Playoff Results - Wed, Apr 23, 2014

Pittsburgh @ Columbus 3-4 OT - Nick Foligno told the Columbus Blue Jackets in the locker room during the third intermission Wednesday that he was going to score the winner in overtime. Then he went out and did it. Foligno's goal was the exclamation point on the Blue Jackets' come-from-behind 4-3 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arena in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round series. The best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series is tied 2-2. All four games have ended 4-3. Game 5 is in Pittsburgh on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS, FS-O, ROOT). Brandon Dubinsky scored with 24 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 3-3. Pittsburgh led 3-0 after James Neal scored his first goal of the playoffs at 11:10 of the first period. Craig Adams put the Penguins up 1-0 at 6:09 on a shorthanded goal, and Chris Kunitz scored on the power play at 10:37. Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 42 saves, but the two shots he failed to stop late in the game will be the most talked-about leading up to Game 5. Foligno's game-winner came on a wrist shot from 55 feet out, and it was Fleury's inability to stop Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson's dump-in that led directly to Dubinsky's game-tying goal.
"We have to respond, from Sidney Crosby right down through our lineup. We have to respond as a team, Marc-Andre Fleury and the whole group," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said.
The Blue Jackets carried the momentum from Dubinsky's goal into overtime, when they took five of the six shots. The winning sequence started with a selfless play by Columbus forward RJ Umberger, a Pittsburgh native, who threw his body in front of a shot. Umberger got up and chased the puck as he moved into the neutral zone, but teammate James Wisniewski was already there and poked the puck to Umberger, who then dished to Foligno flying into the Penguins zone for the shot. That Umberger and Foligno connected on the play was significant because they were out due to injuries at the start of the series. Umberger missed Game 1, and Foligno sat the first two.
"It seemed like it dropped," Fleury said of Foligno's goal. "It knuckled. It was going down. I stood up at that point."

Johnson recalled Foligno's talk in the locker room before overtime. "After the third period he said he was going out and score it for us, I was impressed he did it so quickly. It was pretty awesome."
Each of the first three games of the series saw the losing team blow a 3-1 lead. After rallying for the win and a 2-1 series lead Monday, the Penguins were left to contemplate surrendering a 3-0 lead Wednesday.
"It really shouldn't happen in the playoffs," said Crosby, who has not scored a goal in his past nine playoff games.
The Penguins lost Game 2 in double overtime, the first playoff win in Blue Jackets' history, then couldn't close out Game 4 in Columbus' first home postseason win. Until Dubinsky's goal it appeared the Penguins would escape despite several close calls. Columbus' Cam Atkinson fanned on an attempt at a fluttering puck with two seconds left in the second period, and Matt Calvert wristed a shot off the crossbar early in the third. Pittsburgh did not allow a shot on goal for more than 10 minutes in the third period and appeared to be on its way to a 3-1 series lead when the Blue Jackets accidentally passed the puck out of the Penguins zone with about 35 seconds left. But Columbus quickly brought the puck up the ice, and Johnson sent it rimming behind the Penguins goal. Fleury whiffed on his attempt to stop the puck, and Blue Jackets center Ryan Johansen got it and sent it out front.
"The guy dumped it in," Fleury said. "It wasn't that hard, so I thought I could get it. It just went over my stick, and the guy stuck it in the net."
Dubinsky wristed the game-tying goal home before Fleury could get back into the crease. From the time Neal scored the Penguins' third goal to the end of the second period, Columbus outshot Pittsburgh 25-8 and got a power-play goal from Boone Jenner in the first and a 5-on-3 goal from Johansen at 14:20 of the second.
Anaheim @ Dallas 2-4 - Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff has been stressing the importance of secondary scoring throughout their Western Conference First Round series with the Anaheim Sucks. In Game 4 on Wednesday at American Airlines Center, Dallas received goals from captain Jamie Benn, Vernon Fiddler, Cody Eakin and Alex Goligoski in a 4-2 win that evened the best-of-7 series 2-2. Game 5 is Friday in Anaheim (10:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, RDS2, PRIME, FS-SW).
