Penguins explode for 10 goals to stay alive; Sens even things with Rangers
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Teetering on the brink of elimination, the Pittsburgh Penguins refused to surrender as they savaged the Philadelphia Flyers 10-3 on Wednesday to avoid a first round sweep out of the NHL playoffs.
Trailing the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal 3-0, the Penguins used a Jordan Staal hat-trick, two goals from the NHL’S leading scorer Evgeni Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby’s goal and two assists to outmuscle the hosts.
The series now shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Friday with the Penguins still facing an uphill battle as they try to become just the fourth team to overturn a three-game deficit, a feat the Flyers themselves achieved in 2010.
In Los Angeles, Daniel Sedin returned from a 12-game absence with a concussion to help keep the Vancouver Canucks’ season alive with a 3-1 win over the Kings.
Sedin chipped in an assist, goaltender Cory Schneider made 43 saves and topseed Vancouver cut their best-of-seven series deficit to 3-1 and avoided being swept.
In Ottawa, the Senators climbed out of 20 first period hole against the top-seeded New York Rangers to claim a 3-2 overtime win on a goal from Kyle Turris 2:42 into the extra session.
The win levels the Eastern Conference series at 2-2 ahead of a trip back to New York for Game 5 on Saturday.
“We know what’s at stake, now it’s a bestof-three and we go back home,” New York’s Ryan Callahan said. “We dealt with an OT loss before and we responded and we have to do the same now and get ready to go Saturday night.”
A sold-out crowd in Philadelphia was strapped in for another wild ride with the ill-tempered series highlighted by crunching hits and suspensions.
The Penguins quickly found themselves in trouble by taking a penalty just 17 seconds after opening faceoff and the Flyers quickly made them pay with Claude Giroux notching his fifth goal of the series.
The Penguins hit right back, however, Malkin leveling with his first strike of the playoffs followed by another from Matt Niskanen.
Powerplay goals by Kimmo Timonen and Jakub Voracek put the Flyers back in front but that would be the last lead the home team would enjoy as the Penguins reeled off eight unanswered goals.