Flyers keep series alive, beat Penguins

NHL PLAYOFFS

FLYERS 4, PENGUINS 2

PITTSBURGH -- Sean Couturier's long shot from the point got past Matt Murray with 1:17 left and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Friday night to force sixth game in the first-round series.

The Flyers cut the Penguins' series lead to 3-2 going into Game 6 on Sunday in Philadelphia.

After missing Game 4 with a lower-body injury, Couturier extended his team's season at least two more days by picking up his second goal of the series. Claude Giroux, Valtteri Filppula and Matt Read also scored for the Flyers. Michal Neuvirth stopped 30 shots, including a diving stop on the doorstep to deny Penguins star Sidney Crosby shortly after Couturier's knuckler put Philadelphia in front.

Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins. Matt Murray made 21 saves but had no chance on Couturier's winner as the puck found its way through a sea of players and into the net.

A series that figured to be taut instead started with four straight blowouts, most of them ending with the Flyers skating off the ice wondering what they needed to do to keep pace with cross-state rivals.

Philadelphia Coach Dave Hakstol, perhaps fighting for his job, made his first significant change in an effort to keep his team's season alive, giving Neuvirth his first playoff start in nearly two years and his first start of any variety in more than two months after Brian Elliott couldn't shake out of a funk that saw him pulled in Game 1 and again in Game 4.

There was no need for change in Pittsburgh, which has developed a killer instinct under Coach Mike Sullivan it lacked at times earlier in the Crosby/Malkin era. The Penguins came in 8-5 in potential close-out games since Sullivan took over in December, 2015, including a 5-2 mark at home.

Make it 5-3.

JETS 5, WILD 0

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Jacob Trouba, Bryan Little, Brandon Tanev and Joel Armia scored in the first 11:59 to chase Minnesota goalie Devan Dubynk and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Wild to win a playoff series for the first time in franchise history.

Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his second shutout of the series, and Mark Scheifele added a goal in the third to help the Jets finish off the Wild in five games. Winnipeg will face the winner of the Nashville-Colorado series in the second round.

The white-clad crowd of 15,321 at Bell MTS Place stood and began cheering and waving white towels with just over two minutes remaining. A similar-size crowd was outside watching on giant screens at a "whiteout" street party.

Winnipeg's previous post-season appearance was a sweep by Anaheim in 2015. The franchise moved from Atlanta in 2011.

AVALANCHE 2, PREDATORS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Sven Andrighetto scored with 1:28 left to give the Colorado Avalanche a victory over the Nashville Predators, sending the first-round series back to Denver for Game 6.

This is the third time the Avalanche had trailed 3-1 in a series since the franchise relocated to Colorado. They lost the first two, but will have a chance Sunday to push this series to a seventh game after rallying with two goals in the final 4:11.

Gabriel Landeskog started the rally with his goal into an empty net with Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne caught outside the crease with his own teammate Ryan Ellis in his lap. Then Andrighetto gave the Avs the lead off a rebound of a shot by J.T. Compher that stunned a sold-out Nashville crowd that had expected to celebrate advancing to the second round.

Andrew Hammond made a career-high 44 saves for his first postseason victory in his first playoff start since April 17, 2015, with Ottawa and just the third of his career.

Nick Bonino scored for Nashville.

Sports on 04/21/2018