Playoffs - Round 3 Game 1 - Fixtures

Sat, Jun 01
Los Angeles v Chicago 5pm ET
Boston v Pittsburgh 8pm ET

Playoffs - Wed, May 29 - Results

Detroit v Chicago 1-2 - Game 7 - The Chicago Blackhawks hadn't faced much adversity this season during what has been an amazing journey. When they did, they proved up to the challenge after all. After the Blackhawks roared through the Western Conference during the regular season en route to the Presidents' Trophy, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville felt his team needed to find a new level after dispatching the eighth-seeded Minnesota Wild in five games in the opening round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The seventh-seeded Detroit Red Wings provided a much stiffer test and pushed the Blackhawks to the brink of an ignominious elimination by winning three of the first four games in the Western Conference Semifinals. But Chicago cemented its championship-caliber credentials Wednesday night, defeating the Red Wings 2-1 in overtime of Game 7 to become the 25th team in NHL history to rally from a 3-1 series deficit. The Blackhawks will face the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Finals. Game 1 will be at United Center on Saturday (5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS), and Game 2 will follow Sunday evening. It's the first time since 1945 and only the second time ever that the NHL's final four will feature the four most recent Cup winners, as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins square off in the Eastern Conference Finals. Brent Seabrook scored his first goal of this postseason 3:35 into overtime after the Blackhawks fended off a furious push from the Red Wings in the third period and the distraction of a controversial disallowed goal late in regulation. Seabrook, who saw his ice time reduced earlier in the series before being reunited with his old partner Duncan Keith before Game 5, was one of the team's top players during the comeback. After a big hit by Dave Bolland freed up the puck, Seabrook ripped a shot from the high slot that went off Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall and past Howard to complete Chicago's first-ever comeback from a 3-1 series deficit. It was the third chance for the Red Wings to complete another upset and prolong this unexpected postseason. After staving off elimination twice against the second-seeded Anaheim Ducks with a seven-game victory in the opening round, the Red Wings stunned the Blackhawks by dealing them their first three-game losing streak of the season. For a team that lost Nicklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart, Tomas Holmstrom and Jiri Hudler in the offseason, this "rebuilding" year will be considered a success. But missing out on three chances to knock out the rival Blackhawks and reach the conference finals still hurts. Seabrook's goal mitigated a potential controversy after what looked like the go-ahead goal by Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson with 1:49 left in regulation was negated when referee Stephen Walkom called matching roughing minors away from the play on Detroit's Kyle Quincey and Chicago's Brandon Saad. Patrick Sharp gave the Blackhawks the lead with a goal 68 seconds into the second period. Chicago dominated possession of the puck in the opening minute, and when Detroit got the puck out of its own zone defensemen Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson both went for a change after being on the ice since the start of the period. Hjalmarsson retrieved the clearance and snapped a pass from near his own blue line to Michal Handzus, triggering a 3-on-1 break. The puck went to Sharp, who dropped it for Handzus, then to Marian Hossa and finally back to Sharp for a tight-angled shot that beat Howard. It was Sharp's seventh goal of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which ties him with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis for the most in the League. Sharp had five in the first round and an empty-netter in Game 1 of this series, but had gone five contests without a goal.

Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg continued his amazing run of production in his team's biggest games this season by scoring the tying goal 26 seconds into the third period. The Blackhawks' Johnny Oduya got the puck out of his zone, but Cleary caught the Red Wings' chip back in near the blue line and got the puck to Gustav Nyquist. That gave Detroit a 2-on-1, and Nyquist flipped a pass over a sliding Seabrook to Zetterberg for an easy one-timer with Corey Crawford overplaying the rookie forward. In Detroit's seven biggest games of the season, the final four of the regular season (all wins to claim a playoff spot on the last day), the two elimination games in the opening round against the Anaheim Ducks and this one, Zetterberg has six goals and 16 points. The Blackhawks thought they had taken the lead when Hjalmarsson ripped a shot from near the top of the left circle that beat Howard, and the crowd went crazy, but Walkom waived the goal off from near the benches. The Red Wings lost a top-six forward early in the first period when Valtteri Filppula left the game with a lower-body injury and did not return. Filppula, who had six points in five career Game 7s (including two against Anaheim in the opening round), played only 1:28 in two shifts. He got tangled up with Chicago's Andrew Shaw as he was leaving the ice on the second shift, and replays showed Shaw kicked Filppula's leg out from under him. A team spokesman after the game said Filppula suffered a high ankle sprain. Howard made 35 saves, including several great ones in the first 40 minutes while Chicago carried most of the play. His opposite number at the other end, Corey Crawford, had to make a couple of big stops after Zetterberg leveled the score and finished with 27 saves. This was the final time these two teams will meet as rivals in the same conference, as the Red Wings are moving to the Eastern Conference next season. Given the history these two franchises share, this was the 16th playoff series between the two, this final showdown proved to be a proper sendoff. Now the Blackhawks are halfway there as they try to capture the Stanley Cup for the second time in the past four seasons. The Kings, with all-world goaltender Jonathan Quick and a punishing style of play, will be a new challenge. But for the Blackhawks, this was a giant test, and even with a little extra drama near the end, they passed.

Playoffs - Tue, May 28 - Results

San Jose v Los Angeles 1-2 - Game 7 - Justin Williams resurrected his Stanley Cup Playoffs with two second-period goals, and Jonathan Quick turned in yet another Conn Smythe-worthy performance in a 2-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks. The defending Stanley Cup champions advanced to the conference finals against the Chicago Blackhawks or the Detroit Red Wings, who play Game 7 of their series on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, RDS). A Chicago victory will send the Kings to United Center for Games 1 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday; A Detroit win means the Kings will host the Red Wings on Friday night. Sutter and the Kings could afford to exhale. This marked halfway through one big grind for L.A., which somehow advanced despite scoring 14 goals in the seven games and 26 goals in 13 postseason games. Veteran defenseman Matt Greene was the first to embrace Quick at the buzzer. Down the hall an emotional Logan Couture expressed the disappointment of a San Jose team that had an opportunity to eliminate their rival on L.A.'s ice for the second time in three years, with the hockey world watching. The Kings take a franchise-record 14-game home winning streak into the next round thanks to their first Game 7 win since Wayne Gretzky's hat trick in the 1993 conference finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Williams, who previously owned up to his lack of production in this year's playoffs as much as any King, came through with his first goals since Game 4 of the first round. He rose to the moment and has five goals in four career Game 7s, all wins. Quick continued to play the way he did last spring. He set the tone with a glove save on Logan Couture's backhander early in the second period and got his left arm out while sprawled to stop Joe Pavelski late in the third with L.A. protecting a 2-1 lead. Dan Boyle scored for San Jose on a slap shot at 5:26 of the third period, but Quick was perfect after that, finishing with a trio of saves in the final 90 seconds with Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi pulled for an extra attacker. He made 13 of his 25 saves in the third period. Quick has a .948 save percentage in the playoffs, even better than the .946 figure he posted in last year's postseason. A 2-0 lead with Quick in net in Game 7? All seven games were won by the team scoring first, and Williams opened the scoring 4:11 into the second period during a power play on the Kings' first shot on goal in nearly 19 minutes.

Slava Voynov's shot missed wide left, but it came off the end boards and Niemi was unable to cover it at the post. Williams was free to poke away at the puck, and he whacked it past Niemi's right leg pad and into the net as Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun arrived too late. With the crowd still roaring, Williams finished an odd-man rush and scored again at 7:08. Anze Kopitar fed him a pass on the left side that Williams stopped and snapped past Niemi. San Jose imploded with a pair of offensive zone penalties 190 feet from its own net in the second period. Brent Burns knocked down Robyn Regehr to set up Williams' first goal, and Bracken Kearns tripped Jake Muzzin. At the other end, the Sharks could only nibble at Quick. Matt Irwin had a pair of shots that squirted wide through traffic and that was about as close as the Sharks got. San Jose really needed captain Joe Thornton to grab the game by his teeth but he finished with no shots on goal. The Sharks' lack of depth ultimately was a factor. Besides T.J. Galiardi in Game 6 and Raffi Torres in Game 2 of the conference quarterfinals, San Jose did not get goals from its bottom six forwards in the postseason. San Jose scored 10 goals in the seven games. Quick and Galiardi moved forward when they had a chat in the handshake line. Galiardi earlier accused Quick of embellishment for contact in the crease. Quick was actually given an unsportsmanlike penalty for embellishment in the third period.

