Penguins finish off Flyers
Jake Guentzel dropped to his right knee and slid on the ice in celebration, not only for his second career postseason hat trick, but for the goal that assured Pittsburgh was moving on in the playoffs.
He has established his playoff pedigree as a sensational scorer in just two seasons and helped keep a third straight championship in sight for the Penguins.
Guentzel scored four straight goals to help send the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins into the next round with an 8-5 win over the Flyers in Game 6 on Sunday in Philadelphia.
The Penguins play the winner of the WashingtonColumbus series in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Washington leads that series 3-2.
Guentzel scored six goals in the series and added another hat trick to pair with the one he had as a rookie in a first-round series last season against the Blue Jackets.
Sean Couturier had the 24th playoff hat trick for the Flyers, who haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975. Couturier said he played with a torn right MCL suffered in a collision with a teammate at practice last week.
Predators 5, Avalanche 0
In Denver, Mattias Ekhom ignited the offense early with the first goal by a Nashville defenseman in the series, Pekka Rinne stopped 22 shots and the top-seeded Predators advanced to the second round.
Austin Watson, Filip Forsberg, Nick Bonino and Viktor Arvidsson also scored to help the Predators move on to face Winnipeg. They were 3-1-1 against the Jets in the regular season.