Playoffs - Sun, 12 May - Results

Washington v NY Rangers 0-1 - Game 6 - If a new Stanley Cup Playoff star emerges Monday night in Washington, D.C., he'll have Henrik Lundqvist to thank for the opportunity. Lundqvist made sure the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers need a seventh game to decide their playoff series for a second straight season by making 27 saves for his seventh career playoff shutout Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Derick Brassard scored the lone goal as the Rangers beat the Capitals, 1-0, in Game 6 of this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series. Game 7 is Monday at Verizon Center (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS2), where the Capitals are 3-0 in the series and have held the Rangers to two goals. The Rangers are 0-5 all-time in Game 7s on the road. Washington will be heading to its third straight Game 7 after beating the Boston Bruins and losing to the Rangers last year. Lundqvist had to protect a 1-0 lead in the third period, and fortunately he was the Rangers' best player with 12 saves. He made back-to-back point-blank saves on Jason Chimera and Joel Ward from the slot with just over 10 minutes left and then saved what looked like it would have been an own goal by Steve Eminger with his right pad less than two minutes later. He used his glove to snare Eric Fehr's wrist shot off the rush with 3:49 left in the third period. He was similarly stellar after Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (28 saves) left the ice with 90 seconds left to create a 6-on-5 advantage for Washington. Ryan Callahan and Brian Boyle helped their goalie by blocking shots as the Capitals controlled possession following a timeout by coach Adam Oates with 49 seconds left. Washington still got off two shots on goal in the final 15 seconds, but Lundqvist preserved the shutout and forced a Game 7 with two more saves. The Rangers helped themselves by staying disciplined. They didn't give Washington any power plays, which was beneficial because the Rangers couldn't do anything when they were on the power play, including a 44-second 5-on-3 in the first period. They went 0-for-5 and fell to 2-for-26 in the series, including 0-for-3 in 5-on-3 situations. Washington is still 3-for-14 on the power play in the series. Washington felt Derek Dorsett should have been called for slew-footing Mike Green late in the third period, but instead Green was called for the retaliatory cross check with 6:14 left to play. Brassard gave the Rangers the lead 9:39 into the second period, when his slap shot hit off Capitals defenseman Steve Oleksy and dipped under Holtby's glove. Rick Nash was in front of the net and was initially given credit for the goal, but replays clearly showed that Oleksy reached out his left hand and deflected the puck. The goal was changed to Brassard in between periods. He leads the Rangers with seven points in the series. Alex Ovechkin also had a couple of solid chances on Lundqvist in the second period, but none were better than his shot off the rush with roughly five minutes to play in the period. Lundqvist kicked out his left pad in time to stop Ovechkin's quick snap shot from just inside the left circle. Lundqvist also thwarted an Ovechkin scoring chance less than a minute after Brassard scored when he used his stick to disrupt No. 8's timing on a rush down the left side. Ovechkin was trying to go to he had to try to go around Lundqvist's stick and wound up shooting the puck wide of the net. Ovechkin has been held off the scoresheet since Game 2.
Boston v Toronto 1-2 - Game 6 - Phil Kessel has heard his share of catcalls since joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2009. In this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, though, the 25-year-old left wing has arrived once and for all as a big-time game breaker. Kessel scored what looked to be an insurance marker early in the third period of Sunday night's home game against the Boston Bruins. But, when Milan Lucic notched his first goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 24.5 seconds remaining, Kessel's goal became the game-winner in a 2-1 victory. It was his second game-winning goal of the series. James Reimer stopped 29 of 30 shots in the victory for Toronto, its first at home since the 2004 postseason, and a seventh game in this series is now necessary. It will be played Monday night in Boston, where the Maple Leafs have won two of three games in the series. With three goals and four points in six games, Kessel has clearly stepped up to the plate for the Maple Leafs. Kessel, of course, was traded to Toronto by the Bruins on Sept. 18, 2009 in one of the most discussed and analyzed trades in Maple Leafs history. To get him, former general manager Brian Burke surrendered two first-round draft choices (who became center Tyler Seguin and defenseman Dougie Hamilton), both of whom are playing for Boston, and a second-round pick. When the Bruins won the Stanley Cup two years ago, it looked like they were the clear winners of the deal. Most people would probably still give the Bruins the edge in the deal, but not by a landslide like before. When the Maple Leafs play in Boston, Bruins fans usually serenade their former player with chants of, "Thank You Kessel!" Sunday, the capacity crowd at Air Canada Centre turned the tables and in the third period started chanting, "Thank you, Tyler!" The Maple Leafs and Bruins were each without a key player for the game. Toronto center Tyler Bozak was a last-minute scratch because of an undisclosed injury and Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference was left at home, also with an undisclosed injury. Both teams battled through two scoreless periods before the Maple Leafs finally got thing going offensively in the third. Team captain Dion Phaneuf, who was widely criticized for an ill-timed pinch in Game 4 in Toronto that led to the Bruins winning in overtime, spied center Nazem Kadri open at the Boston blue line and made a perfect pass before breaking to the Bruins' goal area. Kadri sliced his way to the top of the slot area and fired a wrist shot that hit the shaft of Phaneuf's stick and beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask at 1:48. A little over six minutes later, Kessel popped a rebound past Rask to make it 2-0. Teams look to their best players in a pinch, and the Maple Leafs are certainly no exception. The Bruins, who outshot the Maple Leafs 30-26, pressed hard as time wound down, but Reimer was sensational. It looked like he might record his first career postseason shutout until Lucic, who has come alive in the playoffs after struggling during the regular season, scored his first after tallying seven assists through the first five games. There is a reason why teams try to get home-ice advantage, and that is to have a deciding game in their building. That is how things have worked out for the Bruins.