Playoffs - Round 2 Game 7 - Fixtures

Tue, May 28
San Jose v Los Angeles 9pm ET

Wed, May 29
Detroit v Chicago 8pm ET

Playoffs - Mon, 27 May - Results

Chicago v Detroit 4-3 - Game 6 - The Chicago Blackhawks were 20 minutes from a long summer. Then, after a furious opening to the third period Monday against the Detroit Red Wings, they weren’t. The visiting Blackhawks scored three goals in less than nine minutes to start the final period of Game 6 at Joe Louis Arena. Chicago's 4-3 victory means this Western Conference Semifinal will have a Game 7 on Wednesday at United Center (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS). Michal Handzus, Bryan Bickell and Michael Frolik scored in the third period, and goaltender Corey Crawford shook off a bad goal in the second to record 35 saves. Chicago, the Presidents' Trophy winner, has won two in a row after falling behind 3-1 in the best-of-7 series. Detroit led 2-1 and was 20 minutes from a trip to California to face either the Los Angeles Kings or San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals, but third-period struggles, prevalent in the opening round against the Anaheim Ducks, were a problem again. Handzus tied the score 2-2, 51 seconds into the third. The puck went into the right corner, and two Red Wings players went with Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. He got the puck to Handzus, who was all alone in front for his first goal of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Bickell gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead with his fifth goal of the postseason at 5:48. The puck had left the offensive zone, but Detroit’s Johan Franzen brought it back in so Toews was not ruled offsides. Later in the sequence, Toews put a shot on net from the right corner, and Bickell was able to outmuscle rookie defenseman Brendan Smith and tap the rebound past goaltender Jimmy Howard. Frolik was awarded a penalty shot at 9:43 of the third when he got behind Detroit’s Carlo Colaiacovo before the defenseman slashed him just as he was about to shoot on the breakaway. Frolik beat Howard with a nifty backhand for his third goal of the postseason and a two-goal lead. That penalty shot loomed much larger after Damien Brunner scored for the Red Wings with 51.7 seconds left to make it 4-3. It was Brunner’s team-leading fifth goal of this postseason. Joakim Andersson’s first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead midway through the second period. Detroit defenseman Jakub Kindl intercepted a pass by Chicago’s Brent Seabrook in the neutral zone and got the puck to Andersson near the Red Wings bench.

Andersson skated into the zone and sent a soft shot toward the net that Crawford whiffed on with his glove at 10:11. Seabrook's stick was in the area of the shot, but even if he did touch it, Crawford had time to react. Marian Hossa scored his second power-play goal of the series to give Chicago a 1-0 lead at 3:53 of the first period. The goal came nine seconds after Kindl went to the penalty box for hitting Frolik into the boards near the Red Wings bench instead of playing the puck as it went by. Toews won the faceoff back to Seabrook, who gave the puck to partner Duncan Keith. As he skated toward the middle of the ice, Keith sent a pass back to the left wall for Hossa. He passed it to Toews, who had a clear path to the net because the quick passing play caught the Red Wings out of position. Hossa followed Toews to the net and put in the loose puck just before the net came off its moorings. After Hossa scored on the man-advantage in Game 1, the Blackhawks had been scoreless on the power play before Andrew Shaw and Toews scored on back-to-back chances in Game 5. Patrick Eaves evened the score for the Red Wings late in the opening period. Smith kept the puck in the offensive zone along the right wall and got it to forward Drew Miller. Crawford did not corral a relatively harmless-looking shot, and Eaves was there to poke the rebound past him with 1:09 left in the period. Top-seeded Chicago forced a Game 6 with a strong effort Saturday night at United Center. Andrew Shaw scored twice and Toews had his first of the postseason as the Blackhawks won 4-1. That stopped a three-game winning streak for the seventh-seeded Red Wings. Detroit took Game 2 at United Center before sweeping the first two at The Joe. Howard stopped 86 of 88 shots in the three games, and the Red Wings found enough offense to surge to a surprising series lead after Chicago opened the round with a 4-1 victory. The Red Wings had two chances to finish off their rivals. Now they face a second winner-take-all contest after defeating the Ducks in seven games in the first round.

Playoffs - Round 2 Game 6 - Fixtures

Sun, May 26
Los Angeles v San Jose 9pm ET

Mon, May 27
Chicago v Detroit 8pm ET

Playoffs - Sun, 26 May - Results

Los Angeles v San Jose 1-2 - Game 6 - Going into Game 6 of their Western Conference Semifinal series Sunday night at HP Pavilion against the Los Angeles Kings, the San Jose Sharks liked their chances of winning and forcing a seventh game. After all, the home team in this series had won each of the first five games, and the Sharks had defeated the Kings seven straight times overall at HP, including both games in the series. Then, when Joe Thornton gave San Jose a 1-0 lead barely six minutes into the first period with a 5-on-3 power-play goal, the Sharks' confidence soared. San Jose protected home ice for the third straight time, beating the Kings 2-1 and forcing a Game 7. And for the sixth straight time in this series, the team that scored first won. Game 7 is Tuesday night at Staples Center, where the defending Stanley Cup champions have won 13 straight games, including three straight in the series against the Sharks. The Sharks won a Game 6 when trailing 3-2 for just the second time in 10 tries. The other time came in a quarterfinal series in 1995 when they beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 in Game 6 at home, then won Game 7 5-4 in two overtimes on the road. The Sharks built a 2-0 lead on the strength of Thornton's goal early in the first period and TJ Galiardi's even-strength tally early in the second. But Dustin Brown cut the Sharks' lead to 2-1 with a goal late in the second, and that's where the game stood entering the final period. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi made 25 saves, while the Kings' Jonathan Quick made 23. The Sharks and Kings each had just 17 shots through two periods, and their defensive battle continued in the third. Niemi stopped a blast from Kings defenseman Slava Voynov with 1:12 left, and the Kings never recorded another shot, even after pulling Quick and gaining an extra attacker. Thornton gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 6:09 of the first period with a two-man advantage. The Kings' Mike Richards went to the penalty box at 4:44 for hooking Sharks defenseman Brent Burns. Anze Kopitar joined Richards 14 seconds later after sending the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Planted below the right faceoff circle, Thornton took a cross-crease pass from Joe Pavelski and beat Quick with a wrist shot with 49 seconds still left on the 5-4 power play. Thornton's goal ended a Sharks scoring drought of 102 minutes and 14 seconds. They hadn't scored since Logan Couture's power-play goal at 3:55 of the second period in Game 4 at HP Pavilion. The Sharks entered the game with a power play that ranked No. 1 in the postseason at home (9-for-24, 37.5 percent), but No. 12 on the road (1-for-19, 5.3 percent). The Kings took three penalties in the first period, and San Jose took advantage score its first goal. The Sharks held the Kings without a goal in the first period despite playing most of the period without defenseman Justin Braun. With just under four minutes gone, Braun needed help off the ice with a lower-back injury he suffered when taking a hit. But he returned to the bench with under a minute left in the period and returned to the ice in the second period. The Kings put plenty of pressure on Niemi in the first period. Drew Doughty, Dwight King and Kopitar each hit iron, but came away empty. Galiardi made it 2-0 just 4:10 into the second period with his first career playoff goal. Scott Hannan chipped a long pass along the right boards that Galiardi gathered near the blue line. He angled toward the faceoff circle and beat Quick, who appeared to be screened, with a wrist shot to his glove side. Hannan earned an assist and Niemi earned his first career playoff assist. The Kings killed off a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Justin Williams, who drew blood from Marc-Edouard Vlasic at 7:28 of the second. Then, with 6:07 left in the period, Brown scored on a sharp-angled shot from right of the crease, slicing the Sharks’ lead to 2-1. Kings defenseman Matt Greene had ripped a long shot from the blue line into heavy traffic, and the puck caromed off bodies to Brown, who scored his third goal of the postseason. The Sharks had a 15-9 edge in blocks and won 21 of 32 faceoffs (66 percent), but the Kings had outhit San Jose 30-17. Sharks forward Adam Burish was in the lineup for the first time since breaking his right hand in Game 4 of the Sharks’ sweep of the Vancouver Canucks in the quarterfinals. He skated at right wing on the fourth line and spent time on the penalty kill. Burish led the Sharks with four shots and went 4-for-4 in the faceoff circle. Kings forward Jordan Nolan returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for three straight games and replaced rookie Tyler Toffoli on the fourth line. Entering the game, Quick had a 1.50 goals-against average, a .948 save percentage and three shutouts. He ranked first among playoff goaltenders in all three categories, but the Sharks beat have defeated him three times, all by 2-1 counts. But those three wins came at HP, and the Kings will have home-ice advantage Tuesday.

