
Giroux, a non-factor through much of the series, gave Philadelphia the lead 17:29 into the first when he found some space in the slot and took a pretty feed from behind the Pittsburgh ned by Jakub Voracek to pump a shot by Murray.
The Penguins replied with two goals in a 4:45 span in the second for the first lead change of the series. Bryan Rust beat Neuvirth with a wrap around 12 minutes into the second for his ninth career goal in a potential elimination game. Guentzel then took a feed from Crosby and slipped it between Neuvirth’s legs to put Pittsburgh in front.
The Flyers, for the first time since Game 2, responded. Some sloppy play by Pittsburgh’s top power-play unit led to a turnover and a rush the other way that ended with Filppula sneaking a bouncing puck through Murray’s five-hole to knot the score and two and produce actual late tension heading into the third, a rarity.
NOTES: Penguins F Patric Hornqvist missed his second straight game due to an upper-body injury. Hornqvist did skate earlier Friday and remains day-to-day. … Malkin missed the final 4 minutes of the first period after Philadelphia’s Jori Lehtera fell on it when the two got tangled in the corner. Malkin returned to start the second period. … The Penguins were 0 for 5 on the power play. The Flyers were 0 for 1.
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Crosby leads Penguins past Flyers for 3-1 lead in playoffs
By DAN GELSTON, AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored his fifth goal of the series and became the Pittsburgh Penguins’ career postseason points leader in a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
The Penguins lead the first-round playoff series 3-1 as its shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 5.
Matt Murray stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the series and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins are a win away from playing in the second round for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.
Crosby scored in the second period for a 4-0 lead and passed Pittsburgh owner and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux for most playoff points with 173. Crosby and the Penguins followed a 7-0 Game 1 win and a 5-1 Game 3 victory with another dominant outing.
The Flyers were already on their second goalie by the time Crosby scored. The Penguins chased Brian Elliott early in the period after the maligned goalie allowed his 14th goal of the series. Michal Neuvirth relived Elliott and it didn’t matter. Neuvirth lost track of the puck behind the net and had his head turned to the right when Crosby found it and snapped it under the goalie’s left skate.
The Flyers were confused. The Penguins were composed.
And it so it goes in Philly, the Flyers are on the brink of another empty season without the Stanley Cup.
Game 5 is Friday.
Both teams played without key cogs in their lineup: Sean Couturier (who had career highs with 31 goals and 76 points) was injured Tuesday at practice in a vicious collision with teammate Radko Gudas; the Pens played without top-line forward Patric Hornqvist because of an undisclosed injury.
Couturier, who had a goal and three points in the series, was missed.
“He’s been playing a lot of minutes for us. He plays every situation,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. “He brings a lot to this team.”
Giroux, who scored 102 points during the season, has not scored a posteason goal since 2014.
The Flyers pulled out all their good-luck charms.
The national champion Villanova Wildcats were in the house and star guard Phil Booth screamed “Are you ready for some hockey?”
Flyers fans heard the usual stirring rendition of “God Bless America,” live by Lauren Hart and on video by the late Kate Smith. The song has been a rallying anthem for the Flyers since Smith began singing it in the mid 1970s. Hart started the song, then looked up to the big screen and passed it off to Smith. They finished in a split-screen duet.
Once the pageantry settled down, the Penguins poured it on.
Crosby’s on-point pass on the power play led to Evgeni Malkin’s third goal of the playoff just 4:33 into the game. Phil Kessel scored his first of the postseason midway through the period. Kris Letang made it 3-0 in the second and that was all for Elliott.
Riley Sheahan made it 5-0 late in the third.
Murray was solid again, and stoned Travis Konency on a breakaway out of the penalty box in the second that had the second-year center slam his stick on the ice in anger.
NOTES: Couturier was named a Selke Trophy finalist as the league’s best defensive forward. … 2018 Olympic hockey gold medalists Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando hosted a clinic and helped donate equipment on behalf of a volunteer effort at the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. Snider was the Flyers founder and chairman until his death in 2016. … Crosby scored on all three goalies the Flyers have used in the series.