PITTSBURGH (AP) — Derick Brassard scored twice, including New York’s first power-play goal in 10 games,
and the Rangers avoided elimination with a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the
Eastern Conference semifinals Friday night.
Brassard ended New York’s 0-for-36 slide with the man advantage, beating Marc-Andre Fleury late in the
first period. Ryan McDonagh added another power-play goal in the second to help the Rangers force Game 6
in New York on Sunday.
Chris Kreider and Kevin Klein also scored, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 31 shots.
Evgeni Malkin had his third goal of the series for Pittsburgh. Fleury made 30 saves.
WILD 4, BLACKHAWKS 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jason Pominville scored for Minnesota in the second period off the back of Chicago
goalie Corey Crawford’s skate and the Wild evened the Western Conference semifinals 2-2.
Matt Cooke returned from his seven-game kneeing suspension to give the Wild a jolt, assisting on Justin
Fontaine’s opening goal. Nino Niederreiter and Jared Spurgeon also scored.
Crawford made 27 saves, but he gave up four goals for the second straight game.
Patrick Sharp and Michal Handzus scored for the defending champion Blackhawks.
The teams will return to Chicago for Game 5 on Sunday night and be back in Minnesota for Game 6 on
Tuesday night.