Penguins overwhelm Flyers for 3-1 edge

Lightning rebounds to batter New Jersey

PHILADELPHIA — 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 firstround playoff series 3-1 as its shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 5.

Matt Murray stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the series for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins.

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.

LIGHTNING 3, DEVILS 1: In Newark, N.J., Nikita Kucherov scored two goals, set up another and knocked New Jersey’s top defenseman out of the game with a big hit as Tampa Bay moved within a game of making the Devils’ first trip to the playoffs in six years a short one.

J.T. Miller also scored and had two assists, and Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped three breakaways in making 27 saves as the Lightning bounced back from a loss in Game 3 to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.

New Jersey’s Sami Vatanen was knocked out of the game on the hit by Kucherov late in the first. No penalty was called but Kucherov appeared to jump before hitting Vatanen in the shoulder and head area. PREDATORS 3, AVALANCHE 2: In Denver, Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist in fueling Nashville’s victory over Colorado, which gave the Predators a 3-1 lead in their series.

The Avs trailed 3-0 before scoring twice in the third period.

SHARKS 2, DUCKS 1: In San Jose, Calif., the Sharks completed their sweep of Anaheim when Tomas Hertl broke a 1-1 tie with a goal at 9:09 of the third period.

San Jose goalie Martin Jones made 30 saves.