Playoffs - Sat, 25 May - Results

NY Rangers v Boston 1-3 - Game 5 - The Boston Bruins have a chance now to see what all the fuss is about, and an opportunity to put an end to it. They're going to the Eastern Conference Finals to play the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins. The Bruins put to rest any talk about another meltdown by eliminating the New York Rangers on Saturday at TD Garden with a 3-1 victory in Game 5 of the conference semifinals. They've now won five of their past six games going back to that magical and historic comeback win in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Gregory Campbell scored twice Saturday, including an empty-netter with less than a minute left, and Torey Krug scored his fourth goal in five Stanley Cup Playoff games. Tuukka Rask made it hold up with 28 saves, including a lead-saving stop on Ryan Callahan's breakaway in the third period, as the Bruins landed a date with the Penguins, who also needed five games to dispatch the Ottawa Senators. Pittsburgh scored 13 goals in its last two games against Ottawa and 21 over its four wins in the conference semifinals. The Bruins showed how well-rounded they are against the Rangers. They had nine different goal-scorers in the series, but only three are featured in their group of top-six forwards. The Bruins got seven goals from their blue line, including the four from Krug and two more from Johnny Boychuk, who scored the game-winner in Game 2. Their fourth line contributed with four goals, including game-winners from Campbell and Daniel Paille. Boston's fourth line actually had as many goals as its top-two lines combined. New York did not have everybody going, not even close. Sure, the Rangers got goals from nine different players as well, but nobody had more than Derek Stepan's two. New York's blue line was outscored by Boston's blue line, 7-2. Its fourth line, revamped to be grittier after Game 3, was shut out. In fact, that fourth line of Kris Newbury, Micheal Haley and Derek Dorsett, plus the Rangers' third defense pairing of Roman Hamrlik and Steve Eminger, were victimized by the Bruins' fourth line on the game-winning goal with 6:19 to play in the second period. The fact that Boston had to use three rookie defensemen for the first four games before getting Dennis Seidenberg back for Game 5 could have been a crutch that tilted the edge to the Rangers. Instead, it played heavily into the Bruins' favor because of Krug, who scored three of his goals on the power play and became the first rookie defenseman in the post-expansion era to score four goals in his first five career playoff games. Krug, who tied the game Saturday with a power-play goal 3:48 into the second period, was playing in the American Hockey League up until two days before the conference semifinals began. Now, he's the toast of Boston. The Rangers' best player all series was goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who made 30 saves on Saturday, including several showstoppers, to finish the playoffs with a 2.14 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. New York's problem was its lack of depth. As a result, the Rangers had very little in the way of an answer for when Boston surged. That much was evident in overtime of Game 1. It never really changed, even though the Rangers won Game 4 at Madison Square Garden. And now the Bruins get a chance to see what everybody around the NHL is talking about. They get a chance to get up close and personal with the Penguins and play for the right to go to the Stanley Cup Final. It's been 21 years since Boston and Pittsburgh met in the postseason. At that time, Boston right wing Jaromir Jagr was a mullet-wearing, fast-driving, goal-scoring machine for the Penguins, who swept the Bruins in the Wales Conference Finals en route to winning their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship. Boston also lost to Pittsburgh, 4-2, in the 1991 conference finals. Of note for now is how the Penguins owned the Bruins in the regular season, winning all three games by one goal.
Detroit v Chicago 1-4 - Game 5 - Everything that had ailed the Chicago Blackhawks in their previous three games, a poor power play, their depth players getting outplayed, the frustration of their captain, suddenly were no longer visible Saturday night. The result was a comprehensive 4-1 victory against the rival Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, one that earned the Presidents' Trophy-winning Blackhawks the right to play Monday at Joe Louis Arena (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS). Andrew Shaw scored twice and Jonathan Toews netted his first of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Blackhawks cut the Red Wings' lead in the best-of-7 series to 3-2. Chicago's power play came to life in the second period, and helped the Blackhawks extend what had been a one-goal lead to two. Detroit's Daniel Cleary had tied the contest 1-1 with his fourth goal of the postseason at 9:37 of the second. Chicago goalie Corey Crawford directed a Henrik Zetterberg shot toward the corner to his right, but Cleary was able to put a rebound shot from a tight angle off Crawford's leg and in. But the Blackhawks regained the lead at 13:08 with their first power-play goal since Marian Hossa scored in the first period of Game 1 on their first extra-man chance of the series. Detroit had killed off 15 straight Chicago power plays, but Shaw deflected a point shot from Duncan Keith into the net for his first goal and point of the series. Chicago had several great chances on the power play, in part because Pavel Datsyuk was without a stick, and the Blackhawks were able to keep the puck in the zone for 65 seconds before the goal with the Red Wings effectively playing with only 3 1/2 penalty-killers. So much has been written about the offensive struggles of Toews; he finally broke through at 15:47 with his first of the playoffs. Just as the Blackhawks had been able to keep the puck in the zone at the blue line a couple of times before Shaw's goal, Keith made a great play to stop a clearing attempt after his point shot. He sent the puck to Hossa, who faked a shot and slipped the puck to Toews near the goal line to the left of Jimmy Howard. Toews put a shot off Howard and under the crossbar to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead.

Shaw made it a 4-1 game with his second of the night at 6:58 of the third period. Chicago controlled the play early in the third despite Detroit needing a rally, and eventually Viktor Stalberg put a shot off the end boards from the high slot. Shaw was skating behind the net; he was there to collect it and tuck the puck behind Howard, who had come out to challenge Stalberg's attempt. It was Shaw's second multiple-goal game of his career, the first came March 18, 2012, against the Washington Capitals. Chicago's Bryan Bickell had the lone goal of the first period. After Michal Handzus dislodged the puck from Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, Bickell put the first shot on Howard and Patrick Kane the second. The rebound kicked to Howard's left and Bickell was there to rip a shot off the goal camera inside the net. It was Bickell's fourth goal of the postseason. Chicago has had trouble finding second-chance opportunities in this series, let alone third ones. This game looked pretty similar to Chicago's 4-1 victory in Game 1. The Blackhawks controlled the play after an even first period in that one, but it took longer to solve Howard. Detroit gave Chicago its first three-game losing streak of the season, when the Red Wings claimed Game 2 with a 4-1 win and then swept the two contests at Joe Louis Arena. Howard was dazzling, stopping 86 of 88 shots in the three wins, including all 28 in a 2-0 shutout in Game 4. When the Blackhawks needed a big effort in Game 5, they got one from a lot of guys, especially their stars. Chicago's top four forwards, Toews, Sharp, Hossa and Patrick Kane, combined for 17 shots on net, and the reunited top defense pairing of Keith and Brent Seabrook combined for 11 more. The Red Wings entire team had only 26. Those six guys finished the night with a goal and five assists, and they controlled the game the way they are expected to.

Playoffs - Fri, 24 May - Results

Ottawa v Pittsburgh 2-6 - Game 5 - The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since they won the Stanley Cup in 2009, and they are ready to attack the penultimate hurdle while hitting a perfect stride. Pittsburgh finished a thorough dismantling of the Ottawa Senators with a 6-2 victory Friday night in Game 5 at Consol Energy Center. It is the first Stanley Cup Playoff series Pittsburgh has clinched at home since the 2009 run to a championship when they eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers at Mellon Arena in the Eastern Conference Finals. The top-seeded Penguins will play the winner of the other Eastern Conference Semifinal between the fourth-seeded Boston Bruins and the sixth-seeded New York Rangers. Boston leads that best-of-7 series 3-1 with Game 5 on Saturday in Boston (5:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, RDS, TSN). Brenden Morrow, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin also scored as Pittsburgh continued its habit of offensively blitzing opponents at virtually every turn. The Penguins have played 11 games through two rounds of the playoffs and have reached at least four goals in nine of them. They scored 13 goals in the final 100 minutes of this series and have 47 goals this postseason, 12 more than the Bruins, who sit second. The Game 5 result illustrated why Pittsburgh can dominate offensively on any given night. Four players scored and five other players got an assist as the Penguins' depth completely wore on an Ottawa team going up in weight class for this series.

