Crosby takes one from Lemieux
PHILADELPHIA Sidney Crosby passed Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh’s record book and pushed the Philadelphia Flyers to the brink of elimination.
Flyers fans booed the goal — and the ones that stuck around for the end belted a familiar refrain: “Fire Hakstol! Fire Hakstol!”
Crosby scored his fifth goal of the series and became the Penguins’ career post-season points leader in a 5-0 win over the Flyers on Wednesday night.
The Penguins lead the first-round playoff series 3-1 as its shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Friday. Crosby and the Penguins followed a 7-0 Game 1 win and a 5-1 Game 3 victory with another dominant outing.
Matt Murray stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the series and the twotime 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 topped the team owner and Hall of Famer in Lemieux for most playoff points with 173.
“A lot of his records aren’t going to be touched,” Crosby said. “The fact I can be close to him and around that one, I guess I’ve been fortunate to play in a number of playoff games helps a lot.”
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.
“I was in a good spot. The puck ended up right on my stick,” Crosby said.
The Flyers were confused. The Penguins were composed.
And it so it goes in Philly, the Flyers are a loss away from another empty season without the Stanley Cup.
“Somehow, we need to get our confidence back and go from there,” team captain Claude Giroux said.
Disgruntled Flyers fans chanted from the balcony to the concourse for the Flyers to fire third-year coach Dave Hakstol.
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.
LIGHTNING 3, DEVILS 1
NEWARK, N.J. — Angry after losing a playoff game, Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning took out their ire on the New Jersey Devils.
Not only did the Lightning defeat New Jersey to move within a game of making the Devils’ first trip to the playoffs in six years a short one, Kucherov was a one-man demolition man.
The NHL’s No. 3 scorer this season scored two goals, set up another and knocked New Jersey’s top defenceman, Sami Vatanen, out of the game with a big hit in the opening period.
“Kuch tonight flexed his muscles,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He’s pretty dynamic on the power play, but tonight, all around, I thought he was the best player on the ice.”
Kucherov has been the best player in the series so far. He has four goals and five assists in four games and he came into this game upset after the Lightning blew a 2-1 third-period lead in Game 3 to let the Devils back in the series.
With a 3-1 lead now, Tampa Bay can wrap up the best-of-seven series in Game 5 at home on Saturday.