Playoffs - Fri, 03 May - Results

NY Islanders v Pittsburgh 4-3 - Game 2 - On a night made to be remembered in the Steel City, the Pittsburgh Penguins hope instead that they can forget quickly. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby made a triumphant return Friday night from a 13-game absence with a two-goal first period for the home team, but the visiting New York Islanders refused to wilt and ended up stealing the night, and the memories, with a three-goal comeback for a wild 4-3 win in Game 2 of this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series at Consol Energy Center. Colin McDonald, Matt Martin and Kyle Okposo scored three unanswered goals for the Islanders, all off wild puck bounces of some sort, to rally New York to its improbable victory. Okposo, who may have changed the momentum of the game with a spirited fight with a bloodied Matt Niskanen in the second period, scored the go-ahead goal with 7:37 remaining when his spin-o-rama shot missed the net but bounced into the crease area of Marc-Andre Fleury, who misplayed the puck and saw it trickle over the line. The Islanders fired 79 pucks toward the Pittsburgh goal, only 42 reached Fleury, to put the Penguins under a duress that they never experienced in a 5-0 victory two nights earlier. The Islanders, the eighth seed in the East, head home with an unexpected split of the first two games of this series. Game 3 is Sunday afternoon at Nassau Memorial Coliseum (Noon; NBC, RDS, TSN). New York has not won a home playoff game since 2002; the Islanders lost both games at the Coliseum in 2003, '04 and '07. Meanwhile, the top-seeded Penguins must regroup after blowing a two-goal lead, a problem that haunted them in a first-round flameout last year, and try to get this series back in their favor. It didn't have to be that way for Pittsburgh, which authored a perfect start. Evgeni Malkin scored on the opening shift to cap a dominant job of cycling by his line. Crosby scored on the first power play, just 3:19 into the game, with an uncontested slam dunk from the right doorstep. Then, 18 seconds after Moulson scored a power-play goal to half the lead, Crosby scored again, this time with a bad-angle conversion of a Pascal Dupuis rebound. Just like that, the party was on as the returning captain was on fire and the Penguins were firing on all cylinders. A mere 68 minutes into the best-of-7 series, the Penguins had their best player back and had outscored the opposition 8-1. However, Nabokov, so pedestrian to that point, found his game and finished with 30 saves, including each of the Penguins' last 25 shots. But just as quickly, the Isles re-inserted themselves into the series and crashed the Crosby coronation party. Some puck luck certainly helped. Ex-Penguin McDonald made it 3-2 when he went in hard on the forecheck, disrupted play behind the Pittsburgh net and was able to somehow stuff the puck between the near post and Fleury as he curled from behind the net. More puck luck delivered the Islanders into a tie at 10:37. Bailey took a testing shot on a transition rush, but it went just wide of the net. Fortunately for the visitors, the puck bounced true off the end boards and right onto the stick of the onrushing Martin. He jammed it over Fleury, who had committed to trying to stop Bailey's shot, to pull the Islanders even at 3-3 and set the stage for Okposo's heroics.
 Ottawa v Montreal - Game 2 - 1-3 - Prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien predicted goaltender Carey Price would be his team's best player. Price clearly wasn't in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Ottawa Senators, but an argument could be made he was in Game 2 on Friday. Price made 29 saves, and the Canadiens got goals from Ryan White, Brendan Gallagher and Michael Ryder in a 3-1 win at Bell Centre that knotted the best-of-7 series at one victory apiece. One night after Lars Eller's scary head injury, and missing captain Brian Gionta and regular-season scoring leader Max Pacioretty, the Canadiens controlled play early and finally solved Senators goaltender Craig Anderson after his 48-save masterpiece in Game 1. The Canadiens expressed their anger Friday morning over what happened to a fallen teammate, but they insisted they needed to channel that anger into their play rather than try to exact some measure of revenge. That is what they succeeded in doing, playing a physical game but staying on the right side of the line to take a must-win game. The Senators head home to Ottawa to prepare for Game 3 on Sunday night (7 p.m. ET, CBC, RDS, NBCSN) having accomplished their mission of stealing home-ice advantage. Price, who allowed two questionable goals in the third period of a 4-2 loss in Game 1, did not have to handle a shot on goal for more than seven minutes after the opening faceoff Friday. But just before the five-minute mark of the second period, Canadiens defenseman Jarred Tinordi's skate hit Price in the mask. Price skated to his bench, handed his tooth to a trainer, put his mask back on and went to work. Price allowed a goal to Chris Phillips at 8:16 of the second that cut Montreal's 2-0 lead in half, but a sequence of