All posts by The Associated Press

Crosby, Penguins take 2-0 series lead over Blue Jackets

PITTSBURGH - Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, Marc-Andre Fleury stayed sharp in his second straight playoff start and the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled away for a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.

Jake Guentzel added a goal and an assist for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the postseason, and Patric Hornqvist pushed in an empty-net goal.

Fleury finished with 39 saves while filling in for the injured Matt Murray, and received plenty of help. Pittsburgh blocked 23 shots before they even got to Fleury.

Brandon Saad scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots.

Game 3 is Sunday night in Columbus.

Fleury admitted to some jitters when he was suddenly thrust into the lineup with barely 20 minutes to prepare after Murray was a late scratch before Game 1 with a lower-body injury - and responded with a 31-save masterpiece. Murray is out indefinitely, returning Fleury to the spot he held for a decade while becoming the winningest goaltender in franchise history.

His club-record 102nd playoff appearance looked an awful lot like his 101st, when he held the Blue Jackets in check during an early push then waited for NHL's best offense to find its footing.

The awakening came earlier than in the series opener. Crosby turned Pittsburgh's first shot of the game into the 50th playoff goal of his career, though he had the easy part: settling the puck at the doorstep then flipping it into a wide-open net. Sheary did the hard part: poke-checking the puck away from Bobrovsky behind the Columbus net and getting it to Guentzel in front. Guentzel then slid it to Crosby and the Penguins were in control.

Saad gave the Blue Jackets a jolt when his wrist shot from the left circle zipped over Fleury's glove 7 minutes into the second.

The momentum lasted all of 51 seconds, or as along as it took for Crosby and Guentzel to break in 2-on-1. Crosby fed it to Guentzel and the 22-year-old rookie opted not to give it to back to the league's leading goal scorer and instead sent a shot that Bobrovsky's outstretched left pad couldn't reach and suddenly the Penguins were back in front.

Columbus coach John Tortorella stressed his team - which has only scored more than three goals just twice since St. Patrick's Day - needed to find some offenses if it wanted to make the third playoff berth in franchise history more than a cameo.

So far that way has been clogged by both Fleury and the guys in black-and-gold in front of him. Columbus' best chance to draw even came late in the second when Pittsburgh defenseman Brian Dumoulin went off for holding. The Blue Jackets produced a handful of chances only to see Cole or another of the Penguins' penalty killers drop to their knees to block shots.

Pittsburgh held steady and when Malkin buried a pass from Crosby a second after a Columbus penalty expired 2:01 into the third, the Penguins were in firmly control.

NOTES: The Penguins wore a decal on their helmets that featured the logo of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers to honor longtime Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who passed away on Thursday at age 84. The team also held a pregame moment of silence and put together a video tribute that aired in the arena during a first-period stoppage in play. ... Fleury's 55 playoff wins are one behind Tom Barrasso for the most in team history. ... The Blue Jackets have not led at any point during their four games at PPG Paints Arena this season.

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Bowman recalls watching Jackie Robinson play as anniversary nears

TAMPA, Fla. - Scotty Bowman was 12 years old when he saw Jackie Robinson play in Montreal. More than 70 years later, Bowman says Montreal welcomed Robinson during the Hall of Famer's one season with the International League Royals.

''Adoration,'' the winningest coach in NHL history said. ''Montreal fans embraced him.''

Robinson ended racial segregation in major league baseball on April 15, 1947 when he made his big league debut at first base in a Brooklyn Dodgers home game against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field.

Robinson is honored every April with ceremonies throughout baseball. All MLB players will wear his retired No. 42 jersey in Saturday's games.

Robinson's journey to Brooklyn had one final stop after being signed in 1945 by Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey: a season in the minor leagues.

Bowman attended Sunday games at Delorimier Stadium in 1946, where Robinson was part of a powerful Dodgers Triple-A team that won the IL title and the Junior World Series. Robinson hit .349 with three homers, 66 RBIs, 113 runs scored and 40 stolen bases over 124 games in his lone minor league season.

''He could have played in Brooklyn that year,'' Bowman said. ''We went to the games, my friends and I, and you could see it. He was an all-around player.''

Robinson remains revered in Montreal. The house where he rented an apartment is a landmark.

''They made it a heritage building,'' Bowman said.

Robinson, raised in California, got a taste of the Canadian winter as the Royals capped off the year by beating the American Association's Louisville Colonels for the Junior World Series championship.

