Persistent Pens oust Rangers
The end of two seasons’ worth of playoff angst for the Pittsburgh Penguins came suddenly, crammed into a second period of pure exhilaration, one highlightreel sequence atop another.
And perhaps it’s fitting that the Penguins’ relentless fivegame elimination of the New York Rangers — completed during a raucous 6-3 victory Saturday in Pittsburgh — wasn’t sealed by the familiar faces atop their starladen roster but by the pieces brought in to help return Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang to their spot among the NHL’s elite.
Bryan Rust scored twice and Matt Cullen and Conor Sheary once each during a four-goal second period against an uncharacteristically shaky Henrik Lundqvist, and Matt Murray made 38 saves as the Penguins exacted a bit of revenge against the Rangers, who had knocked them out of the playoffs the last two seasons.
‘‘We are obviously all aware of what’s happened in the past,’’ Rust said. ‘‘There’s guys who obviously weren’t there. We wanted to fight harder to make sure it didn’t happen like two years ago, when the team was up 3-1 and they lost that lead and ended up losing the series. We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.’’
Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel — who like Rust, Cullen and Sheary weren’t on the roster when the Penguins fell to the Rangers the last two seasons — also scored for the Penguins to end a miserable and brief postseason for Lundqvist, who stopped only 17 of the 23 shots he faced and failed to make it to the third period for the third time in the series.
Rick Nash, Dominic Moore and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, who wasted two one-goal leads in the first period before being overwhelmed in the second.
Ducks 5, Predators 2
David Perron and Sami Vatanen each had a goal and an assist, Frederik Andersen made 27 saves and the Anaheim Ducks defeated the visiting Nashville Predators to grab a 3-2 lead in their first-round series. Game 6 is scheduled for Monday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Ryan Garbutt, Cam Fowler and Ryan Kesler ( empty net) also scored for the Ducks, who became the first home team to win a game in the series. Ryan Johansen and Miikka Salomaki scored for the Predators.
Sun-Times wires