Penguins get a quick 3 in 3rd period, top Caps

Patric Hornqvist, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel scored in a 4:49 span to help the Penguins rally to beat the host Capitals 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 1 of the second-round playoff series.

Down 2-0 early in the third period and playing without Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin, the Penguins turned it around with all three of its top-line forwards chipping in a goal. Crosby scored the tying goal when the puck bounced to him off Alex Ovechkin’s stick, and he assisted on Guentzel’s go-ahead goal.

Matt Murray stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced to put the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions ahead in yet another series with Game 2 on Sunday in Washington.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 17 seconds in and Ovechkin beat Murray 28 seconds into the third period for the Capitals, who lost a game started by Braden Holtby for the first time this postseason.

Holtby was one of the best players on the ice in the first two periods before he and his teammates blew another two-goal lead.

Holtby allowed three goals on 25 shots. It was his worst game since replacing Philipp Grubauer in net during the first round against the Blue Jackets.

It also was another stellar showing by Murray, who made his best save with 2:30 left when he got his stick on a shot by Brett Connolly. Murray earlier kept the puck out against a netcrashing Devante SmithPelly and made a save on a point-blank chance by Michal Kempny.

Murray took a shot off the mask from Ovechkin in the third but made save after save down the stretch with the Capitals pressing.

Nobody was better at home than the Jets, who went 32-7-2, and they have won 12 straight in Winnipeg, including all three in ousting the Wild. The Jets haven’t lost at home since Feb. 27 — to the Predators.

The Predators were the league’s best away from home (25-9-7). The Predators won twice on the road in the first round, including clinching in Colorado in Game 6.

The Predators have four of the NHL’s best defensemen in Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm. But the group that led the league with 55 goals only had one goal in the first round, and that came in Game 6 from Ekholm.

Subban said defending comes first for a team that ranked second in the regular season in allowing both the second-fewest goals (204) and average goals per game (2.49).