Sidney’s goal, 3 assists lead Pens past Flyers
PHILADELPHIA — Sidney Crosby matched a postseason-best with four points on a goal and three assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins silence the raucous crowd and beat host Philadelphia 5-1 on Sunday for a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
“When we needed to, we made some good plays, we got some big saves and that’s what you need this time of year,” Crosby said.
It’s the path Pittsburgh took the last two seasons all the way to parade routes in June.
Crosby, who has 93 points in 63 career regular-season games against Philly, shut up the orange-and-black die-hards with a wraparound goal off a turnover midway through the first.
Crosby had a hat trick in Game 1 and the three-time Stanley Cup champion showed no sign of easing up against his nemesis.
Two of the so-called fiercest rivals in the NHL have provided three lopsided games: Pittsburgh’s 7-0 win in Game 1 and Philadelphia’s 5-1 victory in Game 2 could about qualify as nail-bitters in this series. Game 4 is Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Crosby scored his fourth goal of the series in the first period, and Derick Brassard, Evgeni Malkin and Brian Dumoulin scored in the second to make it 4-0. Malkin and Dumoulin scored five seconds apart.
Justin Schultz made it 5-1 in the third on Pittsburgh’s third power-play goal of the game.
Brassard scored on the power play just 2:48 into the second. The Pens hit with back-to-back stunning goals that put the icing on the cake: Malkin scored on a onetimer and Dumoulin off the faceoff beat Elliott through the five-hole for a 4-0 lead.
Crosby won the faceoff to set up the goal and had both assists on the goals that matched the NHL playoff record for fastest two scores by one team.
BLUE JACKETS 5, CAPITALS 4 (OT): Sergei Bobrovsky made 54 saves, Matt Calvert scored the winner 12:22 into overtime and visiting Columbus overcame two goals from Alex Ovechkin to beat Washington in Game 2, taking a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series. Calvert’s goal held up after the NHL situation room reviewed the play for a possible offside. Calvert was just onside when Josh Anderson brought the puck into the zone.
WILD 6, JETS 2: Mikael Granlund and Zach Parise scored power-play goals in the first period for the spark Minnesota was missing on the road, and the Wild used a four-goal second to roar back in the first-round playoff series with a victory over visiting Winnipeg.
Jordan Greenway scored his first NHL goal just 20 seconds after Eric Staal sent a wrist shot past a struggling Connor Hellebuyck, who was pulled for Steve Mason at the second intermission. Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno bookended the furious middle frame with goals for the Wild, who won a postseason home game for only the second time in their last nine contests.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, KINGS 2: Las Vegas scored all three goals in the third period, with James Neal and William Karlsson finding the net within 30 seconds of each other with under six minutes left, and the NHL’s newest team took a 3-0 series lead over host Los Angeles. —AP