Penguins rout Rangers to take 3-1 series lead
Penguins 7, Rangers 2: Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to become the sixth player in NHL history to reach 200 career playoff points and host Pittsburgh throttled New York on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Jake Guentzel scored for the fourth consecutive game and Jeff Carter, Danton Heinen, Mark Friedman and Mike Matheson also beat Igor Shesterkin as the Penguins chased the Vezina Trophy favorite for the second time in three days to move within one game of advancing in the postseason for the first time since 2018.
Shesterkin, who dazzled by making 118 saves in the first two games of the series at Madison Square Garden, sat out the third period after giving up six goals on 30 shots. Alexandar Georgiev allowed Evgeni Malkin’s second goal of the playoffs in the third and could find himself the starter when the series heads back to New York for Game 5 on Wednesday.
Alexis Lafreniere picked up his first career postseason goal for the Rangers to give New York an early lead, but it didn’t come close to holding. Adam Fox’s second of the playoffs pulled New York to within two late in the second period, but Pittsburgh responded by pumping in two more past Shesterkin in the waning moments as the sellout crowd at PPG Paints Arena taunted the goaltender with chants of “IIIIIIIIGORRRR.”
Shesterkin, who limited the Penguins to four goals in four games during the regular season, surrendered twice that total in three periods in Pittsburgh as the Rangers – who entered the series as the favorites – limped to the cusp of a quick exit.
Panthers 3, Capitals 2 (OT): Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored his second of the game in overtime and the visiting Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida beat Washington, tying the first-round series.
Verhaeghe scored 4:57 into overtime to keep the NHL’s best regular-season team from getting pushed to the brink of elimination much earlier in the playoffs than expected. It’s a best-of-three series now with Game 5 Wednesday night at Florida.
The Panthers were just over two minutes away from facing the prospect of getting knocked out at home. Then, with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky pulled for an extra attacker, Reinhart collected a loose puck after it bounced off Capitals forward Garnet Hathaway and beat Ilya Samsonov with 2:04 remaining in the third period.
Given the combination of nerves and playoff inexperience that contributed to Florida’s struggles in the series, Reinhart’s goal may turn out to be the one that saved its season.
Before that point, the Panthers outshot the Capitals by a wide margin, but again were unable to finish.