Guentzel scores twice as Penguins even series

Coach Mike Sullivan knows his team is “wired” for offense, as tends to happen when you have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and — increasingly — Jake Guentzel on your roster.

Yet the Penguins have proven during their twoyear run atop the NHL they know what they’re doing at the other end of the ice, too, playing with a discipline that’s more grit than glamour.

Their hopes for a historic three-peat remain alive because of it.

Guentzel scored twice and the host Penguins held Capitals star Alex Ovechkin without a shot on goal for just the third time in 107 career playoff games to grind out a 3-1 victory in Game 4 on Thursday night to even their typically taut Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Penguins held the Capitals to three shots total in the third period.

“It’s like we played Game 7 tonight,” said Malkin, who scored from his belly late in the second period to put Pittsburgh in front to stay. “Unbelievable.” Well. Not exactly. This is what tends to happen when the two longtime rivals meet in the postseason. The Caps edge ahead and the Penguins respond immediately, one of the main reasons the Pens are 9-1 all-time against the Capitals in the playoffs.

Plenty of work remains to be done for the Capitals to shrug off the weight of their ignominious history and for the Penguins to push their bid for a threepeat to the next round. Yet the Penguins laid down the blueprint over three periods that were decidedly tamer than the Game 3 chaos caused in large part by Capitals forward Tom Wilson’s illegal high hit that left rookie Zach AstonReese with a broken jaw and led the league to suspend Wilson for three games.

While Sullivan downplayed the impact of Wilson’s absence, the pushing and shoving was largely kept to a minimum save for a scrap between the Penguins’ Kris Letang and the Capitals’ T.J. Oshie as Guentzel skated down the ice to flip in an empty-net goal with 58 seconds to go.

“We understood it’s a huge game for us,” Malkin said.

The teams head to Washington for Game 5 on Saturday nightall tied up, the ninth time in 11 postseason meetings the series will go at least six games.

Ryan Hartman scored in the first period and P.K. Subban followed up in the second as the Predators tied their series against the host Jets 2-2.

Patrik Laine scored on a power play in the third period for the Jets’ only goal.