Avs complete sweep of Predators
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Valeri Nichushkin scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:58 left, and the Colorado Avalanche became the first team to advance to the second round Monday night by finishing a sweep of the Nashville Predators 5-3 Monday night.
The Avalanche now are in the Western Conference semifinals for a fourth straight season and second consecutive after sweeping their first-round opponent. They improved to 6-0 since the franchise relocated to Denver in best-of-seven series after winning the first three games.
They now get to wait for either St. Louis or Minnesota.
■ Panthers 3, Capitals 2: At Washington, Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, and Carter Verhaeghe scored his second of the game in overtime to help Florida even the first-round series at two apiece. T.J. Oshie scored on the power play in the first, and Evgeny Kuznetsov also score for Washington. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 14 of 16 shots for the Panthers, while
Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves for the Capitals.
■ Penguins 7, Rangers 2: At Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to become the sixth player in NHL history to reach 200 career playoff points as Pittsburgh took a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference series. Jake Guentzel scored for the fourth consecutive game. New York’s Igor Shesterkin sat out the third period after giving up six goals on 30 shots.
■ Flames 4, Stars 1: At Dallas, Rasmus Andersson scored Calgary’s first power-play goal since early in the playoff opener to back Jacob Markstrom, who had 34 saves as the first-round series knotted up at 2-2. Johnny Gaudreau converted a penalty shot with 12:13 left in the game to make it 2-0 Calgary, and later assisted on Elias Lindholm’s third goal of the series.