Crosby, Penguins edge Blue Jackets 4-1 for 2-0 series lead
Radulov scores in overtime as Canadiens even series with Rangers
Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, Marc-Andre Fleury stayed sharp in his second straight playoff start and the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled away for a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Jake Guentzel added a goal and an assist to help the defending Stanley Cup champions take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the post-season, and Patric Hornqvist pushed in an empty-net goal.
Fleury finished with 39 saves while filling in for the injured Matt Murray, and received plenty of help. Pittsburgh blocked 23 shots before they even got to Fleury.
Brandon Saad scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots.
Game 3 is Sunday night in Columbus.
Fleury admitted to some jitters when he was suddenly thrust into the lineup with barely 20 minutes to prepare after Murray was a late scratch before Game 1 with a lower-body injury _ and responded with a 31-save masterpiece. Murray is out indefinitely, returning Fleury to the spot he held for a decade while becoming the winningest goaltender in franchise history.
Canadiens 4, Rangers 3 (OT)
MONTREAL — Alexander Radulov scored at 18:34 of overtime to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday night.
Radulov jammed the puck in from the edge of the crease after a feed from Max Pacioretty.
The best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final is tied 1-1 with Game 3 set for Sunday night in New York.
Trailing 3-2 in the third period, the Canadiens pressed hard and finally scored with 18 seconds left, with goalie Carey Price pulled, as Tomas Plekanec redirected a Radulov feed past Henrik Lundqvist to force overtime.
Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored for New York. Jeff Petry and Paul Byron also had goals for Montreal, which wasted early leads of 1-0 and 2-1.
Montreal outshot the Rangers 45-30 in regulation time and 58-38 overall.
While goals were scarce in New York’s 2-0 win in the series opener, there were three in the first period alone on Friday.
Only 4:05 in, Lundqvist broke his stick and was helpless as Petry set up in the right circle and scored stick side.
Lundqvist answered by stopping Byron on a breakaway, and then Nathan Beaulieu lost the puck at the Rangers blue line, allowing Grabner to go in alone and deke Price and score with the backhand at 13:48.
Byron scored at 15:42 when Chris Kreider lost the puck to Brendan Gallagher, who followed in after his shot was stopped to feed it in front.
A melee broke out when Steve Ott flattened Zuccarello and it was the Rangers who seemed to get a lift from it as they tied the score 9:58 into the second. With Montreal on a slow line change, Jimmy Vesey took a pass at the blue line and sent Nash in alone for a perfect shot in off the far post.
New York went ahead at 14:47 when Brendan Smith banked a shot in off Zuccarello from the left point.
According to the NHL, Plekanec’s tally was the latest playoff game-tying goal in Canadiens history, beating a Jacques Lemaire goal in 1975 with 24 seconds remaining.
Neither team made lineup changes from the series opener.