"I really feel like we're in a playoff series now," Ruff said. "The first couple of games didn't feel like it, but now we feel like we have a playoff series."
After trailing 2-0 after one period on goals by Anaheim's Bryan Allen and Patrick Maroon, Dallas scored second-period goals from Benn and Fiddler to make it 2-2. Eakin and Goligoski then scored 2:07 apart in the third. Goligoski's goal at 7:44 chased Anaheim rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen, who was replaced by Jonas Hiller. Andersen stopped 21 of 25 shots.
"After the second goal, I certainly did [think about pulling Andersen]," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "After they scored their second goal, I told [Hiller] to get ready because I didn't think [Andersen] was that sharp. In the third period when they got that goal [by Goligoski], I just thought it was time."
Benn had an empty-net goal with 1:04 remaining in regulation nullified because the whistle had blown. Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen made 17 saves in his second straight victory. Fiddler (goal, assist) and Shawn Horcoff (two assists) each contributed two points for Dallas. The Ducks, without captain Ryan Getzlaf, a late scratch with an upper-body injury, struck twice in the first period. Allen scored his first career goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the opening period, blasting a slapper top-shelf past Lehtonen at 12:17. Allen's goal was his first since Feb. 28, 2012, when he scored against the Nashville Predators as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, a span of 128 games. Lehtonen looked like he was at least partially screened by Stars rookie right wing Alex Chiasson. The Ducks made it 2-0 at 18:16 when a shot from Mathieu Perreault struck Maroon in the midsection and fluttered past Lehtonen. Benn's unassisted goal 27 seconds into the period made it 2-1, and Dallas pulled even at 6:33 when Fiddler beat Andersen to the short side for his third career playoff goal. Andersen appeared to corral Fiddler's shot, but the puck struck the goaltender in the midsection before crossing the line.
"We had full control in the first period," Ducks center Andrew Cogliano said. "I thought some of the goals that we gave them they were just mistakes that we gave up. I feel that the goals that we gave them were self-inflicted for the most part and we couldn't recover."
Anaheim nearly retook the lead midway through the second, but a Perreault wrister from the right circle at 10:57 instead hit the right goal post. The Stars were down to five defensemen to begin the second period after rookie Patrik Nemeth sustained an injury. Nemeth did not return for the final two periods.
"[It's] just [his] upper body," Ruff said of Nemeth. "I would anticipate hopefully that he's back for the game in Anaheim."
Getzlaf's absence was felt by the Ducks in several areas."[We missed him] everywhere, he's one of the elite players in the NHL," Boudreau said. "You miss him in the offensive zone. You miss him on the boards. You miss him as a leader. You miss him in a lot of ways."
Benn's goal came when he won a faceoff against Perreault in the neutral zone and raced up the ice, beating Andersen top-shelf on the short side for his third of the playoffs. Dallas outshot Anaheim 16-3 in the second period. The Stars created a solid opportunity off the rush early in the third, but an Eakin wrist shot deflected hard off the far post 58 seconds into the period. Eakin didn't miss on his next attempt; he beat Andersen to the far post with a wrist shot at 6:22 to give Dallas its first lead. It was Eakin's first career playoff goal. Goligoski found the back of the net 2:07 later when he beat Andersen with a wrist shot from the slot. Fiddler made a solid backhand pass to Goligoski, who quickly finished to give Dallas a two-goal cushion.
"[That was a] great pass by Fiddler," Goligoski said. "Backhand soft pass with a one-goal lead in the third, gutsy play, but he plays the same way all the time."
Hiller made one save in relief of Andersen before leaving the ice with 1:44 remaining for an extra attacker. Andersen knows if he gets the nod in Game 5 he needs to do one thing between now and Friday. Getzlaf wasn't the only high-profile absentee for Anaheim. Teemu Selanne was a healthy scratch, a decision Boudreau stands behind.
