Highlights of Thursday's NHL games

[April 28, 2017]  April 27 (The Sports Xchange)

Penguins 3, Capitals 2

Nick Bonino scored the go-ahead goal with 7:24 remaining, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Bonino's second goal of the playoffs came 4:31 after Washington tied the score on Evgeny Kuznetsov's goal. Fleury then withstood a barrage of shots in the final minutes to hold the lead.

Sidney Crosby scored two goals 52 seconds apart to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Patric Hornqvist assisted on both. Crosby has four goals and nine points in six playoff games this season and 10 goals and seven assists in 14 playoff contests versus the Capitals.

Washington's Alex Ovechkin scored his fourth goal of these playoffs to cut the deficit to 2-1 late in the second period.

Senators 2, Rangers 1

Erik Karlsson's shot from the goal line with 4:11 left in the third period snuck past Henrik Lundqvist to give Ottawa a victory over New York.

Senators goaltender Craig Anderson made 34 saves, beaten only by Ryan McDonagh in the second period. Ryan Dzingel also scored for Ottawa, who lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series 1-0.

Lundqvist was exceptional in the scoreless first period, stopping 21 shots while the Rangers tested Anderson 12 times.

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