''It was snowing in one of the games,'' said Bowman, currently a senior adviser with the Chicago Blackhawks. ''It didn't bother them, they won.''

After Bowman had his hopes of an NHL playing career derailed by injuries, he eventually ended up becoming a Montreal legend, too. Five of Bowman's NHL-record nine Stanley Cup coaching championships came from 1973-79 while with the Montreal Canadiens.

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Getzlaf powers Ducks past Flames in series opener

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Jakob Silfverberg scored the tiebreaking power-play goal late in the second period, and captain Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist in the Anaheim Ducks' 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames in their first-round playoff series opener Thursday night.

Rickard Rakell scored the tying goal after Calgary made a horrendous line change in the second period, and John Gibson made 30 saves as the Ducks avoided a slow start to their latest Stanley Cup playoff campaign.

Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett scored and Brian Elliott stopped 38 shots for the wild-card Flames. Calgary is winless in Anaheim since April 25, 2006, when the Flames won a playoff game in a series won by the Ducks.

Game 2 is Saturday night at Honda Center.

With their fans' chants of ''You can't win here!'' echoing down from the rafters, the Ducks kept up their improbable home mastery of the Flames despite falling behind in the second period.

Getzlaf was dominant while he became the first Ducks player to score 100 playoff points. He capped his night with an enormous third-period check on Calgary captain Mark Giordano, who is reviled in Anaheim after injuring All-Star defenseman Cam Fowler with a knee-on-knee hit last week.

Anaheim capped the win by killing two Flames power plays, including a 5-on-3 disadvantage for 1:17 in the waning minutes. Gibson was shaky at times, but he denied Johnny Gaudreau in the crease with 18 seconds to play.

With Calgary's loss, the NHL's Canadian teams fell to 0-5 in their playoff openers this season.

The Ducks have won five straight Pacific Division titles, but their postseason failures in recent years led to coach Bruce Boudreau's firing last spring and the return of Randy Carlyle, who led Anaheim to its only championship a decade ago. The Ducks haven't reached the Stanley Cup Final since, and they've won just three playoff rounds during the past four seasons - including an embarrassing first-round loss to Nashville last season.

The Ducks lost the first two games at home to the Predators, who eventually won in seven games. A slow start wasn't a problem against the Flames, however: The raucous Orange County crowd hadn't even settled in its seats before Getzlaf wired a one-timer through traffic for his 30th career playoff goal.

Calgary evened it on a power-play redirect by Monahan, the top-line forward who scored 58 points and didn't miss a game during the regular season.

Bennett put the Flames ahead with a slick shot off Kris Versteeg's slick backhand pass in front. Before Honda Center or the Ducks could get too tense, Rakell evened it on a rebound of Getzlaf's shot after Calgary gave up a 3-on-0 rush with its confused line change.

Silfverberg then put a beautiful wrist shot through traffic to reclaim the lead.

The Ducks expect to be without Fowler for at least the next few games after the hit by Giordano, who wasn't penalized or further disciplined by the NHL. Giordano was booed every time he touched the puck.

NOTES: Ducks D Shea Theodore got the first two playoff points of his career with power-play assists. ... Calgary's Glen Gulutzan coached his first NHL playoff game, and rookie F Matthew Tkachuk made his playoff debut. ... Anaheim D Brandon Montour and F Ondrej Kase made their Stanley Cup playoff debuts. ... Ducks F Nick Ritchie completed his two-game suspension for punching Chicago's Michael Rozsival last week. The power forward will be eligible to make his NHL playoff debut in Game 2.

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Lundqvist shuts door as Rangers take Game 1 over Canadiens

MONTREAL - Tanner Glass scored in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to help the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night at Bell Centre.

Michael Grabner added an empty-net goal with 1:10 left to play.

Montreal outshot New York 16-5 in the first period, but couldn't beat Lundqvist.

The Canadiens are looking to a avenge a six-game loss in the first round to New York in 2014, a series in which Carey Price was injured in the opening game on a hit from Chris Kreider. This time, Kreider pulled up when barreling toward Price in the first period.

Fired up by 1960s pop star Ginette Reno's national anthem, the Canadiens were all over New York in the opening period, but it was the Rangers who struck first 9:50 on only their third shot.

