Rangers avoid elimination on Chytil’s late goal

Filip Chytil scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and the New York Rangers staved off elimination with a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series Wednesday night.

Jacob Trouba and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal and an assist, and Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren also scored for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin, torched for 10 goals over three periods in the previous two games, had 27 saves.

Jake Guentzel had two goals and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh, which leads the best of seven series 3-2. Evgeni Malkin had two assists and Louis Domingue finished with 29 saves.

Penguins star Sidney Crosby left with about seven minutes remaining in the second period with an apparent injury and didn’t return.

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Maple Leafs 4, Lightning 3:

Auston Matthews scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:06 left in the third period and host Toronto rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat Tampa Bay and take a 3-2 lead in the firstround playoff series.

William Nylander added a goal and two assists for Toronto, which is a victory away from advancing in the postseason for the first time since 2004. John Tavares had a goal and assist, and Morgan Rielly also scored. Jack Campbell stopped 32 shots.

Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh scored, Nikita Kucherov had two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning, who will try to avoid elimination in the best-ofseven series in Game 6 at home on Thursday night.

Game 7, if necessary, would be in Toronto on Saturday.

Hurricanes 5, Bruins Rookie Seth Jarvis scored twice and Antti Raanta finished with 34 saves to help host Carolina beat Boston for a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Tony DeAngelo scored first-period goals for the Hurricanes, and Vincent Trocheck added an empty-netter.

The series has yet to see a team secure a road win. With the Game 5 win, the Hurricanes have two chances to close out the Bruins. Game 6 is Thursday in Boston, and Game 7, if needed, on home ice Saturday.

Connor Clifton scored and Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves for Boston.

Kings 5, Oilers 4 (OT):

Adrian Kempe scored 1:12 into overtime to give Los Angeles seized a 3-2 lead in the firstround playoff series.

Kempe muscled his way past his defender and wrapped a shot around Edmonton goalie Mike Smith to secure the victory.

The result means the Oilers need a win in

Game 6 in Los Angeles on Thursday to stave off elimination.

Blues 5, Wild 2: Vladimir Tarasenko had three goals in the third period to break open a tied game and series, and St. Louis pushed host Minnesota to the edge of elimination.

Ryan O'Reilly scored for the fourth time in the series and Brandon Saad got the tying goal late in the second period. Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for his second straight win.

Wild star Kirill Kaprizov scored twice on Minnesota’s previously sluggish power play in the first period.