"It wasn't easy," Boudreau said. "I knew exactly what was going into it and I knew the reaction. And if I was a fan, I'd probably be upset too. He's an icon and one of the greatest players ever to play the game, but I just thought we're going to need a physical player along the boards today a little bit more. Emerson [Etem] fits that bill, so the decision was made."
With the series now tied, Ruff views it as a fresh start. "It's starting from scratch. We've got to win a game in Anaheim. We've got to be better. I've got to do a better job with the team."


Penalties

1st Period
06:39 DAL	Valeri Nichushkin  Hooking against  Cam Fowler
2nd Period
09:51 DAL	Kevin Connauton  Tripping against  Kyle Palmieri
13:40 ANA	Mark Fistric  Interference against  Ryan Garbutt
15:58 ANA	Bryan Allen  Cross checking against  Antoine Roussel
3rd Period
11:32 DAL	Ryan Garbutt  Hi-sticking against  Kyle Palmieri
14:59 ANA	Corey Perry  Boarding against  Cody Eakin
17:50 ANA	Patrick Maroon  Misconduct (10 min) against  Vernon Fiddler
17:50 DAL	Vernon Fiddler  Misconduct (10 min) against  Patrick Maroon
17:50 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Fighting (maj) against  Corey Perry
17:50 ANA	Corey Perry  Fighting (maj) against  Antoine Roussel
18:53 DAL	Trevor Daley  Misconduct (10 min) against  Kyle Palmieri
18:53 ANA	Kyle Palmieri  Misconduct (10 min) against  Trevor Daley
20:00 DAL	Ryan Garbutt  Roughing against  Bryan Allen
20:00 ANA	Bryan Allen  Misconduct (10 min)
20:00 ANA	Bryan Allen  Cross checking against  Cody Eakin
20:00 ANA	Bryan Allen  Roughing against  Chris Mueller
20:00 ANA	Mark Fistric  Roughing against  Cody Eakin
20:00 DAL	Jordie Benn  Roughing against  Mathieu Perreault

St Louis @ Chicago 3-4 OT - It took more resolve and two goals by Patrick Kane, but the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks ground out a series-tying victory against the St. Louis Blues Wednesday night at United Center. Kane scored his second goal of the night at 11:17 of overtime to give Chicago a 4-3 victory and even the Western Conference First Round series at 2-2. Three of the four games have needed OT to decide a winner. Game 5 in the best-of-7 series is Friday at Scottrade Center (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS2, FS-MW, CSN-CH). The home team has won all four games, with the Blackhawks taking two in their own building to even the series.
"We kind of have the momentum now," Kane said. "We know it's going to be a tough game in Game 5 in their building. They're going to be fired up and that's always a tough place to play, pre-season, regular season or playoffs. So, we'll expect them to get better and we'll get better too."
Kane took a pass from Ben Smith in the defensive zone, raced up ice into the Blues' zone during a 3-on-3 rush and roofed a wrist shot from the left circle that beat St. Louis goaltender Ryan Miller over the shoulder to end it. Prior to the shot, Smith charged down the slot toward the net and forward Brandon Saad headed toward the back side of the net on the right wing to distract Miller.
"Their defensemen pinched, so we had kind of like a 2-on-1 [or] 3-on-3 kind of thing going down the ice," Kane said. "[Saad] made a good play driving to the back post and gave me some space to try and get a shot off. I just tried to pull it to the middle and get it by their defenseman. I used him as a screen and it went in."
Andrew Shaw and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Blackhawks, who coughed up 3-2 third-period leads and lost in overtime in each of the first two games. Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals, his third and fourth of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Maxim Lapierre had his first of the postseason for the Blues.
"Oh, they've got the momentum now," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We've got to take it back. We've got two of three at home, but we've got to take the momentum back. These have been two really hard-fought games here. This is a momentum-builder for them, and we've got to find a way to regroup and take it back from them. That's a big challenge for us."
