Cale Makar and Andre Burakovsky each had a goal and two assists Monday as the Colorado Avalanche completed a sweep of the Nashville Predators with a 5-3 road victory in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series.
The top overall seed in the Western Conference, Colorado became the first team to advance to the second round of this year’s playoffs. The Predators, meanwhile, suffered the first postseason sweep in franchise history.
Makar led all players with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in the series, setting an NHL record for most points by a defenseman over the first four games in one postseason. Nathan MacKinnon scored into an empty net for Colorado, and J.T. Compher had two assists.
Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz stopped 28 of 31 shots. Francouz got the nod in place of regular starter Darcy Kuemper, who sustained an eye injury in Game 3. Yakov Trenin scored the Predators’ first two goals, with Colton Sissons assisting on both tallies. Connor Ingram saved 33 of 37 shots.
Penguins 7, Rangers 2
Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists Monday to reach 200 career playoff points and help host Pittsburgh take a 3-1 lead over New York in their first-round Eastern Conference series.
Jake Guentzel added a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who scored five goals in the second period. Mike Matheson, Mark Friedman, Danton Heinen, Jeff Carter and Evgeni Malkin scored while Kris Letang had two assists. Pittsburgh goaltender Louis Domingue made 22 saves.
Alexis Lafreniere and Adam Fox scored for the Rangers. New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who was pulled following one period in Game 3, was yanked after the second period on Monday. He gave up six goals on 30 shots. Sub Alexandar Georgiev stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced.
Panthers 3, Capitals 2 (OT)
Carter Verhaeghe scored his second goal of the game 4:57 into overtime as visiting Florida defeated Washington to level the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two wins apiece.
Sam Reinhart scored Florida’s other goal, and Aaron Ekblad had two assists. Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 saves for the win.
T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for the Capitals. Washington goalie Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves.
Flames 4, Stars 1
Johnny Gaudreau scored a penalty-shot goal and contributed an assist as visiting Calgary evened its first-round Western Conference playoff series against Dallas in Game 4.
Rasmus Andersson, Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames. Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves for the win. Game 5 of the best-of-seven series will be played Wednesday in Calgary.
Tyler Seguin replied with a late goal for the Stars, who received a 50-save performance from Jake Oettinger. The Dallas goalie surrendered as many goals as he had in the first three games, but through four playoff outings this year, he has stopped 143 of 149 shots.
–Field Level Media
