Crosby reaches 200 playoff points in Penguins’ rout
Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to become the sixth player in NHL history to reach 200 career playoff points and the host Pittsburgh Penguins throttled the New York Rangers 7-2 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.
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Lightning 7, Maple Leafs 3:
Talk about resiliency. Two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay hasn’t lost consecutive playoff games in nearly three years, rattling off 17 consecutive victories following a postseason loss since the start of their 2020 title run.
“Usually a good recipe come playoff time is to not lose two in a row,” captain Steven Stamkos said after the Lightning evened the first-round series between the Atlantic Division rivals at two games apiece.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Toronto.
“This group has proven it knows what it takes at this time of the year, and we know how to respond,” Stamkos added. “Now that we’ve done that twice now in this series, let’s go out and grab the series lead. That’s got to be the mentality.”
Ross Colton scored twice, Andrei Vasilevskiy had 22 saves, and the Lightning got off to a fast start with three goals in the first eight minutes to deny the Maple Leafs an opportunity to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.
“We came on the road here and got a split. … That’s a successful road trip in that sense,” said Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, whose team won Game 3 to regain home-ice advantage. “Whether you lose the game 2-1 or in the manner that we did it doesn’t matter. You wash it and move on. We’ll be better next time.”
Kings 4, Oilers 0: Los Angeles rebounded from back-to-back blowout losses to even their firstround playoff series.
Jonathan Quick tried to make a couple of his 31 saves without his glove during a masterful performance, Carl Grundstrom scored two thirdperiod goals for the host Kings.
After Trevor Moore and Troy Stecher scored in the first period, Quick earned his 10th career playoff shutout while the Kings firmly shut down Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Los Angeles earned its first playoff victory on home ice since the club raised the Stanley Cup for the second time in 2014.
Mike Smith stopped 42 shots for the Oilers, but McDavid, Draisaitl and Evander Kane all struggled for consistent scoring chances after two games of dominance. Edmonton’s frustrations and Los Angeles’ exuberance led to several near-brawls in the final minutes.
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Islanders: Barry Trotz was dismissed as coach, ending his tenure after four seasons, the first three of which yielded playoff appearances.
Trotz, 59, had one year remaining in his contract.
This season the Islanders missed the playoffs with a 37-35-10 record after opening with 13 consecutive road games while their new arena was being completed. Then they had to manage a coronavirus outbreak in their locker room from which they did not bounce back. Trotz went 152-102-34 with the Islanders and 28-21 in the playoffs, reaching the Eastern Conference finals in 2020 and ’21 and losing to Tampa Bay each time.
Avalanche: Darcy Kuemper sat out Game 4 on Monday night with the Colorado goaltender’s right eye still swollen from being poked by a stick through his mask.
Pavel Francouz, who made 18 saves in nearly 41 minutes coming off the bench in relief on Saturday, started against Nashville.