Penguins flatten Flyers, bag 2 goals in 5 seconds

Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists and Matt Murray stopped 26 shots to help the Penguins silence a raucous Philadelphia crowd and beat the Flyers 5-1 on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.

Two of the fiercest rivals in the league have provided three lopsided games: the Penguins’ 7-0 win in Game 1 and the Flyers’ 5-1 victory in Game 2 certainly weren’t nail-bitters.

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 5 seconds apart to tie the playoff record for the fastest two goals, set by the Red Wings in 1965.

Justin Schultz made it 5-1 in the third on the Penguins’ third power-play goal.

Crosby, who has 93 points in 63 career regularseason games against the Flyers, shut up the orangeand-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 champ showed no signs of easing up. Sharks go home up 2-0: Logan Couture had a goal and an assist, Martin Jones made 28 saves and the Sharks excelled on the road again, beating the Ducks 3-2 on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif., to take a 2-0 lead in their series.

Marcus Sorensen and Tomas Hertl also scored for the Sharks, who moved halfway to their first playoff series win since their Stanley Cup Final run in 2016. The Sharks also are halfway to their first playoff series victory over the Ducks.

Hampus Lindholm had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who left the Honda Center with an 0-2 series deficit for the third time in their last five playoff series.

“I know the resolve in our room,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “I guarantee you we’re not going to lay down. We made some mistakes and basically gave them goals. When you gift things in the playoffs, you’re usually going to end up on the wrong side of the score.”

Jakob Silfverberg scored in the opening minute and John Gibson stopped 32 shots as the Ducks dropped to 3-6 in their last nine home playoff games overall.

AP