Penguins hang on, eliminate Blue Jackets in six games

Evgeni Malkin had a hat trick last night as the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series against the Blue Jackets in six games by defeating host Columbus, 4-3.

After falling behind 4-0, the Blue Jackets -- closer to making tee times than thinking about a Game 7 -- scored three times in a 4:52 span in the third period to turn up the pressure on the Penguins, an overwhelming favorite before the series began.

Fedor Tyutin, Artem Anisimov and Nick Foligno scored late to thrill a crowd of 19,189 that stood and roared for the final four minutes.

"We're a proud group in here," Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky said. "We didn't want to get embarrassed on home ice. If it was going to be our last game of the season, we didn't want to have any quit. We didn't have any quit in this locker room all season. We just kept pushing and pushing."

Pittsburgh will play the winner of the Rangers-Flyers series in the conference semifinals.

"It's more important that we win the game and [end] the series," Malkin said of the 10th time he's scored three times in a game in his career. "Going into the second round now, you feel so much better when you have confidence. I hope in the next round I can score more."

Brandon Sutter also scored and Matt Niskanen had two assists as the Penguins became the first team in the series to score first and win. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves.

Kings 4, Sharks 1: Justin Williams and Anze Kopitar each had two goals and an assist and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves as host Los Angeles became only the ninth team in NHL history to force a Game 7 after losing the first three. "We certainly didn't want to go away quiet," Kopitar said.

Only three teams in NHL history have rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a series. The Kings could join them in Game 7 in San Jose tomorrow night.

Wild 5, Avalanche 2: Zach Parise scored early and late on tipped shots and host Minnesota tacked on two empty-net goals to tie the Western Conference first-round series and force Game 7.

"It's one of those nights where you just want to keep touching it and keep having the puck," said Parise, who added two assists for a career-playoff-high four points.

After Parise scored with 6:29 left in the game to break a 2-2 tie, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov with 2:44 remaining, a daring move that led to tying goals in Games 1 and 5 but backfired this time. Jason Pominville and Marco Scandella scored empty-net goals.