NEWARK Adidas Dustin Tokarski Jersey , N.J. (AP) — Sharp in Europe, the New Jersey Devils played equally well at home.Kyle Palmieri scored twice, Keith Kinkaid made 21 saves and the Devils came back from a season-opening win in Sweden by routing the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals 6-0 Thursday night in their first game at a packed Prudential Center.Marcus Johansson, Blake Coleman, Jean-Sebastien Dea and Brian Boyle also scored. In their previous game, the Devils beat Edmonton 5-2 overseas last weekend“We continued the way we played in Sweden and were on top of them early,” Palmieri said. “I think all four lines, the defense, and Keith, all had a great game.”No disputing that, considering the Devils’ past woes against the Capitals. Washington was 14-1-2 in the previous 17 meetings.The Devils’ defense did an outstanding job stifling the Capitals Adidas Robin Lehner Jersey , who had scored 18 goals in the first three games.Now it’s the Devils who have turned into an early-season juggernaut with 11 goals in two games.“We’re not taking too many risks and it’s about possessing the puck and making high percentage plays,” Palmieri said. “We’re fortunate enough that the pucks are ending up in the back of the net.”New Jersey also was able to keep the high-octane Capitals in check.“They have so much firepower,” Taylor Hall said. “They had a lot of Grade A chances and Keith came up big. There are still some things to work on, but overall, anytime you can shut a team like that out, especially on the power play, you’re going to win a game.”Pheonix Copley stopped 30 shots in his Capitals’ debut. He made some big stops early and didn’t have a lot of defensive support.“There were some good things and obviously some bad,” Copley said. “I can watch a video and learn from what happened.”Palmieri scored twice in the first period to stake the Devils to a 2-0 lead. The Devils had the better jump at the start, outshooting the Capitals 13-6 over the first 20 minutes.Washington, playing back-to-back after an emotional 5-2 win over Vegas on Wednesday in a rematch of the Stanley Cup final, started a step slow and New Jersey capitalized.“It felt like they had six or seven guys out there Adidas Leo Komarov Jersey ,” Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “They were skating on ice. We were skating through mud. Give them some credit because they played really well, and we were not very good.”Palmieri put the Devils on the board at 7:02 on a shot that glanced off his skate in a goalmouth scramble.His second goal was a power-play drive from the top of the right circle at 18:33.That gave Palmieri four goals in his first four periods of the season. It was also the 16th time he has scored at least two goals in a game.Hopes for a Washington rally in the second were quickly dashed when Johansson scored against his former team 2:54 into the period. His shot from the blue line found the net behind a badly screened Copley.Copley kept the Caps in the contest early in the third, stopping Taylor Hall on a short-handed breakaway.Coleman put the game out of reach at 4-0 when he beat Copley to the short side from a sharp angle at 5:49. Dea added an insurance tally at 11:35 while Boyle scored with 5:15 left, giving each member of the Devils fourth line a third-period goal.The remaining drama centered on Kinkaid’s bid for a fifth career shutout. He made an outstanding stop on Jakub Vrana, stretching out to make a pad save midway through the period.NOTES: This was the first of four straight home games for New Jersey. … Kinkaid will carry the goaltending load as Cory Schneider continues his recovery from offseason hip surgery. Schneider has resumed skating with the team. … Hall was greeted by “MVP” chants as last year’s Hart Trophy winner was introduced to the crowd. … New Jersey scratched defensemen Eric Gryba, Steve Santini and RW Drew Stafford. The Washington scratches were C Jayson Magna, D Madison Bowey, RW Tom Wilson and LW Nathan Walker.UP NEXTWashington: Hosts Toronto on Saturday.New Jersey: Hosts San Jose on Sunday. PITTSBURGH (AP) Mario Lemieux had one question for Sidney Crosby after the Pittsburgh star slipped past his boss as the Penguins‘ career playoff scoring leader during a Game 4 romp over Philadelphia.”He asked what took so long,” Crosby said with a laugh.Lemieux’s joke carried with it a pair of messages.The first is a not so subtle reminder to his protege that it took Crosby 152 games to reach 173 playoff points while Lemieux only needed 107 to get to 172. The second is a nod to Crosby’s playoff excellence. He slipped by his boss because the Penguins – thanks in no small part to their captain – keep finding a way to win in the postseason.A victory over Philadelphia in Game 5 on Friday night would push the Penguins into the second round for the fifth time in six years and move them a step closer to