Corey Crawford made 30 saves in the win. Miller also finished with 30 saves. Chicago needed Bickell's goal with 3:52 left in regulation to force overtime. After coughing up a 2-0 lead and falling behind 3-2 in the third period on Tarasenko's second goal, the Blackhawks found a way to flip the tables on the Blues. St. Louis erased 3-2 third-period leads in each of the first two games before winning in overtime. This time, it was the Blues who failed to capitalize one several opportunities to extend their lead after they went up by a goal.
"Where the game was lost was when we took it over and we're up 3-2 and we miss those four chances," Hitchcock said. "We could've been up [4-2 or 5-2]. We left it out there and got caught in our zone [on Bickell's goal] and then in the overtime goal we had chances to shoot the puck three times in the [offensive] zone and didn't put it on the net ... wanted to stickhandle one more time."
Shaking his head, Hitchcock summed up the feeling by comparing it to what his counterpart, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, felt after the first two games."To have all those chances after [Tarasenko's goal] was something we needed and it's just unfortunate. I now kind of know how Joel feels, you know? Tit for tat."
The first scoreless opening period of the series wasn't devoid of action, starting with the Blues putting two shots on goal against Crawford in the game's first 23 seconds. St. Louis actually controlled the play for much of the first five minutes and forced the Blackhawks to weather a storm in their own building right off the hop. Eventually Chicago gained more time in the offensive zone. The Blackhawks finished the period with a 13-8 margin in shots and nearly opened the scoring for the second straight game on an attempt by Bickell a minute after their first power play expired. He fired a hard wrist shot from the left circle that snuck past Miller's glove and rang off the right post with 3:38 left in the period. The scoreless tie disappeared during a wild second period, when Shaw and Kane gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead and the Blues came back with back-to-back goals by Tarasenko and Lapierre in the final 1:09. Shaw scored his first goal of the postseason at 8:40 to make it 1-0 and give the Blackhawks just their second power-play goal in 14 chances to that point. Kane made it 2-0 at 16:09 with his second goal of the series by converting a perfect cross-ice feed from the half wall by defenseman Johnny Oduya.
"I've felt like every game I've probably gotten a little bit better," said Kane, who missed the final month of the regular season with a lower-body injury. "Whether that's timing or getting used to playing back in the playoffs, whatever it may be, I just keep trying to get better every game and use these games to [my] advantage to try to get back in the swing of things."
The Blues' fifth power play of the game sparked the comeback. Vladimir Sobotka won a faceoff in the offensive zone and got the puck to Tarasenko for a shot from the top of the left circle. The puck traveled through traffic, with Oshie screening Crawford, and hit the back of net with 1:09 left in the period. Lapierre tied it with 3.1 seconds to play on a wrist shot from the right circle after Chicago failed to clear the zone. The puck hit the right post, came back to hit Crawford's left arm and bounced back into the net for a game-tying goal that gave the Blues a lift heading into the second intermission. Crawford rebounded strong to keep it tied early in the third, but the Blues kept applying pressure until they took their first lead at 12:26 on Tarasenko's second goal. After collecting the puck off a blocked shot in the defensive zone, St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo sent a pass off the boards to Tarasenko in the neutral zone. He raced into the right circle and ripped a wrist shot that skipped off Crawford's glove and into the net for a 3-2 lead. Crawford and his teammates could've easily folded at that point. Instead, they dug deep. Bickell tied it late and Kane, who ended the 2010 Stanley Cup Final with an overtime goal in Game 6, came up with another OT game-winner.
"That's the way we've been all year," Crawford said. "That's the way we've been the last bunch of years. I mean ... stuff happens. There's things that aren't going to go your way throughout a game and you have to shrug it off and keep playing hard. I think when those things bother you, it changes the game. Maybe we lose that game 4-2 if we let that [second Tarasenko goal] get to us. But we didn't, and I think we came back even harder after they scored. It's just the way we are."