The two pre-playoffs Stanley Cup favorites are still in deep trouble in the 2012 NHL Playoffs, but neither team has been swept. After going down 3-0, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks both won road games in Game 4 of their respective series on Wednesday. In Wednesday's other series, the Ottawa Senators leveled things up against the New York Rangers.
NHL Scores, 2012 Playoffs: Pittsburgh, Vancouver Avoid Sweeps
The Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins avoided sweeps in their respective series, while the Ottawa Senators evened their series against the New York Rangers.
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Ottawa Senators 3-2 New York Rangers (OT)
Not only will the New York Rangers be disappointed that they lost on Wednesday, they'll be especially disappointed with the nature of the loss, which could be accurately classified as a collapse. The Rangers went up 2-0 on two power play goals early, but allowed Ottawa to score twice in the third period. Mere seconds after a Rangers power play, the Sens got back in the game through Milan Michalek, assisted by Matt Carkner, who just returned from a suspension.
With three minutes left in the second period, Artem Anisimov was called for hooking. Sergei Gonchar scored on the ensuing power play, tying the game up. In the OT period, Kyle Turris scored the winner, surprisingly beating Henrik Lundqvist five-hole.
Pittsburgh Penguins 10-3 Philadelphia Flyers
This apparently constitutes hockey? Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky really could not have been any worse in net for the Flyers, and they finished with identical .722 save percentages. If there's any silver lining here for Peter Laviolette, it's that Bobrovsky was poor enough as to not create the classic Flyers playoff goalie controversy. As fun as it is to joke about Flyers goalies, and as funny as this score looks, the Penguins are still in a 3-1 hole.
Vancouver Canucks 3-1 Los Angeles Kings
Cory Schneider allowed a slightly soft goal to Anze Kopitar in the first period, then went on to put in a flawless performance for the rest of the game, including a saved penalty shot against Dustin Brown in the third period. Alexander Edler and Kevin Bieksa got Vancouver back into the game with second-period goals, and the Canucks clinched the game with a Henrik Sedin power play goal shortly after Brown's penalty shot miss.
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