saves on a Senators power play late in the period may have won the game for the Canadiens. An Alfredsson one-timer was turned away before Price made an incredible skate save on Sergei Gonchar about 30 seconds later, and two more saves on a Mika Zibanejad partial break and the rebound 10 seconds after that. A minute later, Michael Ryder scored his first of the playoffs at 18:57 of the second to make it 3-1 for the Canadiens when the game could have just as easily been tied. In light of the back and forth between the two teams Friday regarding the Gryba hit, MacLean dressed tough guy Zack Kassian in place of rookie Cory Conacher and put him in the starting lineup with Chris Neil and Zack Smith, though nothing ultimately came of the move. Therrien not only had to find a replacement for Eller, a difficult enough task unto itself, he had to compensate for the loss of Gionta and Pacioretty, each out with an upper-body injury suffered in Game 1. Therrien decided to dress Jeff Halpern, Gabriel Dumont and Colby Armstrong, three players who combined for 11 points this season replacing three players who combined for 95. Dumont played 3:25 in his playoff debut, but Armstrong laid out six hits in 16:14 of ice time, and Halpern shared the team lead with five shots on goal in 11:58, including 3:41 on the penalty kill. The Canadiens carried the play early for a second night in a row, jumping out to an 8-0 lead in shots until Gonchar hit the net on a power play at 7:26. That power play was the first of three the Senators would have in the first period, but they were unable to generate much and squandered the opportunity to take an early lead, instead heading into the intermission in a scoreless tie. The Canadiens got on the board early in the second period on a play when White worked hard to create some luck for himself. With the puck dumped into the Ottawa zone, Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson had White bearing down on him when he threw a pass that hit White's stick and rolled through Anderson's legs at 3:20. Gallagher scored his second of the series 53 seconds later when fellow rookie Alex Galchenyuk found him all alone with a wide-open net in front of him to make it 2-0.
Minnesota v Chicago - Game 2 - 2-5 - They wanted to start stronger, play faster, show the depth that earned them the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's regular-season champion. The Chicago Blackhawks did all of the above on Friday night. Led by two goals each from Patrick Sharp and Michael Frolik and another solid game in net by Corey Crawford, the Blackhawks downed the Minnesota Wild 5-2 at United Center in Game 2 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series. They lead the series 2-0 and have a chance to back the Wild into a corner when the action shifts to Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minn. Game 3 is Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS), followed by Game 4 on Tuesday night. The Blackhawks came out flying and never stopped. It was a pace the Wild couldn't match for all but a brief stretch in the second period, after Frolik's second goal, a shorthanded score, 49 seconds into the middle period had put Chicago up 2-0. The Blackhawks outshot the Wild 48-28, including 17-7 in the first period and 17-6 in the third. They turned up the heat on Minnesota goalie Josh Harding (43 saves) right off the hop and rarely let off the gas. Devin Setoguchi scored late in the second to cut the Blackhawks' lead to 2-1, but Sharp's two in the third provided a commanding 4-1 lead, which Bryan Bickell finished off by scoring his second goal of the series into an empty net to seal it. Marco Scandella also scored his first career playoff goal late in the third for the Wild, who know they must be a lot better at home to stay in this series with the West's top seed. Crawford made 26 saves for the win, while Harding took the loss while starting a second game in a row in place of injured Wild starter Niklas Backstrom, who was hurt in pregame warmups before the series opener on Tuesday. The Blackhawks dominated early and controlled the first period. Harding still had the hot hand that he flashed in the series opener, and had it not been for his 16 saves, Chicago would've gone into the first intermission leading by more than 1-0. Frolik's first goal, scored 8:34 into the game, was the only marker in the first. After a long shot by Andrew Shaw was deflected, the puck caromed right to Frolik near the bottom of the left circle. He quickly snapped it into the net past Harding's glove and Chicago finally cashed in after several early scoring chances were turned away. The Blackhawks also had what appeared to be a goal by Kane off a rebound waived off because he kicked it in while trying to get it to his stick blade. It was clear by that point what kind of start the Blackhawks had in mind and they got what they sought. Frolik then scored his second goal less than a minute into the second, with Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews in the penalty box, to make it 2-0. After collecting the puck on a Wild turnover in the neutral zone, Frolik carried into the zone and gave