Pittsburgh 6, Nashville 0 – PIT leads 3-2
TOP SCORERS POWER PENGUINS TO GAME 5 WIN, 3-2 SERIES LEAD
Evgeni Malkin (1-1—2), Sidney Crosby (0-3—3) and Phil Kessel (1-2—3) – the top three scorers, respectively, this postseason – each registered multiple points to lead the Penguins to a 3-2 series edge in the Stanley Cup Final.
Malkin (10-18—28) posted his League-leading 27th and 28th points of the playoffs, reaching the 10-goal milestone for the third time in his 10 career postseasons (also 2009: 14 and 2008: 10). Only two other Penguins players have as many playoff years with 10 or more goals: Mario Lemieux (4x) and Jaromir Jagr (3x).
Sidney Crosby (8-19—27) recorded his 56th career multi-point postseason game (147 GP), tied for fourth in NHL history with Paul Coffey (194 GP) and Glenn Anderson (225 GP). Crosby (4-16—20 in 24 GP) also surpassed Lemieux (10-9—19 in 9 GP) for the most career points by a Penguins player in the Stanley Cup Final. Phil Kessel (8-15—23) added his fifth career three-point playoff game (70 GP), four of which have come in the last two years (48 GP). That includes two earlier this postseason, in Game 5 of the First Round vs. CBJ (1-2—3) and Game 2 of the Second Round at WSH (2-1—3).
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The team that has won Game 5 after a split of the opening four contests of the Final has gone on to capture the Stanley Cup 17 of 24 prior times (70.8%) since the series adopted the best-of-seven format in 1939. However, the team that has lost Game 5 has rebounded to win the series in four of the past eight such instances, all since 2001 (2001 COL, 2004 TBL, 2009 PIT and 2011 BOS).
Pittsburgh has outscored Nashville 9-2 in the first period of the Stanley Cup Final . . . Penguins captain Sidney Crosby leads all players with 1-6—7 in the Stanley Cup Final . . . Twelve different Pittsburgh players registered at least one point in Game 5 . . . Penguins forward Conor Sheary celebrated his 25th birthday with his fourth career Stanley Cup Final goal (11 GP) . . . Teammate Ron Hainsey (1-1—2) notched his first career multi-point playoff game (24 GP) . . . The Kings signed forward Tyler Toffoli to a three-year extension .
* Information provided via NHL Press Release
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