Penguins poised to chase goalie Shesterkin, Rangers from playoffs

Igor Shesterkin toyed with the Penguins during the regular season. New York’s goaltender even waved Sidney Crosby and company off the ice following a shutout victory in early April. Fast forward a month and Shesterkin’s swagger is suddenly gone.

So, seemingly, is the Vezina Trophy favorite’s confidence. Getting pulled twice in three days while the opposing crowd chants your name as puck after puck makes its way behind you into the net will do that. And now the only thing Shesterkin and the Rangers are threatening to wave goodbye to is their once-promising season.

Crosby had a goal and three assists to become just the sixth player in NHL history to reach 200 career playoff points and the Penguins chased Shesterkin off the ice again in a 7-2 victory to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

The Penguins, limited to four goals in four games by Shesterkin in the regular season, can close out the Rangers in New York tonight.

Panthers 3, (at) Capitals 2, OT: Known for their propensity to play from behind and win on the way to the NHL’S best regular season, the Panthers finally delivered a little of that magic in the postseason, and not a minute too late. Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored the overtime winner and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Panthers beat Washington to tie the first-round series.

No team had more comeback victories than Florida’s 24 this season, and now it has home-ice advantage back going into Game 5 tonight. The Panthers outshot the Capitals 32-16 and look to be finding their game even amid some trouble finishing. They went 0 for 4 on the power play to make it 0 for 13 in the series and couldn’t put the puck in the net at 5 on 5. Verhaeghe’s first goal came at 4 on 4.

Flames 4, (at) Stars 1: Rasmus Andersson scored Calgary’s first power-play goal since early in the playoff opener as the Flames beat the Stars to even their series. Johnny Gaudreau converted a penalty shot with 12:13 left in the game to make it 2-0 as the Pacific Division champions regained home-ice advantage. Game 5 is tonight in Calgary.