Penguins advance with sweep of Senators
Evgeni Malkin and Jarko Ruutu scored second-period goals, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-1 win over the host Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night to complete a four-game sweep of their first-round series.
Sidney Crosby scored into an empty net with 7.5 seconds remaining and had an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Pittsburgh, which got its first sweep in 16 years and its first playoff series win since 2001.
Cory Stillman scored for Ottawa, which was swept out of the first round for the third time in its 11 consecutive playoff appearances.
The Penguins also became the first team to advance to the second round. Pittsburgh will face Boston, if the Bruins overcome their 3-1 series deficit against Montreal to advance, or the winner of the Devils-Rangers series.
Predators 3, Red Wings 2: At Nashville, Tenn., Dan Hamhuis and Shea Weber scored in 32-second span in the first period, and the Predators evened their Western Conference playoff series against No. 1-seeded Detroit with a victory in Game 4.
Dan Ellis stopped 39 shots, Greg de Vries added a goal and Martin Erat had two assists as the Predators grabbed a lead in the first period and never let up on the top-seeded Red Wings. They even chased six-time Vezina Trophy winner Dominik Hasek at 6:35 of the second, having stopped 11 of 14 shots.
Game 5 is Friday night in Detroit.
Pavel Datsyuk scored twice for Detroit, which won its sixth President’s Trophy in 13 years this season and has more postseason victories than any other pro sports franchise.
All that hasn’t helped the Red Wings since the series shifted back to Nashville and the Predators made NHL history in Game 3 on Monday night.
Nashville became the first team to go from trailing to leading in less than 10 seconds by scoring two goals within 9 seconds.
Rangers 5, Devils 3: At New York, Marc Staal scored his first NHL playoff goal with 3:13 left in Game 4, and the Rangers earned a victory and a 3-1 series lead over in the series over New Jersey.
Scott Gomez had two goals and Chris Drury also scored for the Rangers, who could end the series Friday with a win at New Jersey.
The rookie defenseman Stahl took a pass from Martin Straka, who provided the Rangers with one of their four one-goal leads, and fired a drive from inside the blue line that got by Brodeur.
Gomez sealed it with an empty-netter with 12.2 seconds left.
Canes sign Samsonov
Sergei Samsonov, a midseason waiver-wire pickup who blossomed as the right wing on Carolina’s second line, signed a three-year, $7.6 million contract to remain with the Hurricanes.