Montreal's Tomas Plekanec won a draw in his own zone, but fourth-line winger Glass pounced on it and lifted a backhand from the slot over Price's shoulder.

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Goalless through 79 games, Sheahan scores final tally at Joe Louis Arena

DETROIT - Riley Sheahan had two goals and Henrik Zetterberg scored in his 1,000th NHL game, helping the Detroit Red Wings beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 Sunday in a party-like atmosphere for the final game at Joe Louis Arena.

Zetterberg put Detroit up 3-0 midway through the second period following Sheahan's and Tomas Tatar's goals in the first. Sheahan didn't have a goal in his first 79 games this year but scored his second of the game with 2:33 left to bring fans to their feet, where they stayed for the game.

Jimmy Howard stopped 24 shots for the Red Wings, who failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1990 to end a postseason streak that tied for the third longest in league history.

Cory Schneider made 31 saves for the Devils, who haven't earned a spot in the postseason since advancing to the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals.

New Jersey's John Moore scored early in the third and teammate Taylor Hall had a goal overturned later in the period.

It didn't look or sound as if nothing was at stake for the former NHL powers in the regular season finale for both teams.

Fans were fired up hours before the puck dropped and didn't stop cheering even when the final horn sounded.

The Red Wings rolled out a red carpet for current and former players leading into the arena, and thousands of people showed up.

Fans arriving early enough pressed up against a red velvet rope to get autographs and take selfies with Zetterberg and former favorites such as Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom and tough-guy, fan-favorite Darren McCarty. Those who didn't get there in time for a prime location settled for being perched up on adjacent steps that climb up to the arena and standing on both sides of Steve Yzerman Drive on a sunny, windy and warm afternoon.

''We missed the playoffs and we still have this kind of support from the fans,'' defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. ''It gives me goosebumps.''

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was among the 20,000-plus people in the arena, also seemed to be touched by the aura.

''What an amazing atmosphere here for the last game, typical of a crowd at The Joe,'' Bettman wrote in an email during the game. ''The end of one era. And, we look forward to the beginning of another at Little Caesars Arena.''

The Red Wings, who have played at Joe Louis Arena since the 1979-80 season, will move to a new facility nearby next season that they will share with the Pistons near the home of the Lions and Tigers.

After the game, Detroit's players skated to center ice and raised their sticks. The fans, in turn, pointed commemorative sticks they were given toward the banner-filled rafters that recognize 11 Stanley Cup titles and retired jerseys of some of the game's greats, such as Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman.

A postgame celebration was planned later in the evening on the ice, and it appeared that most of the fans planned to stick around.

NOTES: The Red Wings (four) and Devils (three) combined to win seven Stanley Cups between 1995, when New Jersey swept Detroit, and 2008. ... Sheahan avoided the dubious distinction of being the first NHL forward to be held scoreless with at least 100 shots in a season.

UP NEXT

Devils: The front office, coaching staff and players have to figure out how to bring the once-proud franchise back to respectability after finishing eighth in a division for the first time and having an Eastern Conference-low 70 points.

Red Wings: A new arena will not fix the team's problems. Detroit needs more talent to surround Zetterberg, who was its best player this season even though he's 36.

---

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey

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Wild beat Coyotes for franchise record 49th win

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Darcy Kuemper stopped 20 shots, Martin Hanzal scored in his return to the desert and the Minnesota Wild set a franchise record with their 49th win by beating the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 on Saturday night.

The Wild already clinched home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs and the victory over the Coyotes gave them a franchise record 105 points.

Erik Haula and Eric Staal scored in the first period. Hanzal scored in the third in his first game in Arizona since being traded with Ryan White to Minnesota on Feb. 26

Brendan Perlini scored for the Coyotes and captain Shane Doan had an assist in what may be the final game of his 21-year NHL career.

Mike Smith stopped 41 shots his 312th game with the Coyotes, passing Bob Essensa for most in franchise history.

Doan contemplated retirement last season after leading the Coyotes with 28 goals, deciding over the summer to play at least one more season. Doan's production fell off this season - six goals - but said before the final game of the season that he's not sure if it will be the last one of his career.

Saturday's game was No. 1,540 for Doan, tying him with John Bucyk for 14th on the NHL's all-time list.

Arizona played without All-Star defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who traveled back home following the death of his mother in Sweden. The Wild jumped on the Coyotes early without their best defenseman, scoring two goals by the midpoint of the first period.