The seventh-seeded Senators had written a great story in the first round, upsetting the second-seeded Montreal Canadiens in a five-game shocker that featured an otherworldly performance by goalie Craig Anderson. In this round, the Penguins made Anderson look human; he allowed 20 goals in the five games and was pulled twice. It also might have marked an unappealing end to the career of Daniel Alfredsson, the Ottawa captain, who has been coy about his future. He scooped up the puck at the conclusion of Wednesday's Game 4, fueling speculation it might have been his last home game. Minutes later, he said in his postgame comments that the Senators probably couldn't win three games in a row because of the Penguins' depth and power play, an observation that made headlines for the 48 hours leading up to Game 5. The offense Pittsburgh generated meant goalie Tomas Vokoun again only had to play mistake-free hockey. He did that for the most part, allowing a goal by Milan Michalek just as a Pittsburgh penalty expired in the second period, and a cosmetic third-period goal by Kyle Turris. Vokoun finished with 29 saves. In the second period, Neal continued his recent hot streak, scoring a power-play goal at 7:38 when Anderson misplayed a shot by Letang from behind the net and Neal pushed the loose puck past the goal line. Neal added an unassisted goal 11:07 into the third period when he pickpocketed Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson and beat Anderson. Neal finished the hat trick when his long rush up the ice culminated in a wrister past Anderson with 2:39 remaining. Neal had five goals in the last two games and nine points in the series. Morrow, who did not play Game 4 due to an injury, scored Pittsburgh's first goal 6:25 into Game 5, driving hard and beating Ottawa defenseman Jared Cowen to the front of the net to get into position to deflect a Mark Eaton pass past Anderson. The pass hit both Morrow's stick and his skate before going in and was reviewed before being upheld as a goal. It was the fourth time this series Pittsburgh scored first, and the third time that goal came in less than seven minutes. The Penguins have a League-best 16 first-period goals this postseason. That early dominance was the foundation for the Penguins, who changed a closely contested series through the first three games into a blowout across the final two.

Patrick Roy accepts Avalanche job in principle

The Colorado Avalanche announced Thursday that Patrick Roy has reached an agreement in principle to be the team's new coach and vice president of hockey operations.

"This is a very exciting day for our fans and a significant moment in our organization's history," Avalanche president Josh Kroenke said in a statement issued by the team. "Patrick's passion for the game of hockey both as a player and as a coach defines who he is as a person. He is a winner and is coming back to Denver where he created numerous special moments on and off the ice while helping lead us to two Stanley Cup championships."

Roy, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, spent eight of his 19 seasons as a player with the Avalanche, helping the team win the Stanley Cup twice. "This is an unbelievable day for me," he said. "It's a new and exciting challenge that I am really looking forward to. I would like to thank Stan and Josh Kroenke for this opportunity as well as Joe Sakic for the trust they are putting in me. Almost 10 years to the day that I announced my retirement as a player I am back in Denver and hope the fans are as excited as I am."

In his role, Roy will work with Sakic, hired recently as the team's executive vice president of hockey operations, on player personnel decisions. "All along Patrick was our top candidate and we are thrilled that he has decided to accept this offer," Sakic said. "Patrick has a great hockey mind, is a tremendous coach and there is no one more passionate about this game. He will bring that winning attitude to our dressing room to help this young team grow."

Roy spent the past eight seasons as coach and general manager of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, a team he co-owns. He guided the Remparts to a 348-196-0 record (.640) in 544 regular-season games, and led the team to the 2006 Memorial Cup.

Playoffs - Round 2 Game 5 - Fixtures

Thu, May 23
San Jose v Los Angeles 10.30pm ET

Fri, May 24
Ottawa v Pittsburgh 7.30pm ET

Sat, May 25
NY Rangers v Boston 5.30pm ET
Detroit v Chicago 8pm ET

Playoffs - Thu, 23 May - Results

Boston v NY Rangers 3-4 - Game 4 - The New York Rangers will not go down quietly. They will instead go to Boston for Game 5. Chris Kreider scored the winner 7:03 into overtime as the Rangers came back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Thursday night, staving off elimination in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Game 5 is Saturday at TD Garden (5:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS). The Bruins lead the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Semifinal series, 3-1. Rangers coach John Tortorella made some drastic lineup changes for the must-win game. He scratched Brad Richards and Arron Asham and inserted a pair of grinders, Kris Newbury and Micheal Haley, to play on the fourth line with Derek Dorsett. As a result, Kreider was bumped up into a second-line role to play with Rick Nash. The two hooked up on the game-winner. Nash came down the right side and found Kreider's stick blade with a hard pass toward the slot. Kreider had position on Bruins rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton and redirected the puck high to Tuukka Rask's blocker side to give the Rangers their first overtime win of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs and hand Boston its first overtime loss in this postseason. For Kreider, it was his sixth career NHL postseason goal and third game-winner. Henrik Lundqvist gave Kreider a chance to be the overtime star by making seven saves in the extra session. He finished the game with 37.

In a somewhat shocking turn of events, the Rangers' power play helped them keep the series going. Brian Boyle tied the game at 3-3 with a blocker-side shot from the slot 10 minutes into the third period. It was New York's first power-play goal since Game 4 against the Washington Capitals and snapped a 0-for-23 drought. New York is 3-for-42 on the power play in the playoffs. The Bruins were lamenting their mistakes and miscues in the losing dressing room. They had a 2-0 lead on power-play goals from Nathan Horton and Torey Krug, but Rask fell down in the crease and didn't get enough leverage with his right leg tucked behind him to stick his stick out far enough to stop Carl Hagelin's slow, trickling, deflected backhanded shot from the slot at 8:39 of the second period. Stepan scored the next big goal when he swiped the puck from an unsuspecting Zdeno Chara and wrapped it around the left post to tie the game at 2-2 with 18:45 to play in regulation. Tyler Seguin was hoping he had erased the mistakes when he scored his first goal of the playoffs to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead 8:06 into the third period, two seconds after Ryan McDonagh's goalie interference minor expired. However, the Rangers got a power play 49 seconds later when the Bruins were called for too many men on the ice. New York made it count.

Chicago v Detroit 0-2 - Game 4 - The days of thinking this was going to be a rebuilding year for the Detroit Red Wings are over. The days of thinking this was going to be an amazing finish to an incredible season for the Chicago Blackhawks, well, those could be numbered. Jakub Kindl scored a power-play goal midway through the second period Thursday night and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves, stealing Game 4 at Joe Louis Arena from the top-seeded Blackhawks in a 2-0 victory and a 3-1 lead in this Western Conference Semifinal series. The seventh-seeded Red Wings could finish a most improbable upset of the Presidents' Trophy winners Saturday at United Center (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS). After falling behind three times in the Western Conference Quarterfinals to the second-seeded Anaheim Ducks, the Red Wings have won five of their past six postseason games. Chicago began this season with a record 24-game streak without a regulation loss. The Blackhawks lost only seven times in regulation in the 53 games (including a first-round series victory against the Minnesota Wild) before this series, but they've now lost three in a row to the rival Red Wings, all in regulation, and have never won a postseason series after losing three of the first four games. This is also the first three-game losing streak of any kind for Chicago this season. Kindl put the Red Wings in front with a power-play goal at 10:03 of the second period. Johan Franzen shot the puck from the right wall and hit it Justin Abdelkader in front. Abdelkader kept Niklas Hjalmarsson from clearing the puck by playing it to the left wall, then won a battle for it behind the net when Kindl sent it along the boards. Abdelkader left the puck for Pavel Datsyuk, who eschewed the simple stuff try from behind the net, and deked Marcus Kruger out of position in the process, before the puck worked its way back to Kindl, who shot it through a screen provided by Abdelkader. It was Kindl's first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal. Defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo, who sent a D-to-D pass to Kindl, also collected his first point of this postseason.

The goal came with one second left on a penalty to Chicago captain Jonathan Toews, the second of three straight penalties he took in the period. It also ended Chicago's perfect penalty-killing streak, the Blackhawks had erased 30 consecutive extra-man chances to start this postseason. Toews has not scored a goal in this postseason. He has been asked about it every time he meets with the media, which, as the guy who wears the "C" on his sweater, is often. He was visibly upset about two of the calls, and his physical battle with Zetterberg continues to be one of the highlights of the series. The two captains have jostled after the whistle on multiple occasions. Meanwhile, Chicago's power play remains a problem. The Blackhawks scored on their first man-advantage of the series midway through the first period, but the Red Wings have killed off 14 straight Chicago power plays. The Blackhawks had three chances in this contest, the first two for either team and then one in the final five minutes of regulation. What's worse is they put only one shot on goal with the man advantage and none during the final power play. In fact, after Howard corralled a point blast from defenseman Duncan Keith with 5:49 left in the third to get the Red Wings to the final TV timeout, the Blackhawks did not register another shot on goal. Daniel Cleary added an empty-net goal with 38.2 seconds remaining to send the standing-room crowd of 20,066 into a frenzy. The Blackhawks created several great chances in the first period. But just as he was in the previous two games, Howard was outstanding. He turned aside all 14 shots he faced, including top-level chances by Toews, Sharp and Patrick Kane. While Chicago players were breaking in alone on Howard, those are all shots he can see. The Blackhawks had few chances near the crease during scrums, and second chances again were hard to come by. The Blackhawks dominated Game 1 en route to a 4-1 victory, but the Red Wings returned the favor in Game 2 with a 4-1 triumph of their own. Game 3 was an evenly played contest, but one six-minute spurt from Detroit and the combination of a controversial no-goal call on Chicago followed by a world-class snipe by Datsyuk gave the Red Wings a 3-1 victory and their first lead in a series in this postseason. The Red Wings, younger than they've been in a long time, continue to improve as this postseason moves along. For the Blackhawks, this is certainly not going according to plan.