Detroit v Anaheim 3-2 - Game 7 - This was to be a rebuilding year in Detroit, some pundits said. Nicklas Lidstrom was gone, and the Red Wings were going to rely on young players more than they had in years. Well, Detroit is still home to two of the best players in the world, and for the second straight time as the Detroit Red Wings faced elimination in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, it was captain Henrik Zetterberg who made sure it didn't happen. Zetterberg scored the opening goal and assisted on another, while goalie Jimmy Howard made 31 saves as the Red Wings defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 at Honda Center in Game 7 of the series Sunday night. The seventh-seeded Red Wings, who needed at least a point in the final game of the regular season just to qualify for the postseason, will now move on to face the rival Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Semifinals. The start of that series has yet to be determined. Zetterberg put the Red Wings in front 1:49 into the opening period. Valtteri Filppula, who had just two points in six games before Sunday, put a shot on net from the top of the right faceoff circle that Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller couldn't control. Zetterberg pounced on the rebound. Detroit's captain didn't score in the first five games of this series, but he struck twice in Game 6 and added his third early in Game 7. Zetterberg normally plays next to Pavel Datsyuk and Justin Abdelkader on the team's top line, but coach Mike Babcock put him with Filppula and Daniel Cleary to start this contest. Detroit had seven of the first eight shots on net, but Anaheim stabilized and eventually tied it up, thanks to one of the breakout stars of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Emerson Etem tried to dump the puck into the right corner, but defenseman Carlo Carlaiacovo deflected it toward the middle of the Wings' zone. Etem collected it, skated toward the left faceoff circle and past sliding defenseman Jakub Kindl before snapping a shot past Howard at 13:48 of the first. It was Etem's third goal of the series. While Etem's play was a theme in this series, so was slow starts by the Ducks. It was particularly troubling because it was something that occurred with some frequency during the regular season as well. Detroit went back in front at 16:37 of the opening period. Anaheim was working on its second straight power play, but defenseman Francois Beauchemin collected a drop pass at the right point and tried to turn and send the puck to his partner Sheldon Souray at the left point. Beauchemin clearly didn't see Abdelkader jump into the passing lane, and the Wings forward knocked the puck down, blew past the two defensemen and beat Hiller along the ice for a breakaway shorthanded tally. Filppula's struggles were a topic for Babcock after the morning skate Sunday, and the Finnish center's success in Game 7s was brought to the coach's attention. There was a bit of mix-up, Filppula had four assists in his career in Game 7s, not four goals, but he scored his first of the series to push Detroit's lead to 3-1. Zetterberg won a faceoff in the left circle of the Anaheim zone, then won a puck battle in the right corner before sending a backhanded pass toward the right circle. Cleary helped it along to Filppula, who backhanded a shot past Hiller at 13:45 of an excellent period for the road club. Detroit continued to frustrate the Ducks for much of the third period, but Zetterberg went to the penalty box for delay of game and Anaheim quickly cut the two-goal deficit in half. Beauchemin threw the puck towards the net and it glanced off Jonathan Ericsson's skate and into the net with 3:17 remaining. Twice before in this series, the Ducks had erased multi-goal deficits in the third period. The Red Wings forced a Game 7 with its third overtime win of the series in Game 6 at Joe Louis Arena. Anaheim had won Games 1 and 5 here, along with a convincing 4-0 win at The Joe in Game 3, the only game in the series that wasn't a one-goal contest into the final minute of regulation among the first six. These teams faced each other in a Game 7 the last time they met in the playoffs. Cleary scored with 3:00 to play in the third period on a goal Hiller still Sunday morning said he didn't think should have counted to give the Wings the win at Joe Louis Arena in 2009. For the Red Wings, even their "rebuilding years" end up with success, which is another testament of the strength of one of the model franchises in professional sports. This is the 22nd straight season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Detroit, and the Wings have now reached at least the second round in six of the past seven years. For the Ducks, it will be remembered as a missed opportunity in a return to the playoffs after a two-year absence. Young players like Etem, Kyle Palmieri and Nick Bonino showed there is more promise to come in Anheim, but there will be questions asked of the big stars who didn't meet expectations, and ones about the future of Teemu Selanne, who hasn't committed to playing another year in what has been a transcendent career.