Both came on mistakes by Smith.

On the first, Smith tried to pass it out front to Jordan Martinook in front of his own crease. Instead, Jason Pominville intercepted the puck and fed it to Haula, who one-timed it into an empty net.

Staal scored his 28th goal on a power play midway through the first period, ripping a one-timer past Smith after the Coyotes goalie reached down to recover his stick after dropping it earlier.

Perlini scored on a rebound early in the third period, but Hanzal gave the Wild a two-goal lead again a few minutes later.

NOTES: The Arizona Coyotes honored minor leaguer Craig Cunningham and had him drop the ceremonial puck before the game, five months after he collapsed on the ice before a Tucson Roadrunners game and nearly died. ... Hanzal reached 20 goals for the first time in his 11-year career. ... Minnesota has a 14-game points streak against Arizona (11-1-2).

UP NEXT

Wild: Open the playoffs at home next week.

Coyotes: Will have a high draft pick in this year's NHL draft for the second straight season.

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Halak magnificent again as Islanders win to stay alive in playoff hunt

NEWARK, N.J. - Jaroslav Halak made 37 saves, Anders Lee scored twice and the New York Islanders kept their playoff hopes alive with a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Adam Pelech and Jason Chimera also scored as the Islanders won their fifth straight game - all with Halak in goal. He is 6-1-0 since being recalled from Bridgeport of the AHL on March 23.

Whether New York gets to the playoffs will be determined by the Toronto Maple Leafs. If the Maple Leafs win either of their final two games - home against Pittsburgh on Saturday night and home vs. Columbus on Sunday night - they get the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and eliminate the Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The regular season ends on Sunday.

Beau Bennett scored twice for the Devils, who have three wins in their last 23 games (3-16-4).

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Lightning win again, move within a point of Maple Leafs

MONTREAL - Rookie Yanni Gourde scored twice, Nikita Kucherov got his 40th of the season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning kept their playoff hopes alive with a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.

Alex Killorn also scored for the Lightning. They need to win their final regular-season game Sunday against Buffalo and have Toronto and the New York Islanders lose to take the final spot in the Eastern Conference.

Dwight King and Artturi Lehkonen scored for the playoff-bound Canadiens.

The desperate Lightning faced a Canadiens team that had already clinched first place in the Atlantic Division and rested three banged up starting defensemen - Shea Weber, Jordie Benn and Alexei Emelin.

Kucherov could have had three goals in the first period.

The 23-year-old Russian was robbed by Carey Price 3:59 into the game, then froze the Montreal defense on a rush and hit a post from the slot at 11:42, but Gourde fired in the rebound to open the scoring.

At 19:50, Ondrej Palat flipped a pass into the neutral zone that the speeding Kucherov controlled with a quick slap of the stick before beating Price inside the near post.

Lehkonen found King coming off the bench with a stretch pass. He went in alone to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pads for his first goal in 16 games as a Canadien at 9:59 of the second.

Killorn got it back at 14:19 on a rush after Cory Conacher forced a turnover at the Tampa Bay blue line.

Lehkonen saw his pass go in off a skate at 4:36 of the third but, only 21 seconds later, Gourde was left alone on the left side and put Conacher's pass into an open side for a fifth goal in his last seven games.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Host Buffalo on Sunday in their regular-season finale.

Canadiens: At Detroit in their regular-season finale Saturday night.

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Capitals inch closer to Presidents’ Trophy, keep Toronto from clinching

TORONTO - Lars Eller and Kevin Shattenkirk gave Washington a two-goal lead halfway through the game, and the Capitals cruised to a 4-1 win over Toronto on Tuesday night, snapping the Maple Leafs' four-game winning streak.

Nate Schmidt and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington and Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots. The Capitals, winners of eight of their last nine, moved closer to clinching the top spot in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents' Trophy with the league's best record. However, Pittsburgh's win over Columbus prevented them from doing so.

Mitch Marner scored his 19th of the season, spoiling Grubauer's shutout bid with a power-play goal with 1:08 to go. Curtis McElhinney finished with 34 saves for the Maple Leafs, who lost for just the second time in nine games.

Toronto lost center Brian Boyle to an upper-body injury, possibly from a hard collision with Wilson in the first period.