San Jose v Los Angeles 0-3 - Game 5 - Anze Kopitar was struggling to put the puck into the net. Slava Voynov was having issues defensively. The Los Angeles Kings looked ready to drop a game at home for the first time in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. But a physical 60-minute effort in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals turned those notions on their ear. Kopitar broke out of his scoring slump with a late second-period goal and Voynov added a seeing-eye goal on point shot early in the third to propel the Kings to a 3-0 victory night against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for his third shutout of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs as L.A. took a 3-2 series lead. The Kings can advance by winning Game 6 on Sunday at HP Pavilion (NBCSN, TSN, RDS). After back-to-back 2-1 losses at San Jose, the Kings stepped up their game to a level the Sharks couldn't match. Los Angeles came out hitting everything in sight, the Kings finished with a 51-24 edge in hits, and extended its home winning streak to a franchise-record 13 games, including six in a row in these playoffs. L.A. has won its last seven playoff games at Staples Center, including the Cup-clinching 6-1 win against New Jersey last June. Six Kings registered at least four hits. Dustin Penner bumped Logan Couture so hard Couture's helmet came off, and Matt Greene knocked down T.J. Galiardi in a tone-setting opening period in which L.A. was credited with 24 hits to San Jose's 12. Quick earned his seventh postseason shutout and passed Kelly Hrudey as the franchise leader in playoff wins with his 27th. He was masterful in the third period, making his best stop of the night on Joe Pavelski's shot from the right side with 40 seconds left. Quick has stopped 313 of 330 shots in the postseason for a .948 save percentage. San Jose coach Todd McLellan didn't recognize Quick's performance as the difference after San Jose found itself on the losing end of a low-scoring game following back-to-back 2-1 wins in Games 3 and 4. San Jose needed to live off its power play but went scoreless on three chances. The line of Joe Thornton, Brent Burns and T.J. Galiardi were a combined minus-4 and Thornton put three shots on goal. Couture was a minus-3. Although Thornton won 20 of 29 faceoffs, Los Angeles was better than 50 percent (37-35) on draws for the first time in the series.

Though Thornton won 69 percent of his draws, it was a faceoff he lost to Trevor Lewis that led to Voynov's goal 53 seconds into the third period. Lewis muscled the puck back to Voynov, who fired a shot through traffic and past Antti Niemi for his second goal the series, helping to atone for key turnovers in Games 3 and 4. Sustained pressure off a San Jose turnover led to Kopitar's goal. Voynov pinched and Kyle Clifford sent a shot from the right point that squirted cleanly to Kopitar, who easily nudged it into the open net with 1:52 left in the second period. Kopitar's last previous goal was Game 4 in the conference quarterfinals, which ended a 19-game scoring drought. The Kings could have enjoyed a first-period lead if their shooters had been on target, both Kopitar and Voynov missed the net on great chances. San Jose spent most of the period icing the puck and getting knocked down. The Sharks put a wrinkle in their lineup and went with seven defensemen as Jason Demers played forward in place of the scratched Tim Kennedy. McLellan didn't say whether he would make any more changes for Game 6, but did say extending the series to a seventh game would be a 20-man job.

Playoffs - Wed, 22 May - Results

Pittsburgh v Ottawa 7-3 - Game 4 - A lot of teams that throw 50 shots on net and come away with one goal would get discouraged. The Pittsburgh Penguins simply grew more determined, and now they are one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals. After being held without a goal in the series, James Neal scored twice and added an assist to lead the Penguins to a 7-3 win against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Scotiabank Place. The Penguins lead the best-of-7 series 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Friday at Consol Energy Center (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS). The Penguins had peppered Senators goaltender Craig Anderson with 50 shots in a 2-1 double overtime loss in Game 3 on Sunday, but the offensive juggernaut would not be denied a second game in a row. Trailing 2-1 after one period, the Penguins erupted for six straight to turn the game into a rout. While the Senators are facing a big mountain to climb, coach Paul MacLean was defiant after the game, taking no questions from the media and simply holding up the score sheet before saying, "I think everything's right here. It's 7-3. See you in Pittsburgh. We're going to Pittsburgh, and we're coming to play. Have a good night." Neal's three points doubled his total for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while Kris Letang had four assists and Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves to win his fifth game in six starts for the Penguins. Jarome Iginla also had two goals, Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis had a goal and an assist each and Chris Kunitz got the other goal for the Penguins. The Penguins' power play, which had gone 1-for-12 over the previous two games, broke out with two goals on five chances, and is now clicking at a League-best 28.6 percent success rate in these playoffs. Anderson looked sharp early, but finally succumbed to the Penguins' onslaught, allowing five goals on 22 shots after the first intermission before being pulled with the Senators down 6-2 at 8:39 of the third.

Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson scored a power play goal in the third period and added an assist, giving him 100 playoff points in 120 career playoff games. Milan Michalek and Kyle Turris provided Ottawa with the lead after 20 minutes, but the Penguins simply would not be denied again in Game 4. Trailing 2-1 to open the second period, Kunitz scored on a breakaway at 1:08 and Iginla scored on a juicy rebound allowed by Anderson 40 seconds later to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish. Neal's second goal of the game and third of the playoffs at 1:59 of the third on the power play made it 4-2 for Pittsburgh and opened the floodgates. Dupuis scored shorthanded off a great Matt Cooke feed at 8:08 and Crosby followed with a spectacular backhand to the top corner after weaving his way through the Senators' defense 31 seconds later to make it 6-2 and chase Anderson from the game. Iginla scored Pittsburgh's second power-play goal of the game and his fourth of the playoffs 1:14 at 9:53 off a one-timer from the slot against Ottawa backup Robin Lehner, while Alfredsson's deflection on a power play at 14:44 of third completed the scoring. The Senators took their first lead of the series at 2:29 of the first period by scoring their second shorthanded goal in as many games, and once again, Alfredsson was at the heart of it. Alfredsson's shorthanded goal with 28.2 seconds left in Game 3 sent it to overtime, allowing Colin Greening to win it for Ottawa in the second overtime period. This time Alfredsson made a brilliant play along the boards while down a man, ignoring the obvious dump down the ice to spin and find Michalek in stride at the Ottawa blue line. Michalek then shot out of a rocket down the ice, beating Evgeni Malkin to the Pittsburgh net and beating Vokoun with a top corner wrist shot to put Ottawa ahead 1-0. Anderson did his best to maintain the slim lead, closing the five-hole on an Iginla chance in alone just after the 10-minute mark and making two saves on Crosby on a 2-on-1 about 30 seconds later. He then had Crosby lift his stick behind the net to steal the puck and send it out to Paul Martin for a one-timer, but Anderson got back in his net in time to glove the shot. The Penguins tied it less than a minute after that Martin chance when Neal found a loose puck right after an offensive zone faceoff and beat Anderson with a quick wrist shot at 14:56 of the opening period, his first goal of the series. But the Senators took the lead back 1:19 later when Turris jumped on a rebound and slid it past Vokoun at 16:15 to allow Ottawa to go into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead. It didn't last long, as the Penguins scored the next six goals of the game and are one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Senators are facing elimination Friday in Pittsburgh.

Playoffs - Tue, 21 May - Results

Boston v NY Rangers 2-1 - Game 3 - The Boston Bruins aren't celebrating yet. They've been through too much to start prematurely thinking about the Eastern Conference Finals, even though they're one win away from getting there. The Bruins have given no indication that their prior problems in closing out a series after taking a commanding lead will become an issue against the New York Rangers. They've clearly been the more dominant team in all three games, and Tuesday night it took an all-world performance by Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist to just keep things close. Fourth-liner Daniel Paille beat Lundqvist for the game-winner with 3:31 left in regulation at Madison Square Garden to give the Bruins a 2-1 victory and a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Paille also had the assist on Boychuk's game-tying goal 3:10 into the third period. Paille's linemates, Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell, were on the ice for both goals. Thornton had assists on both for his first two points of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. Tuukka Rask needed to make only 23 saves for the win. The Rangers couldn't help out Lundqvist, who was excellent in making 32 saves, but not good enough to keep his team from falling into an 0-3 hole with its first home loss in the 2013 postseason. Game 4 is Thursday at Madison Square Garden (7 p.m. ET, CNBC, TSN, RDS). It's easy to understand why the Bruins aren't thinking big just yet. For starters, the 11 players remaining from the 2010 team vividly remember their historic meltdown in the Eastern semis, when they blew a 3-0 series lead and then a 3-0 lead in Game 7 only to lose to the Philadelphia Flyers, who went on to the Stanley Cup Final. But freshest of all is the memory of nearly giving back a 3-1 series lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round this year. The Maple Leafs won Games 5 and 6 and had a 4-1 lead in halfway through the third period of Game 7 before the Bruins stormed back with three goals in regulation, including two in the last 82 seconds, before winning in overtime. The question facing the Rangers is how much do they still believe after Tuesday night, when their power play again failed them (0-for-2; 2-for-38 in the playoffs) and they couldn't generate a consistent forecheck. The Rangers were hoping to do that in Game 3, especially after grabbing a 1-0 lead on Taylor Pyatt's deflection goal 3:53 into the second period. But they couldn't generate any momentum off the goal and were again chasing the Bruins, relying on Lundqvist to bail them out. That was the story of Games 1 and 2 at TD Garden in Boston, and it was the same tale in Game 3. Boston outshot the Rangers 14-2 during the final 16:07 of the second period and 11-8 in the third period for a 25-10 edge after Pyatt scored. Lundqvist, who stoned Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin on breakaways in the first period, had to make a superb glove save on Campbell with 8:24 left in the second to preserve the 1-0 lead. He made a quick left pad save on Torey Krug five minutes later and then got some help from the right post as Nathan Horton found iron with his shot off the rebound.

