Guentzel, Penguins pull even with Caps
Jake Guentzel scored twice to push his playoff goal total to a league-leading 10, Matt Murray stopped 20 shots, and the host Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 in Game, knotting their Eastern Conference semifinal Thursday.
Evgeni Malkin added his fourth goal of the playoffs as the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions pushed back following a chaotic Game 3 that included an illegal hit by Washington right wing Tom Wilson that led to a three-game suspension.
At Winnipeg, Manitoba, P.K. Subban and Ryan Hartman scored to back and Pekka Rinne had 32 saves as Nashville held off Winnipeg’s late charge to tie their series at 2-2.
Patrik Laine scored off a faceoff in the final minute for the Jets, whose13-game home win streak was snapped.
Obit: Bill Torrey, the bowtie wearing Hall of Famer who was the general manager of the New York Islanders’ four consecutive Stanley Cup teams and eventually became the first president of the Florida Panthers, died Wednesday at his home in South Florida. He was 83. Cause of death was not immediately known. Torrey was with the Islanders from 1972, the team’s first year, until 1993, when he became the Panthers’ first president and oversaw their Stanley Cup Final run in 1996.
Hurricanes: Carolina acquired left wing Jordan Martinook from Arizona for center Marcus Kruger. The teams also swapped laterround draft picks, and the Hurricanes will retain 10 percent of Kruger’s 201819 salary, about $300,000. Carolina had acquired Kruger, 27, last summer from the Golden Knights for a draft pick.
Blue Jackets: Defensemen Zach Werenski had surgery on a shoulder injury that has bothered him since early last season, and full recovery is expected to take five to six months.
Golden Knights (-150) over Sharks, Game 5
“People talk all the time about how they don’t think the crowd affects the road team. But if you don’t think the crowd affected San Jose in Game 1, that’s absolutely false,” said Lane (@Danalanesports). “The Knights play a more inspired brand of hockey when they know they’ve got 18,000 maniacs going crazy behind them.
“I thought guys took shifts off (in Game 4), but they won’t take shifts off when they’re being held accountable in front of the home crowd.”
Lane entered Thursday with a 78-51-3 record (60.5 percent) against the spread on his daily NHL Power Play picks in the Review-journal. He said the biggest key to handicapping sports is to weigh the emotional and mental aspects of the game to determine which team will deliver the more inspired effort.
“In Game 5 at home, after just getting beat in probably its most lackluster performance since the regular season, I think Vegas will be the more inspired of the two,” he said.
Much like the Knights themselves, Lane is counting heavily on the top line of William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith and on goaltender Marc-andre Fleury to cash his ticket.
The line has combined for seven goals and 26 points in the playoffs after compiling 92 goals and 213 points in the regular season.
“That top line is as good as anybody in the league, and it’s better than San Jose’s top line, that’s for sure,” Lane said. “My gut is telling me Vegas. But I know that depth is going to be an issue for them unless that top line completely carries Vegas.
“That’s what they have to do to win these games.”
Sharks over Knights, Games 6 and 7
We already can feel the outpouring of love and support from the community
over the fact that Lane is sticking to his prediction that San Jose will win the series in seven games.
“I like the Knights at home (in Game 5), San Jose at home (in Game 6) and then I like San Jose to come here and win Game 7,” he said. “From the Sharks’ standpoint, you’re in a comfort level in that environment by Game 7. When they come back here, that’s when experience takes over.
“The Sharks are still a team with a Stanley Cup pedigree, and I think they’ll draw off that and escape with a Game 7 win at T-mobile.”
Reiterating what he said before the series started, Lane thinks the Sharks’ superior depth will be the difference.
“They’ve talked all year long about what a great luxury it is for (Knights coach) Gerard Gallant to roll four lines, but I never really thought they were rolling four lines at all. This is a two-line team,” he said. “There’s a huge drop-off when you get to the third line. That’s the glaring difference between these two teams in a nutshell.
“Gallant needs to find some inspiration on his third and fourth lines because it’s bordering on mediocrity right now.”
Bruins (-155) over Lightning, Game 4
Boston, which lost Games 2 and 3 by a combined score of 8-3 after winning the series opener 6-2 at Tampa Bay, needs a victory at home Friday to avoid falling into a 3-1 hole.
“I love Boston,” Lane said. “I think the Bruins will bounce back and win this series and face the Penguins in the (Eastern) Conference finals.
“At this time of year, it really comes down to how much firepower do you have, how much depth do you have and what does your goaltending look like. Overall, the Bruins are the better team. Boston’s top two lines have been fantastic, and that top line of (Brad) Marchand, (Patrice) Bergeron and (David) Pastrnak is incredible.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.