The Capitals beat the Maple Leafs for the seventh time in their last eight meetings and are 10-2-1 in the last 13 matchups. The first two games this season were tight - Toronto won 4-2 here on Nov. 26 and Washington won 6-5 in overtime at home on Jan. 3 - but the Capitals were in control in this one.

Washington spent a lot of time in the offensive zone in the first and Eller scored with 5:26 remaining in the opening period as he took a feed from Andre Burakovsky and sent a shot from near the right faceoff spot that took a deflection off a Toronto skate.

The Leafs came out with considerably more bite to open the second period and pressed the Washington goal. But the Caps weathered the storm and doubled their lead on Shattenkirk's power-play goal at the 10-minute mark. It was Shattenkirk's 12th of the year and first with the Capitals, and gave Washington its 36th power-play score in their last 40 games.

Alex Ovechkin got an assist on the play, moving him into sole possession of second place among Russian-born players on the NHL's all-time scoring list. He came into the game tied with Alexander Mogilny with 1,032 points and trailing Sergei Fedorov by 147 points for first place.

Washington played a controlled third period with Grubauer mopping up when needed. Schmidt, a late replacement for the injured John Carlson (lower body), added to the lead at 8:11 coming in from the point with little opposition to snap a shot past McElhinney.

Wilson made it 4-0 with a nifty deke with 3:14 left after being sent in alone by former Leafs player Daniel Winnik.

NOTES: It was the 100th NHL game for Leafs forward William Nylander. ... Ovechkin has 60 points (33 goals, 27 assists) in 42 career games against the Maple Leafs.

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Penguins deal reeling Blue Jackets 4th straight loss

PITTSBURGH - Patric Hornqvist picked up his 20th goal of the season, Matt Murray finished with 37 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins sped past the slumping Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Jake Guentzel and Carter Rowney also scored for Pittsburgh. Brian Dumoulin added his first regular season goal in more than two years as the Penguins moved three points ahead of Columbus in the race to have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Pittsburgh won its third straight to inch closer to opening its Stanley Cup defense at home thanks in large part to Murray and offensive contributions from unexpected places.

Brandon Dubinsky scored short-handed for Columbus. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots but the Blue Jackets dropped a season-high fourth straight and have ceded control of the second seed in the Metropolitan Division to Pittsburgh with three games to go.

The teams are almost assured of facing each other when the playoffs begin next week, a rematch from a 2014 first-round series the Penguins won in six taut games and seemed to signal Columbus' arrival as a legitimate contender.

Three years later, Columbus has officially arrived, though the team that spent the better part of 60 minutes chasing the Penguins around sold-out PPG Paints Arena hardly looked like the one that came in 2-0-1 over its first three meetings of the season. The Blue Jackets tried to push the Penguins around, rattling the boards in the process but not Pittsburgh.

The Penguins' fourth line helped bolster a largely lifeless performance in a victory over Carolina on Sunday and the momentum carried over. Rowney put Pittsburgh in front with 1:09 left in the first period when he planted himself in front of Bobrovsky and redirected a feed from Scott Wilson over Bobrovsky's shoulder.

Hornqvist doubled Pittsburgh's lead just before the game's midway point, though linemate Tom Kuhnhackl did all the work. Kuhnhackl tracked down a loose puck in the defensive zone the raced end-to-end down the left wing, fending off Oliver Bjorkstrand in the process before sliding a crossing pass to a streaking Hornqvist that found the open net.

Dumoulin, who scored a pair of goals during last year's run to the Cup, reached the back of the net in the regular season for the first time since Dec. 15, 2014, when he saved a clear at the edge of the blue line, carried the puck behind the Columbus net then saw his wraparound smack off Cam Atkinson and in, ending a 151-game regular season goalless drought.

When Guentzel deflected a Justin Schultz shot from the point by Bobrovsky 33 seconds into the third, the Penguins were in firm control.

Dubinsky's 12th of the year midway through the third spoiled Murray's shutout bid but served as little solace for the Blue Jackets.

NOTES: Columbus rookie D Zack Werenski did not play while dealing with an upper-body injured suffered in a loss to Washington on Sunday. ... Penguins D Trevor Daley skated on Tuesday morning and is hopeful to return before the postseason begins. Daley hasn't played since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Feb. 23. ... The Penguins went 0 for 3 on the power play. The Blue Jackets were 0 for 1. ... Pittsburgh's 109 points tied the 2013-14 team for the second-highest total in club history.

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