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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pens take series lead with OT win

Sidney Crosby, second from left, assists Pascal Dupuis (9), for one of three assists on the night. (Associated Press)
Associated Press

Chris Kunitz scored his second power-play goal of the game 8:34 into overtime, off a pass from Sidney Crosby, and the Pittsburgh Penguins shook off an early deficit and a late blown lead to beat the New York Islanders 5-4 on Sunday in Uniondale, N.Y., in Game 3 of the first-round series.

The Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team rode severe ups and downs in taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.

Pittsburgh trailed 2-0 just 5:41 in but rallied to lead 3-2 before the first period was over. The comeback started with power-play goals just 19 seconds apart by Jarome Iginla and Kunitz.

New York erased a 4-2 deficit in the third period on goals by Kyle Okposo and John Tavares.

Pittsburgh will try to take a commanding 3-1 series lead Tuesday night on Long Island.

Crosby, who had three assists in his second game back after missing a month because of a broken jaw, drew the decisive penalty against Brian Strait, who held the Penguins captain as he drove the net 33 seconds before the winning goal.

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma used his timeout to rest his power-play unit, and it paid off. Crosby fed Kunitz in the slot for a hard shot that beat goalie Evgeni Nabokov to win it.

Evgeni Malkin added two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves for Pittsburgh.

Wild 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT): At St. Paul, Minn., Jason Zucker scored at 2:15 of overtime to give Minnesota a victory over Chicago, pulling the Wild within 2-1 in the Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Zach Parise scored for Minnesota early in the third period, but Duncan Keith got one back for the Blackhawks with 2:46 left in regulation to force the second overtime in three games of this best-of-seven series.

Game 4 is in St. Paul on Tuesday night.

It was the Wild’s first home playoff game in five years.

Senators 6, Canadiens 1: Jean-Gabriel Pageau got his first NHL hat trick to lead Ottawa in a fight-filled victory over visiting Montreal.

The teams combined for 236 penalty minutes and nine players were given a game misconduct.

The Senators have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and Game 4 is Tuesday night in Ottawa.

Sharks 5, Canucks 2: At San Jose, Calif., Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture each scored twice to spoil Cory Schneider’s return to the net for Vancouver and San Jose won its third straight game to open the playoffs.

Couture added a second power-play goal early in the third to end Schneider’s night and give him a playoff-best four points for the game. Antti Niemi made 28 saves.

San Jose will attempt to complete the first series sweep in franchise history at home on Tuesday night.