It took a relentless shift from Boston's fourth line, some traffic in front of Lundqvist and a seeing-eye shot by Boychuk for the Bruins to pull even. Paille got the puck up to Boychuk, who had Campbell and Thornton in front of the net when he fired his wrist shot from the right point past Lundqvist. The shot may have deflected off Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello, who was coming out to challenge Boychuk. Paille scored the winner after Campbell's shot from above the left circle shot up and hit Lundqvist in the head. Lundqvist lost the puck and was almost guilty of putting it in himself, but Paille curled around the net and simultaneous with Rangers defenseman Steve Eminger whacked at the loose puck in the slot from the right side. The puck shot up and went into the near side. The Rangers used their timeout with 1:36 remaining and were able to settle the puck in the zone with roughly a minute left so Lundqvist could head to the bench for the extra skater. They had six forwards on the ice but couldn't get off a shot on goal. They've been impossible to beat in this series. But the Bruins know their most difficult test is yet to come. It may be an old cliché, but when a Bruins' player says the fourth one is the hardest to win, he's speaking from experience. The question now is have they learned anything?

Los Angeles v San Jose 1-2 - Game 4 - It was early in first period Tuesday night at HP Pavilion when San Jose Sharks' captain Joe Thornton won a race to the puck behind the Los Angeles Kings' net and zipped a cross-ice pass to Brent Burns in the left circle. Mike Richards blocked Burns' shot, but Thornton got the carom and sent it back to Burns, who beat goaltender Jonathan Quick to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead just over six minutes into the game. Thornton set the tone with his high-octane start, and his teammates followed his lead as the Sharks beat the Kings 2-1 and pulled even in their Western Conference Semifinal series at two wins apiece. Couture added a power-play goal in the second to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Richards scored on the power play for the Kings midway through the third. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi stopped 22 shots, while Quick made 21 saves. The Sharks improved to 4-0 at home during this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs and beat the Kings for the seventh straight time overall at HP Pavilion, including five regular-season wins during the past two seasons. The last time the Kings won in San Jose was in Game 5 of the 2011 Western Conference Quarterfinals. The Sharks went on to win that series in six games. This series goes back to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Thursday night at Staples Center, where the Kings have won 12 straight games, five in this year's playoffs, and have gone 24-4-1 this season. They beat San Jose in both games in the regular season and in the first two games of this series. The Sharks are undaunted at the prospect of winning in L.A. Los Angeles, which went 10-1 on the road last spring on the way to winning the Stanley Cup, has lost four of five games away from home this year.

The Sharks took a 2-0 lead into the third period, but Richards cut that advantage in half with his power-play goal at 9:46 with Burns in the penalty box for boarding Anze Kopitar. Jeff Carter ripped a shot from the right circle that hit the post. Niemi tried to cover the puck, but Richards knocked it home from just to the right of the crease. The Sharks outshot the Kings 15-3 in the first period, but by the end of the game the shots were even at 23-23 as Los Angeles made a furious comeback. The Sharks dominated the opening period, taking 12 more shots than the Kings, winning 17 of 22 faceoffs and earning the only two power plays. The Kings didn't have a shot on goal during the final 9:58 of the period. But at the first intermission, San Jose led just 1-0. Burns put the Sharks ahead when he took Thornton's pass and ripped a shot from left circle past Quick, giving Thornton's line its first goal of the series. Thornton earned his 75th career playoff assist. The Sharks made it 2-0 at 3:55 of the second on Couture's power-play goal with Colin Fraser in the penalty box for roughing Andrew Desjardins. Dan Boyle's shot from the point banked off Couture's shin pad and went past Quick. The Kings thought they had a goal at 6:06 when Tyler Toffoli got his stick on a pass in the slot and redirected it toward Niemi. After Niemi made the save, Dustin Penner appeared to poke the rebound past him, but not until after the whistle had blown. The last time the Sharks played at Staples Center, they owned a 3-2 lead in Game 2 with less than two minutes left in regulation but gave up two power-play goals, including one on a 5-on-3, and lost 4-3. Defenseman Matt Greene and forward Kyle Clifford returned to the Kings' lineup after being out with injuries. Greene, who missed most of the regular season after undergoing back surgery, made his 2013 playoff debut. Clifford was in the lineup for the first time since suffering an undisclosed injury in Game 5 of the first round against the St. Louis Blues. He played left wing on the fourth line. Tim Kennedy was in the Sharks' lineup, taking injured Martin Havlat's place and centering the fourth line.

Playoffs - Mon, 20 May - Results

Chicago v Detroit 1-3 - Game 3 - A furious six-minute stretch and a world-class shot. Put those two things together and you have the recipe for a Detroit Red Wings victory. The Red Wings received highlight-reel goals from rookie Gustav Nyquist and veteran Pavel Datsyuk, some valiant hard work from Drew Miller and 39 saves from Jimmy Howard in a 3-1 triumph in Game 3 on Monday night at Joe Louis Arena, and suddenly the seventh-seeded club from Detroit has seized control of this Western Conference Semifinal series against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Chicago Blackhawks. It was only the ninth regulation loss in 56 games this season for the Blackhawks, and only the third time they have dropped two straight in regulation. Game 4 is Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS2). Nyquist opened the scoring at 7:49 of the second period. After a faceoff in the Red Wings' end, Damien Brunner chipped the puck over Chicago defenseman Nick Leddy and Nyquist tracked it down near the Blackhawks' blue line. He cut to the middle of the ice and past defenseman Brent Seabrook before waiting out goalie Corey Crawford for one of the best goals of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs to this point. It was Nyquist's second goal of the postseason, his first was an overtime winner in the opening round against the Anaheim Ducks. Brunner has four goals and eight points, second on the team in scoring to captain Henrik Zetterberg. Miller made it 2-0 just 31 seconds later. Chicago defenseman Michal Rozsival's outlet pass was picked off by Cory Emmerton. He fed Eaves, who put two shots on Crawford, and the second trickled behind him. Blackhawks defenseman Jonny Oduya reached for the puck to try and keep it off the goal line, but Miller dove headfirst toward the net and was able to push it over the goal line for his first goal of the playoffs. Chicago had a power play early in the second period and ended up hemming Detroit in its own zone for more than a minute after the advantage expired. The Blackhawks dominated territorially for the opening six minutes of the period, but it didn't lead to many shots on net. Shortly after that spell, the Red Wings took control of the contest with a stunning six-minute display of their own. After not having any shots on goal in the first 6:33 of the period, Detroit had 13 in the next 5:23 and grabbed its two-goal lead. Chicago dominated the start of the third period as well, and the Blackhawks thought they had tied the contest with two quick goals.

Patrick Kane scored on a breakaway at 4:35 to cut the lead in half. He was able to control a long, bouncing pass from defenseman Duncan Keith and snap a shot through Howard's pads for his second of the series. Detroit's Johan Franzen was still down on the ice at the other end at the time of the goal. It may have been a boarding infraction on Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson that wasn't called, but fans at The Joe were also upset because early in the game the officials stopped play when the puck was in the Blackhawks end of the ice because Viktor Stalberg was injured behind the Red Wings' net. The Blackhawks thought they had tied the game 67 seconds later, but referee Brad Watson immediately waived off what would have been a Stalberg goal because Andrew Shaw was in the crease, even though Shaw did not appear to make significant contact with Howard. Just as the Blackhawks were in the process of making a big push, Datsyuk electrified the crowd with an incredible shot to make it 3-1. As he did in Game 6 against the Ducks, Datsyuk had the puck on the left wing and ripped a shot under the crossbar that hit inside of the net and bounced back out in a hurry. These two teams split the first two games of the series at United Center as they took turns controlling the play and eventually forcing the other to submit. Chicago dominated the second and start of the third periods in Game 1 before finally breaking through with three goals in the final 12 minutes to secure a 4-1 victory. Detroit trailed 1-0 after the first period in Game 2, but four unanswered goals earned the Red Wings a win against the rival Blackhawks for the first time in nine tries including regular-season contests. For the first time in what has been a magical season, Chicago finds itself in a hole going into Game 4.

