Now that Mike Sullivan and Barry Trotz have matched wits in a playoff series for three consecutive years Adidas Alex Galchenyuk Jersey , they harbor very few secrets.The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals know each other inside-out from 17 postseason games since 2016. The coaches are very familiar with the dynamics of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin and just about all the other moving pieces.¡±Every move that we make there¡¯s a counter move, and every move they make there¡¯s a little counter move,¡± Trotz said. ¡±It¡¯s funny: A lot of them are the same things that we¡¯ve seen at different parts in the last couple series. They just come in different order sometimes at you. There¡¯s only maybe so many bricks that you have and they are just lined up a different way all the time.¡±Sullivan moved his pieces around as Pittsburgh tied the series at 2-2, and now Trotz gets the next chance in their chess match for Game 5 on Saturday (7 p.m. EDT, NBC). After Alex Ovechkin put no shots on net for the third time in his playoff career ¨C with Tom Wilson suspended the first of three games ¨C it starts with finding the right mix on the top line.Trotz tried Devante Smith-Pelly with Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, and that trio was outshot 21-9 at even strength. Maybe Smith-Pelly will be back on that line, maybe he won¡¯t after the Capitals coaching staff pored over video to see what went wrong.¡±We¡¯re looking at that,¡± Trotz said. ¡±I think that whole line has to be better for us. They¡¯re going to need to be productive.¡±Pittsburgh¡¯s top line of Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and whoever else has been incredibly productive. All 10 of the Penguins¡¯ goals in the series have come with Crosby on the ice, and Guentzel leads all players in the playoffs with 10 goals and 21 points.¡±I just think he¡¯s the best player in the game,¡± Sullivan said of Crosby, who played with Guentzel and Dominik Simon in Game 4. ¡±Sid certainly makes everybody around him better players but you¡¯ve got to give Jake a lot of credit for the game that he¡¯s playing.¡±The Penguins got speedy winger Carl Hagelin back from injury while the Capitals lost Wilson. That¡¯s a disadvantage for Washington, but the spotlight is still on Trotz to make the necessary adjustments as Capitals-Penguins becomes a best-of-three series.¡±I think every game both teams recalibrate, if you will, in some areas,¡± Trotz said. ¡±There¡¯s little changes we¡¯ve noticed with them, and there¡¯s some changes that we added in. Some of them worked and some of them didn¡¯t have the effect that we wanted to. At the end of the day, it¡¯s two guys going nose to nose, battling for position, battling for free pucks, executing on plays under pressure. Once we put a plan in place Adidas Barrett Hayton Jersey , we put the players in charge, really.¡±CHESS MATCH IIIn the West, Nashville coach Peter Laviolette also made a key change in the series between the NHL¡¯s top two teams, benching Game 2 double-overtime hero Kevin Fiala in favor of veteran Scott Hartnell for more size, strength and experience against Winnipeg. That, plus replacing Alexei Emelin with Yannick Weber, allowed Nashville to better counter imposing Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien in tying the series at 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday night in Nashville (9:30 p.m. EDT, NBCSN).Laviolette said making a change involves taking into account the opposition, building, a player¡¯s experience and style of play.¡±They¡¯re never easy,¡± Laviolette said. ¡±But I thought the guys that went in the lineup last night did a really good job. Hartnell played a good game. He did what we were hoping he would do, and I thought Yannick Weber went in and played a good game.¡±With the Jets held without a shot for the first 12 minutes of the third period, Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice started mixing up his lines. He swapped centers, skating Mark Scheifele with Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine with Paul Stastny between Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor. Laine scored his first goal of the series and first in the postseason since Game 2 on April 13 against Minnesota.DERBY DAY ODDSThe betting favorite to win these two series will be whoever comes out on top in Game 5, based on history alone. The 256 previous times where it was tied at 2, the Game 5 winner went on to win the series 78.9 percent of the time. So there¡¯s no urgency lacking.¡±We¡¯re going to need our best effort of the series probably in Game 5 to get a win,¡± Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen said. ¡±I think we¡¯re building a belief that we can beat these guys. We know we¡¯re going to have to play really well, but it¡¯s possible. We think we can do it.¡±¡ªAP Sports Writers Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed.