COLUMBUS http://www.sabresshoponline.com/authentic-jack-eichel-jersey , Ohio (AP) After dropping the first two playoff games at home in overtime, the Washington Capitals picked up momentum that only got stronger as they took down the Columbus Blue Jackets in four straight.Now they’ll strive to keep the intensity high as they advance to a second-round rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins.The Capitals, who manhandled the Blue Jackets 6-3 on Monday to cap the opening round series, are looking to avenge second-round playoff losses to Pittsburgh in each of the past two seasons.”I can’t wait to take a step forward,” said Washington star forward Alex Ovechkin, who had two goals on Monday, including his 50th playoff tally. ”They know how to play, they know the pressure. It’s a huge series for us.”Goaltender Braden Holtby relieved a struggling Philipp Grubauer in Game 2 and was great the rest of the way. He had 35 saves Monday in a game in which his team was outshot 38-28. Fifteen of the saves were in the third period when the desperate Blue Jackets turned up the heat.”(He’s) been fantastic,” Ovechkin said. ”He’s stepping up big-time. He’s top goalie in the league Youth Jake McCabe Jersey , and he showed it today and he showed it in the series.”For his part, Washington coach Barry Trotz wasn’t ready to talk about Pittsburgh yet after a taut opening-round series.”Please let me breathe,” he said. ”We haven’t taken a breath since this started.”Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Dimitry Orlov, Devante Smith-Pelly and Lars Eller also scored Monday for Washington, which never trailed in OT in Game 5 on Saturday. The Capitals won each of the three games in Columbus.One of the stories for Washington was its ability to defend Columbus’ power play. After the Blue Jackets went 4 for 8 with a man advantage in the first two games, the Caps held them to 0 for 16 in the last four. Meanwhile, Washington took good advantage of Columbus penalties, scoring on the power play in each of the six games.”I think going into the year there wasn’t a lot of people who said we would finish first in the Metro Jason Pominville Jersey Kids , and we did that,” Trotz said. ”And it’s just creating a pretty consistent culture, and it’s having good players too. It was a tremendous test for us. We didn’t get off to a good start and had to dig ourselves out.”Trotz said he leaned on veterans Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and others to keep the Capitals on an even keel through the tumult of the season.”We’ve had lots of different adversity through this year and in the past, and we’ve grown up a little bit in some ways,” he said. ”We understand that our core group is really, really strong, they believe in each other. We’ve got a lot of young guys in the room. We’ve had to rely on our core to push us forward http://www.sabresshoponline.com/authentic-johan-larsson-jersey , and we have.”— PHILADELPHIA (AP) Sidney Crosby passed Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh’s record book and pushed the Philadelphia Flyers to the brink of elimination.Flyers fans booed the goal – and the ones that stuck around for the end belted a familiar refrain: “Fire Hakstol! Fire Hakstol!”Crosby scored his fifth goal of the series and became the Penguins‘ career postseason points leader in a 5-0 win over the Flyers on Wednesday night.The Penguins lead the first-round playoff series 3-1 as its shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Friday. Crosby and the Penguins followed a 7-0 Game 1 win and a 5-1 Game 3 victory with another dominant outing.Matt Murray stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the series and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins are a win away from playing in the second round for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.Crosby scored in the second period for a 4-0 lead and topped the team owner and Hall of Famer in Lemieux for most playoff points with 173.”A lot of his records aren’t going to be touched,” Crosby said. ”The fact I can be close to him and around that one, I guess I’ve been fortunate to play in a number of playoff games helps a lot.”The Flyers were already on their second goalie by the time Crosby scored. The Penguins chased Brian Elliott early in the period after the maligned goalie allowed his 14th goal of the series. Michal Neuvirth relived Elliott and it didn’t matter. Neuvirth lost track of the puck behind the net and had his head turned to the right when Crosby found it and snapped it under the goalie’s left skate.”I was in a good spot. The puck ended up right on my stick,” Crosby said.The Flyers were confused. The Penguins were composed.And it so it goes in Philly, the Flyers are a loss away from another empty season without the Stanley Cup.”Somehow, we need to get our confidence back and go from there,” team captain Claude Giroux said.Disgruntled Flyers fans chanted from the balcony to the concourse for the Flyers to fire third-year coach Dave Hakstol.Both teams played without key cogs in their lineup: Sean Couturier (who had career highs with 31 goals and 76 points) was injured Tuesday at practice in a vicious collision with teammate Radko Gudas; the Pens played without top-line forward Patric Hornqvist because of an undisclosed injury.Giroux, who scored 102 points during the season, has not scored a posteason goal since 2014.”One game away for the season to be over Authentic Justin Bailey Jersey ,” Giroux said. ”You can expect this team to have some fight the next game.”The Flyers pulled out all their good-luck charms.The national champion Villanova Wildcats were in the house and star guard Phil Booth screamed ”Are you ready for some hockey?”Flyers fans heard the usual stirring rendition of ”God Bless America,” live by Lauren Hart and on video by the late Kate Smith. The song has been a rallying anthem for the Flyers since Smith began singing it in the mid 1970s. Hart started the song, then looked up to the big screen and passed it off to Smith. They finished in a split-screen duet.Once the pageantry settled down, the Penguins poured it on.Crosby’s on-point pass on the power play led to Evgeni Malkin’s third goal of the playoff just 4:33 into the game. Phil Kessel scored his first of the postseason midway through the period. Kris Letang made it 3-0 in the second and that was all for Elliott.Riley Sheahan made it 5-0 late in the third. Neuvirth stopped 11 of 13 shots in relief.”We won in their building on the second game so that’s the attitude we’re going to take,” Neuvirth said.Murray was solid again, and stoned Travis Konency on a breakaway out of the penalty box in the second that had the second-year center slam his stick on the ice in anger.”They had their chances, at times,” Murray said. ”But we got the job done.”NOTES: Couturier was named a Selke Trophy finalist as the league’s best defensive forward. … 2018 Olympic hockey gold medalists Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando hosted a clinic and helped donate equipment on behalf of a volunteer effort at the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. Snider was the Flyers founder and chairman until his death in 2016. … Crosby scored on all three goalies the Flyers have used in the series. … The Flyers are 2 for 17 on the power play in the series.