Playoffs - Round 2 Game 4 - Fixtures

Tue, May 21
Los Angeles v San Jose 10pm ET

Wed, May 22
Pittsburgh v Ottawa 7.30pm ET

Thu, May 23
Boston v NY Rangers 7pm ET
Chicago v Detroit 8pm ET

Playoffs - Sun, 20 May - Results

NY Rangers v Boston 2-5 - Game 2 - The Boston Bruins surged again. The New York Rangers couldn't stop them. The Bruins came with speed and scored the last three goals Sunday at TD Garden, including two in the third period, to turn what was a tight Game 2 into a 5-2 victory. Boston got goals from five players, including another one from rookie defenseman Torey Krug, to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Game 3 is Tuesday at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS), where the Rangers are 3-0 at home in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They won Games 3 and 4 against the Washington Capitals after losing the first two on the road, and Game 6. Boston was 2-1 on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins scored their last three goals Sunday because of their quick transition game, the same style they used to dominate overtime in Game 1 before Marchand scored the winning goal. Defenseman Johnny Boychuk netted the game-winner Sunday with a glove-side wrist shot from the top of the right circle at 12:08 of the second period after Marchand quickly took the puck into the offensive zone and waited for Boychuk to join him. Patrice Bergeron darted to the net and got in front of Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi to act as a screen for goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who went down into his butterfly but never reacted with his glove. Marchand scored 26 seconds into the third period when he and Bergeron attacked the Rangers on a 2-on-2. Bergeron went wide on defenseman Michael Del Zotto and Marchand got inside position on Girardi, enabling Bergeron to find his stick with a centering pass that led to a redirect past Lundqvist and a 4-2 lead. The goal was similar to Marchand's overtime winner in Game 1. Milan Lucic made it 5-2 at 12:39 of the third because defenseman Dougie Hamilton rushed through the defensive zone and into the neutral zone with speed. He allowed Lucic to gain the offensive zone with a similar burst. Lucic fed David Krejci in the middle, but he missed the shot and the puck went off his skate, bouncing wide right of the net. Lucic found the loose puck and tucked it inside the right post after Girardi slid right past him. Girardi was on the ice for all five Bruins goals. When the Rangers tried to surge in the second period, Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask was a difference-maker with 15 saves, including five after Boychuk scored. Rask was beaten only by Rick Nash, who tied the game at 2-2 at 3:20 with his first goal of the playoffs. The Rangers again burned themselves by not converting on the power play. They were 0-for-5 with seven shots on goal Sunday. They are 0-for-8 against Boston and 2-for-36 in the playoffs.

After delivering the Rangers back-to-back shutout wins with a combined 62 saves in Games 6 and 7 against the Capitals, Lundqvist has allowed eight goals on 80 shots in the first two games against the Bruins. He faced 32 shots in Game 2. Lundqvist continued to say he didn't think the Rangers made the Bruins work too hard to score some of the goals. The point was backed up by his coach, John Tortorella, who said he thought the goals scored by Boychuk and Marchand were "defendable." Lundqvist kept the deficit at two goals with 9:28 left in the third period when he made a sprawling save on Jaromir Jagr, who had a wide-open look from the right post. The Bruins kept coming and again used their transition game to take a three-goal lead on Lucic's first of the series.

 

Pittsburgh v Ottawa 1-2 2OT - Game 3 - With the Ottawa Senators' playoff lives flashing before their eyes, the never-say-die team found yet another way to win Sunday night. Captain Daniel Alfredsson made sure of it. Alfredsson tied the game with a shorthanded goal with 28.6 seconds remaining in regulation, and Colin Greening won it with a goal at 7:39 of the second overtime to give the Senators a 2-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Instead of being down 3-0, the Senators trail the best-of-7 series 2-1 with Game 4 Wednesday night at Scotiabank Place (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, RDS). When a slashing penalty was called on Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson at 18:33 of the third period, it appeared the powerhouse Penguins would coast to a commanding series lead. But with Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson, who finished with 49 saves in another stellar performance, on the bench for an extra attacker, the Penguins somehow left the greatest player in Senators history all alone in front of their net. Milan Michalek saw Alfredsson cruising in front and put a wrist shot toward him, allowing the Senators' all-time leading scorer to tip the puck into the top corner past goalie Tomas Vokoun, sending the sellout crowd of 20,500 into a state of delirium moments after they thought they were witnessing what would have virtually amounted to the end of their team's season. After a back-and-forth period of furious hockey in the first overtime, Greening stepped to the fore in the second when Andre Benoit's sharp-angle shot forced Vokoun into a difficult save (his 46th of the night), but he couldn't get to Greening's shot on the rebound. It was Greening's third straight game with a goal, clearly the biggest.

It was the second straight time these fans saw a last-minute game-tying goal from the Senators. In Game 4 of their five-game first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, the prior time the Senators played at home, Cory Conacher scored with 22.6 seconds to play in regulation to allow Kyle Turris to win it in overtime and give Ottawa a 3-1 series lead. The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Tyler Kennedy with 1:07 to go in the second period after the Senators had played nearly flawless hockey for most of it. But the first glaring mistake they made cost them dearly. After a number of failed clearing attempts, one final one by Michalek wound up on the stick of Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke. Karlsson slid toward Cooke to block a potential centering pass, but that left Kennedy wide open in the slot. Cooke deftly dropped it to Kennedy while avoiding Karlsson, and Kennedy's wrist shot tucked right under the crossbar to beat Anderson on Pittsburgh's 23rd shot of the game. The Penguins had done a good job of shutting it down defensively in the third period until they somehow lost Alfredsson on his game-tying goal. The Senators' penalty kill had a strong night, perfect on six opportunities, including a 5-on-3 kill for 58 seconds early in the second period and allowing two shots on goal on a Penguins power play at 1:56 of the second overtime. Senators center Jason Spezza returned to the lineup more than three months after undergoing back surgery. It was the 10th anniversary of Spezza's first career Stanley Cup Playoff game and he tried to get up to speed right away. On his first shift, Spezza got in on the forecheck and finished a hit on Penguins defenseman Douglas Murray before knocking down forward Brenden Morrow deep in the Pittsburgh end as the Scotiabank Place crowd chanted his name. But Spezza's endurance appeared to be an issue as he tired quickly and had to keep his shifts short. Spezza's creativity with the puck and vision did create a few chances, and though he expressed some concern about his timing in the faceoff circle, he finished the night 15-for-25. The Senators looked a bit jittery to start, giving up several good opportunities in the opening 10 minutes, but Anderson managed to keep the game scoreless by turning aside 12 Penguins shots in the first period. Spezza helped trigger a change in momentum when he won an offensive-zone faceoff and went hard to the net to draw a penalty on Tanner Glass at 16:33 of the first, and it very nearly resulted in a goal when Karlsson's point shot about a minute later was tipped by Turris to force Vokoun into an awkward save, but Jakob Silfverberg could not get a handle on the rebound. Turris, who had a strong game going head to head with Sidney Crosby all night, very nearly got Ottawa on the board at 16:11 of the second when he danced around Penguins defenseman Kris Letang on a 1-on-3 to open up space and go in on Vokoun, but his shot went well wide of the far post. There was so much that was better for the Senators than it was in Pittsburgh, including an unlikely shorthanded goal that might have saved their season.

