UNDATED (AP) — Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored his second of the game in overtime and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 4 to tie the first-round series.
Verhaeghe scored 4:57 into overtime to keep the NHL’s best regular-season team from getting pushed to the brink of elimination much earlier in the playoffs than expected. It’s a best-of-three series now with Game 5 Wednesday night at Florida. The Panthers were just over two minutes away from facing the prospect of getting knocked out at home before Reinhart scored with 2:04 left in the third period.
In other Monday NHL playoff action:
— Valeri Nichushkin scored the game-winning goal with 7:58 left, and the Colorado Avalanche became the first team to advance to the second round by finishing a sweep of the Nashville Predators 5-3. The Avalanche now are in the Western Conference semifinals for a fourth straight season and second consecutive after sweeping their first-round opponent. They now get to wait for either St. Louis or Minnesota to wrap up. Nashville was swept for the first time in franchise history in its 15th playoff appearance. Filip Forsberg gave Nashville its first lead of this series at 3:58 of the third.
— Rasmus Andersson scored Calgary’s first power-play goal since early in the playoff opener, Jacob Markstrom had 34 saves and the Flames beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 in Game 4 to even their first-round series. Johnny Gaudreau converted a penalty shot with 12:13 left to make it 2-0 Calgary. He later assisted on Elias Lindholm’s third goal of the series as the Pacific Division champions regained home-ice advantage over the wild-card Stars. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Calgary. Tyler Seguin scored on a power play for Dallas.
— Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to become the sixth player in NHL history to reach 200 career playoff points and the Pittsburgh Penguins throttled the New York Rangers 7-2 to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Islanders fire coach Barry Trotz
UNDATED (AP) — The New York Islanders have fired coach Barry Trotz after missing the playoffs in his fourth season with the team. General manager Lou Lamoriello made the surprising announcement more than a week after the regular season ended. Trotz coached the Islanders to playoff appearances in each of his first three years with them.
Elsewhere in the NHL:
— The San Jose Sharks have locked up two of their potential free agents early in the offseason, agreeing to two-year deals with forward Alexander Barabanov and defenseman Jaycob Megna. Barabanov’s deal is worth a reported $5 million over two years and Megna’s is worth a reported $1.625 million.
