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Columbus, Ohio • With help from Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins are on the verge of sweeping their opening playoff series against Columbus.
Crosby played keep-away with three Blue Jackets players behind the net before passing the puck to a perfectly positioned Guentzel in front during overtime on Sunday night.
The 22-year-old rookie capped his hat trick by slipping it past Sergei Bobrovsky at 13:10 of the extra period for a 5-4 win and a 3-0 advantage for Pittsburgh in the playoff series.
The Penguins will try to finish off Columbus on Tuesday night.
The loss was deflating for the Blue Jackets, who scored 11 seconds into the game and jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first period only to let the Penguins climb back in, as veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury regained the form that frustrated Columbus in the two previous games.
Fleury, forced into action for the injured Matt Murray, had 33 saves in another wild and hard-hitting matchup between the Metropolitan Division rivals.
The biggest save might have been a shot by Brandon Dubinsky that Fleury took off his mask seven minutes into the overtime.
Guentzel earned the first playoff hat trick for a Pittsburgh rookie. The accomplishment was still sinking in after the win.
"I don't even know yet," he said. "It's a pretty unique night."
Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin added goals for the Penguins. Malkin and Crosby each had two assists.
Cam Atkinson had two goals for Columbus, and Zach Werenski and Dubinsky also scored. Bobrovsky had 42 saves.
Werenski, a 19-year-old rookie defenseman, also took a puck to the face on a shot by Phil Kessel that opened a gash on his right cheek in the second period. He played a couple shifts in the third period with a full facemask, but his eye swelled shut and he had to sit out the rest of the game.
He tweeted a photo of his face after the game that showed his eye nearly swollen shut. His status for Tuesday's game is unknown.
After only scoring two goals combined in the first two games of the series, Columbus scored three goals in just over six minutes of the first period.
But the Penguins regained their composure and pushed back hard during the second period to tie the score at 3-3.
At 5:21, Rust got his second goal of the series when he tipped Brian Dumoulin's shot through Bobrovsky's pads. Then, with Werenski flat on the ice bleeding profusely from the wound on his face, Malkin tied the score at 13:25.
Guentzel scored Pittsburgh's first goal in the opening period and got another in the third period before beating Bobrovsky for the winner in OT.
Canadiens 3, Rangers 1 • In New York, Alexander Radulov had a goal and an assist to lead Montreal over New York, giving the Canadiens a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Artturi Lehkonen and Shea Weber scored power-play goals for Montreal and Carey Price stopped 20 shots.
Radulov, who got the overtime winner in Game 2 on Friday night after Tomas Plekanec tied it with 18 seconds left in regulation, has two goals and three assists in the past two games.
Brady Skjei spoiled Price's shutout bid with 2:56 remaining for his first career playoff goal.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, coming off a playoff career-high 54 saves in Game 2, stopped 26 shots in this one.
Blues 3, Wild 1 • In St. Louis, Jaden Schwartz scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Jake Allen made 40 saves to lead St. Louis over Minnesota for a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues and Alexander Steen added an empty-netter for St. Louis, which will try to sweep the series Wednesday night in St. Louis.
Charlie Coyle scored for Minnesota, which got 28 saves from Devan Dubnyk.
Schwartz had a power-play goal at 15:19 of the second period to put the Blues one win away from the second round. He scored with 2:27 left in the third period of Game 2 to give St. Louis the 2-1 win. —
NHL playoffs
(Best-of-7; x-if necessary)
Eastern Conference first round
Montreal 2, N.Y. Rangers 1
Game 1: New York 2, Montreal 0
Game 2: Montreal 4, New York 3, OT
Game 3: Montreal 3, New York 1
Tuesday: at New York, 5 p.m.
Thursday: at Montreal, 5 p.m.
x-Saturday: at New York, TBA
x-April 24: at Montreal, TBA
Boston 1, Ottawa 1
Game 1: Boston 2, Ottawa 0
Game 2: Ottawa 4, Boston 3, OT
Monday: at Boston, 5 p.m.
Wednesday: at Boston, 5:30 p.m.
Friday: at Ottawa, TBA
x-April 23: at Boston, TBA
x-April 26: at Ottawa, TBA
Washington 1, Toronto 1
Game 1: Washington 3, Toronto 2, OT
Game 2: Toronto 4, Washington 3, 2OT
Monday: at Toronto, 5 p.m.
Wednesday: at Toronto, 5 p.m.
Friday: at Washington, TBA
x-April 23: at Toronto, TBA
x-April 25: at Washington, TBA
Pittsburgh 3, Columbus 0
Game 1: Pittsburgh 3, Columbus 1
Game 2: Pittsburgh 4, Columbus 1
Game 3: Pittsburgh 5, Columbus 4, OT
Tuesday: at Columbus, 5:30 p.m.
x-Thursday: at Pittsburgh, 5 p.m.
x-April 23: at Columbus, TBA
x-April 25: at Pittsburgh, TBA
Western Conference first round
Nashville 2, Chicago 0
Game 1: Nashville 1, Chicago 0
Game 2: Nashville 5, Chicago 0
Monday: at Nashville, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday: at Nashville, 6 p.m.
x-Saturday: at Chicago, TBA
x-April 24: at Nashville, TBA
x-April 26: at Chicago, TBA St. Louis 3, Minnesota 0
Game 1: St. Louis 2, Minnesota 1, OT
Game 2: St. Louis 2, Minnesota 1
Game 3: St. Louis 3, Minnesota 1
Wednesday: at St. Louis, 7:30 p.m.
x-Saturday: at Minnesota, TBA
x-April 24: at St. Louis, TBA
x-April 26: at Minnesota, TBA
Anaheim 2, Calgary 0
Game 1: Anaheim 3, Calgary 2.
Game 2: Anaheim 3, Calgary 2
Monday: at Calgary, 8 p.m.
Wednesday: at Calgary, 8 p.m.
x-Friday: at Anaheim, TBA
x-April 23: at Calgary, TBA
x-April 25: at Anaheim, TBA
San Jose 1, Edmonton 1
Game 1: San Jose 3, Edmonton 2, OT
Game 2: Edmonton 2, San Jose 0
Sunday: at San Jose, late
Tuesday: at San Jose, 8 p.m.
Thursday: at Edmonton, 8:30 p.m.
x-Saturday: at San Jose, TBA
x-April 24: at Edmonton, TBA