NHL Three Stars: Penguins get offensive; Blackhawks survive
No. 1 Star: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Malkin led the way for Pittsburgh with two goals and two assists as the Penguins took control of their series with a 5-0 victory over the New York Rangers. Malkin’s four points tied a playoff career high he set in the 2009 Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Penguins lead the series 3-1.
No. 2 Star: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
The star Blackhawks forward scored the double-overtime winner at the 3:07 mark to give his team a 4-3 victory. The Blues now hold a 3-2 lead in their series with Game 6 on Saturday at the United Center. It was Kane’s fifth playoff overtime goal in his career, which tied him for third on the NHL’s all-time list with Glenn Anderson. Chicago moved to 8-1 since 2013 when facing elimination in the playoffs.
No. 3 Star: Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning
Bishop stopped all 34 Detroit Red Wings shots on goal to help his team advance to the second-round of the playoffs with a 1-0 victory. It was Bishop’s fourth career playoff shutout. Three of his shutouts have come in series clinching games. He finished the first-round with a 1.61 goal-against average and .950 save percentage.
Honorable Mention: Anaheim Ducks’ netminder Frederik Andersen continued his strong play this postseason by stopping 30 of 31 Nashville Predators shots on goal in a 4-1 win that knotted their series at 2-2 … Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano scored his second goal of the playoffs as did teammate Ryan Getzlaf … Forward Nate Thompson also scored for the Ducks … Forward Mike Fisher scored the Predators’ lone goal … Penguins forward Sidney Crosby notched two assists … Pittsburgh forward Patric Hornqvist scored his fourth goal of the playoffs … Alex Killorn scored the game-winner for the Lightning. His score came at the 18:17 mark of the third period … Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek stopped 23 of 24 shots on goal … Chicago forward Artemi Panarin scored a goal and added an assist. Teammate Jonathan Toews notched an assist … Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa scored a goal … Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo notched three assists … St. Louis rookie Robby Fabbri scored a goal and added an assist … Blues forward Jaden Schwartz scored a goal … Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith played 42:00 and was a plus-2.
Did You Know? The Lightning advanced to the second-round exactly 20 years after they hosted their first home playoff game, a 5-4 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Dishonorable Mention: Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne has allowed seven goals his last two games … The Predators are 1-for-19 on the power play in the playoffs … Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was pulled after allowing four goals on 18 shots on goal … Rangers forward Eric Staal was a minus-1 in Thursday’s loss to Pittsburgh. In this series he has no points and is a minus-6 … Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg scored one goal in five games this playoff. It was his only point. Teammate Pavel Datsyuk didn’t have a point … St. Louis forward Alex Steen was a minus-3 on Thursday.
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