it to Duncan Keith, who threw a backhand shot toward the net from the right circle. Again the shot was deflected by a Wild player and came straight to Frolik's stick in the slot. He buried it between Harding's pads and the Blackhawks appeared close to breaking the game open. The Wild gradually clawed back into the game after that, finally getting on the board thanks to Setoguchi's goal at 17:57. It would have been the game-tying goal had it not been for a memorable sequence by Crawford earlier in the period to keep the puck out of the net during a Minnesota power play. After Brandon Bollig was called for boarding at 10:33, the Wild peppered the Blackhawks net with seven shots on goal during the ensuing man advantage. Zach Parise had five, with three in rapid-fire order at the goalmouth as he tried to jam a loose puck past Crawford's pad unsuccessfully. In the third, Sharp's first goal of the playoffs and 24th postseason tally of his career made it 3-1 at 3:44, providing insurance and taking some air out of the Wild's comeback. After scooping up the puck behind the net, Sharp pulled it to his backhand and flipped a shot over Harding's shoulder from close range. Sharp's second goal came off a perfect feed from Kane, who slid it to the left circle from the slot while avoiding traffic. Sharp banged the puck home into a wide-open side of the net to make it 4-1 with 5:52 left to play. The game was essentially decided and the Blackhawks knew they'd held serve on home ice.
San Jose v Vancouver - Game 2 - 3-2 - Down by a goal, with their net empty and their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, the San Jose Sharks never panicked. They've been through it too many times before in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and while not all of those experiences have been positive, they paid off Friday. Patrick Marleau tied the game with 55.1 seconds left in regulation and Antti Niemi on the bench, and Raffi Torres won it on a 2-on-1 with Brent Burns 5:31 into overtime, lifting the Sharks to a stunning 3-2 comeback win over the Vancouver Canucks, and giving San Jose a 2-0 stranglehold in the best-of-7. Now Vancouver is in a scary spot in this Western Conference Quarterfinal. The Canucks are reeling, not just another loss and another 2-0 deficit to start the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but also from the dramatic way Game 2 slipped through their fingers. Vancouver was one minute and a couple of inches away from evening the series before Marleau's quick shot from the low slot trickled through Luongo's pads, and the San Jose veteran knocked it in behind him. Now the Canucks travel to San Jose in the same situation as last season: a two-game deficit in the first round after losing the first two at home. To send the series back to Vancouver, they have to find a way to win a game in San Jose, where the Sharks lost only twice in regulation in 24 games during the regular season. It's a daunting task for a Canucks team that now hasn't beaten the Sharks in five meetings this year, and lost both regular season meetings in San Jose. The odds seem longer when you consider Vancouver's postseason history since their 2011 trip to the Stanley Cup Final, something Torres was a part of. The Canucks have lost 10 of 12 playoff games dating back to the 2011 run, and six straight at home, only scoring 15 goals over those 12 postseason games. Ryan Kesler, who is healthy in the playoffs for the first time since that Cup Final after three surgeries and the flu in Game 1, scored their only two in Game 2, tying the game on a power play early in the third period, and putting the Canucks up 2-1 after a turnover a little more than six minutes later. The Sharks, who like the Canucks are a veteran team facing the possibility of offseason changes should they not succeed in these playoffs, are expecting another push. But they are ready for it, and like their chances at home. Luongo had even more among his 30 stops, including a headfirst dive and stretch to get his glove on an empty-net chance for Torres in the second period. Torres, moved up to the second line with Logan Couture and Marleau in place of the injured Martin Havlat, wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. So when Alexander Edler, who hit the crossbar 1:14 into overtime, had his shot blocked by Burns, and he raced the other way, holding the puck all the way to the right circle before passing across, Torres lifted high it into the open net before a sprawling Luongo could get anything more than his pad across. Henrik Sedin couldn't say the same of his backhand attempt to get the Canucks out of their own zone in the final minute, seconds after Jannik Hansen shot just wide of the empty net. The pass to Burrows in the slot was slightly off the mark, creating a turnover that was in the back of the Vancouver net seconds later. The Sharks have been around long enough to know that. They've also never swept a series in their nine straight playoff appearances, but were talking like a team ready to add that feat to their postseason resume, wary of letting the Canucks up off the mat. It just felt that way in Vancouver on Friday night.