becoming the first team in 35 years to win three straight Stanley Cups. Pittsburgh has gotten there by developing a killer instinct under head coach Mike Sullivan that it lacked at times before his arrival in December, 2015.The Penguins are 8-5 when given a chance to clinch a playoff series since Sullivan took over. They were 4-9 in potential clinching games from 2010-15, including letting 3-1 series leads get away in the first round against Tampa Bay in 2011 (when Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were both out) and to the New York Rangers in the second round in 2014 Adidas Valtteri Filppula Jersey , a collapse that cost head coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ray Shero their jobs.Sullivan downplays his role in it, preferring to put the emphasis on his star-laden roster.”This group of players has a real strong competitive spirit and I think it’s hard to win in this game if you don’t,” Sullivan said. ”I think it starts with our core players. They lead the way for us in so many different ways but certainly our compete level is one of them.”The proof came over the course of six periods in Philadelphia in Games 3 and 4, when the Penguins outscored the Flyers 10-1 with Crosby, Malkin, Phil Kessel and goalie Matt Murray doing their part to reclaim momentum after Philadelphia pulled off a 5-1 stunner in Game 2 to briefly – emphasis on briefly – tie the series.Now? Not so much. The cross-state rivals have engaged in what amounts to an outlier of sorts in the typically taut playoffs. All four games have been decided by at least four goals. The other seven playoff series have had seven games decided by four-or-more goals combined.”It’s been weird,” Pittsburgh center Derick Brassard said.And lopsided. Flyer fans exited Game 4 chanting for the firing of coach Dave Hakstol, and his grasp on the gig become precarious if his team can’t force the Penguins to head back east for Game 6.There’s a chance the Flyers could have Sean Couturier in the lineup. He missed Game 4 after colliding with teammate Radko Gudas in practice on Tuesday. Either way, Philadelphia knows it needs to find a way to recapture the resiliency it showed during the regular season when it overcame a litany of setbacks to return to the playoffs after a one-year absence.”They’ve played extremely well, and we need to play better,” Philadelphia general manager Ron Hextall said. ”Our focus has to get back to one game. We’re down 3-1 obviously Adidas Dylan DeMelo Jersey , but our focus has to get back to winning one game, and that’s tomorrow. There’s no question we have to play better individually, and certainly as a group.”Or, play a little more like the Penguins, who have shrugged off a sometimes uneven regular season to look very much like the team that celebrated with raucous championship parades through downtown Pittsburgh each of the last two Junes.There’s much work to be done before another one can be planned, but Pittsburgh is three periods away from getting at least as far as the last three teams trying for a threepeat – the 1998-99 Detroit Red Wings, the 1992-93 Penguins and the 1988-89 Edmonton Oilers.”We know it’s going to be a tough one,” Crosby said. ”We want to try and carry that momentum and the way we played into our own building.”PREDATORS ON THE PROWThe team the Penguins edged in six taut games during the 2017 Cup finals have their own shot to move on Friday. The Nashville Predators clinched all three of their playoff series a year ago at home a year ago in reaching their first Stanley Cup Final and have a chance to close out Colorado in Game 5 (9:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN).The Predators are 11-2 in Smashville since the start of the 2017 playoffs, a run that started by finishing off a sweep of Chicago in the first round a year ago. They can assure themselves of a weekend of rest if they avoid a return trip to Colorado.”It’s huge that we have a chance to finish the series at home,” Predators goalie Pekka Rinne said. ”Obviously Adidas Paul Carey Jersey , that’s something that is in the back of your head. We want to take it so bad and have this opportunity. But it’s a good team so we have to play again like this and I think that will be.”The Predators tried to make sure they’re well-rested by flying back to Tennessee on Thursday, and they will have a chance to advance against Colorado’s backup to the backup goalie. Avs coach Jared Bednar announced that Andrew Hammond will start Game 5 with Jonathan Bernier is out with a lower-body injury. Hammond stepped in and stopped all eight shots he faced in relief of Bernier in Nashville’s 3-2 win on Wednesday night.”He didn’t have a whole bunch of work, but he was good,” Bednar said. ”He made the saves he needed to make. It was good to see. Hopefully it gives him a little confidence.”—AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.—