Playoffs - Sat, 18 May - Results

Detroit v Chicago 4-1 - Game 2 - Henrik Zetterberg might be in his first season as captain of the Detroit Red Wings, but he long has produced big games when his team has needed him the most. Zetterberg set up a pair of goals, including the game-winner, in a 4-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Saturday at United Center. The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1, with Game 3 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Monday night. The Blackhawks dominated much of Game 1 and took a 1-0 lead Saturday despite being outplayed in the first period. Detroit coach Mike Babcock had hoped his team would be able to steal one of the first two games, and the Red Wings didn't miss an opportunity in a contest they clearly controlled. After a strong first period, the Red Wings were even better in the second and grabbed their first lead of the series. Damien Brunner tied the game 1-1 when he deflected a point shot from Jakub Kindl past Corey Crawford at 2:40. It was a team-leading fourth goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Brunner. Smith put Detroit in front late in the period. Zetterberg beat Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson to the puck after Detroit forward Daniel Cleary chipped it toward the left corner. The Detroit captain put a pass through defenseman Duncan Keith's legs to Smith, who had fallen near the Blackhawks' bench when he sent the puck toward Cleary at the far wall but was able to skate back into the play and finish the one-timer with 3:52 to go for his second goal of the playoffs. Johan Franzen pushed Detroit's lead to 3-1 a little more than seven minutes into the third period. The Red Wings did not have a shot in the period, but seconds after Justin Abdelkader had the first, Franzen scored on the second at 7:19. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson sent a pass from his own blue line to Franzen, who snuck behind the defense at the far blue line then snapped a shot under the crossbar for his fourth of the postseason to tie Brunner for the team lead. It was Franzen's first even-strength goal in the postseason after three power-play goals against the Anaheim Ducks in the opening round. Valtteri Filppula made it 4-1 at 12:03 of the third period. Chicago's Dave Bolland won a faceoff at the right circle in the Detroit end, but Zetterberg chipped the puck past defenseman Brent Seabrook and started a 3-on-2. Zetterberg sent the puck to Filppula in the middle of the ice, and he backhanded a shot past Crawford despite falling to the ice after being tripped just before he shot it.

It was Filppula's second goal of the postseason. Zetterberg has 10 points in the playoffs, which puts him in a tie for fourth in the League. Zetterberg had 10 points in the final four games of the regular season, each a Detroit win, as the Red Wings secured a playoff berth on the final day. He had five points in two elimination games to help the Red Wings upset the second-seeded Ducks in seven games. He added two Saturday. Chicago forward Patrick Kane had the lone goal of the first period, his first of this postseason. Patrick Sharp chased down the puck after tipping it near center ice, and the Blackhawks had a quick 3-on-2 develop. Sharp tried to send the puck across to Kane on the right wing, but the pass was deflected. It went to Michael Handzus, who shuffled it to Kane for a one-timer at 14:05. The Red Wings played better in the first period than they had in Game 1, but the Blackhawks went to the intermission with the lead. In a reversal of Game 1, which was even for the first period before the Blackhawks dominated the final two, the Red Wings seized control with a strong second and kept up the pressure in the third. The Blackhawks appeared frustrated at times and were never able to mount much of a sustained push like they did in a 4-1 victory in Game 1 on Wednesday night. This was Detroit's first win against Chicago in nine tries, and the Red Wings' first in regulation since April 2011, the Blackhawks were on a 9-0-2 run against their rivals.

Los Angeles v San Jose 1-2 - Game 3 - It was early in the second period Saturday night when San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture slammed into the boards awkwardly after a battle with the Los Angeles Kings' Jeff Carter. Couture limped off the ice and headed to the dressing room, where he joined teammate Martin Havlat, who reinjured himself in the first period. The Sharks and Kings were tied 1-1 in Game 3 of their Western Conference Semifinal series, but the Sharks were down two players, including Couture, their rising star. They appeared on their way to going down 3-0 in the series. But Couture rejoined his teammates on the bench with 1:33 left in the period, giving the Sharks a huge emotional boost. He gave them an even bigger left when he scored a power-play goal 1:29 into overtime to give the Sharks a crucial 2-1 victory. Couture took a pass from Patrick Marleau in the slot and roofed San Jose's 40th shot of the night past goaltender Jonathan Quick. The Sharks can get even in the series by winning Game 4 on Tuesday night at HP Pavilion (10 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS). Couture's goal came 11 seconds after a 5-on-3 power play expired. Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr was called for hooking Tommy Wingels in the Los Angeles zone with 42 seconds left in regulation, and Trevor Lewis was penalized for goaltender interference after running over Antti Niemi with five seconds left. Regehr had left the penalty box, but Lewis had 26 seconds left on his penalty when Couture scored. It was the 19th overtime game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring and the fifth to be decided by a power-play goal. Kings forward Dustin Penner took issue with the call on Lewis, who was battling with Marleau while racing for the net when he crashed into Niemi.

The Kings beat the Sharks 4-3 in Game 2 at Staples Center, scoring two power play goals in a 22-second span, including one with a 5-on-3 advantage. Until Couture's game-winner, the game had been a goaltending duel. Niemi, a Vezina Trophy finalist, made 26 saves and allowed just one goal after allowing a combined six in the first two games. Quick, who gave up three goals in Game 2 after shutting out the Sharks in Game 1, was back in top form and made 38 saves. The Sharks and Kings were deadlocked 1-1 entering the third period, with both goals coming in the first. Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle opened the scoring with a power-play blast from the blue line 1:34 after the opening faceoff, and Kings forward Tyler Toffoli capitalized on a turnover to beat Niemi on a backhander from the slot at 10:08. After that, Quick and Niemi went save for save as the tension built at HP Pavilion. With 5:16 left in regulation, the Sharks went on a power play when Kings captain Dustin Brown slashed forward Joe Pavelski. But the Sharks, who scored their first power-play goal of the series when Boyle connected early in the first, didn't get a shot on goal. They managed very little during the 5-on-3 advantage before Couture's game-winner during the 5-on-4. Boyle gave the Sharks an early lead four seconds after the Sharks got a power play after Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin was called for delay of game after flipping the puck over the glass in the Kings' end. Pavelski won the faceoff with Anze Kopitar in the right circle, sending the puck back to Marleau. He hit Boyle near the blue line, and Boyle beat Quick with a one-timer, sending the puck over his right shoulder with Joe Thornton screening. Toffoli, a 21-year-old rookie, answered with his first career playoff goal midway through the period by making Stuart pay for an awful giveaway deep in San Jose's zone. Stuart was below the right circle when he took a pass from Niemi, only to put the puck right on the stick of Toffoli, who beat Niemi with a backhander from the slot. Kings rookie Tanner Pearson made his NHL debut, skating on the fourth line in place of Jordan Nolan.

Playoffs - Fri, 17 May - Results

Ottawa v Pittsburgh - Game 2 - Sidney Crosby stole the show Friday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. But the fact he had plenty of help may well be the bigger story for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Crosby scored his second career hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, becoming the fifth player in franchise history to top 100 career points in the postseason, and the Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 at Consol Energy Center. Nobody was going quite as well as Crosby. He dominated early with his three goals then set the tone late with his defensive-zone work. The Penguins have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 3 is Sunday at Ottawa (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS). It's the first time the Penguins have won the first two games of a series since the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009. The top-seeded Penguins have the cushion because their depth has paid dividends, including an impressive relief run by backup goalie Tomas Vokoun, who has won four straight games and made 19 saves in Game 2.

For the second straight game, the Penguins found a way to score early and put the pressure on the visitors. Then, after taking the best counterpunch the seventh-seeded Senators had to offer in each game, the Penguins found a way to twice put away their opponent. Crosby put the Senators on the wrong end of the score in the game's fourth minute and made a little history in the process. His highlight-reel rush gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead and allowed him to reach 100 points in Stanley Cup Playoff game No. 75. Crosby became the fifth-fastest of the 84 players who have managed the feat. He finished the game with 102 points to move into fourth place on the Penguins' all-time playoff scoring list. Only Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Kevin Stevens have more postseason points. The game-opening goal was a stunning display of speed and skill by Crosby. The Pittsburgh captain took the puck at his own blue line and built up a full head of steam through the neutral zone before he passed a flat-footed Erik Karlsson, the Ottawa defenseman, at the attacking blue line and beat goalie Craig Anderson with a low shot to the far corner at 3:16. Crosby would score two more times, following a power-play goal by Ottawa forward Kyle Turris that briefly tied the game at 1-1. On the first, Crosby rushed down the wing again, holding the puck in the hopes of passing to linemates rushing to fill the holes. When that option disappeared, he instead banked the puck into the net off Anderson's leg pad at 16:07. In the second minute of the second period, Crosby made it 3-1 when he scored on the power play, muscling a heavy slapper under the crossbar, a goal that ended the night for Anderson, who made 18 saves on 21 shots. He was replaced by Robin Lehner, who was making his playoff debut in a move MacLean said was designed to revive his team. It almost worked. Ottawa forward Colin Greening scored 40 seconds after the switch to make it 3-2, and the Senators had several other grade-A chances until another piece of Pittsburgh's depth delivered the fatal blow. Forward Brenden Morrow, obtained at the NHL Trade Deadline, scored a little more than six minutes after Lehner entered. He deflected an already deflected shot by defenseman Paul Martin past Lehner's shoulder for the eventual game-winner. Luck or not, it proved to be the winning margin after Ottawa forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau shoveled a loose puck into the Pittsburgh net 2:01 into in the third period to make things interesting. But not interesting enough to gain a much-needed split at Consol Energy Center.