¡ª ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Those Minnesota Wild fans waiting in concession lines or lingering too long in the concourse during the first intermission sure missed a show.Eric Staal has put on quite the must-see performance himself this season.Staal¡¯s second goal of the night for Minnesota capped a franchise-record flurry to start the second period, and the Wild cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.¡±Everything he touches,¡± coach Bruce Boudreau said Adidas Michael Grabner Jersey , invoking the Greek mythological king Midas, ¡±it turns into gold.¡±Staal, the second overall pick in the 2003 draft by the Hurricanes who spent 13 years with the club until a late-season trade, has 64 goals in 149 games with the Wild. That¡¯s tied for ninth in the NHL over the last two years. He¡¯s also tied for 17th with 132 points, and he¡¯s older than every player ahead of him in that span.This season, he¡¯s tied for fourth in the league with 36 goals, trailing Washington¡¯s Alex Ovechkin, Pittsburgh¡¯s Evgeni Malkin and Winnipeg¡¯s Patrik Laine.¡±I¡¯ve got a lot of work to do if I want to catch or be around those guys,¡± Staal said with a slight smile. ¡±I¡¯m just going to keep playing.¡±Nino Niederreiter, Zach Parise, Daniel Winnik and Staal scored in a span of 3:28, the fastest four-goal stretch in Wild history that gave the home team a huge lead less than four minutes after the first intermission ended.The sign that this was the Wild¡¯s night came quickly in the second period, when Jared Spurgeon¡¯s slap shot from the point bounced off the neck of a ducking Niederreiter and past goalie Cam Ward with just 23 seconds elapsed.¡±We¡¯ve got to come out of the dressing room a little bit more organized and ready to play,¡± Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said.Winnik scored on his 33rd birthday, prompting Peters to pull Ward for Scott Darling. Then, just 15 seconds later, on the first shot Darling faced, Staal broke free in the Carolina zone, faked right and dragged the puck left to poke a backhander in for his 10th goal in the last nine games .¡±I want to win every time I get on the ice,¡± Staal said. ¡±But when you pump ¡¯em in like that for a bit, I think you feel a little bad.¡±In seven games since Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund joined Staal on the first line, the trio has combined for 16 goals and 19 assists. With 15 games to go, Staal has a solid chance at the third 40-goal season of his career.¡±I don¡¯t think anybody would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d have 36 goals at this stage of the game Adidas Marian Hossa Jersey ,¡± Boudreau said. ¡±I remember when we signed him, when we were talking in the room, and thinking if he could give us 50 to 60 points we would think it was a great signing.¡±Staal¡¯s first score came 4:35 into the game on the power play after a tripping call on Victor Rask, adding to Carolina¡¯s NHL-leading penalty total. Parise¡¯s goal was also with the man advantage for the Wild, who entered the game ranked eighth in the league on the power play. The Hurricanes came in 22nd on the penalty kill.The Wild, whose post-New Year¡¯s Day surge has thrust them into third place in the Central Division, are 10-3-2 in their last 12 games. They pushed their lead over fourth-place Dallas, which controls the first wild card spot, to three points.Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves for his fifth win in his last six starts, and the Wild raised their home record to an NHL-leading 24-5-6. Matt Cullen, another long-time former Hurricanes player who teamed with Staal on the 2006 Stanley Cup champion squad, scored late for the Wild.Phillip Di Giuseppe and Derek Ryan scored for Carolina in the third period on Dubnyk, who has allowed only nine goals over his last five victories.The Hurricanes lost points on each of the competitors in the Eastern Conference wild card race, with New Jersey (76) and Columbus (73) currently holding the two spots and Florida (71) also ahead of Carolina (69).¡±Let¡¯s look past this one,¡± Ryan said. ¡±Let¡¯s get rid of it and move on.¡±NOTESDubnyk¡¯s last shutout was on Feb. 10, a 44-save performance against Chicago. ¡­ Wild rookie D Nick Seeler was ruled out with a strained right biceps, two nights after he engaged in an old-style, bloody fight with Detroit¡¯s Luke Witkowski. ¡­ Hurricanes LW Joakim Nordstrom missed his fourth straight game because of an upper-body injury. ¡­ Spurgeon and Ryan Suter had two assists apiece. Wild defensemen have 166 points in 67 games, the second-most in the NHL behind Nashville. The franchise record is 169. ¡­ The Hurricanes had 31 shots on goal and lead the NHL with 52 games of 30-plus shots.UP NEXTHurricanes: Play at Chicago on Thursday, their last of three straight games against Central Division foes.Wild: Play at Vancouver on Friday, followed by a back-to-back game at Edmonton on Saturday.¡ª