Playoff Results - Mon, Apr 28, 2014

Pittsburgh @ Columbus 4-3 - Somehow, this crazy Eastern Conference First Round series had to end this way, with the Columbus Blue Jackets trying to rally for an improbable tie to send a third game to overtime. But it wasn't to be and the Pittsburgh Penguins used three goals by Evgeni Malkin and another by Brandon Sutter for a four-goal lead, then held on to beat the Blue Jackets 4-3 to win Game 6 at Nationwide Arena on Monday night. Pittsburgh took the best-of-7 series 4-2 by winning back-to-back two games, including 3-1 in Game 5 at home on Saturday. The Penguins will face either the New York Rangers or Philadelphia Flyers in the second round. New York leads Philadelphia 3-2 in their first-round series. Game 5 was the only one in the series that did not end 4-3. In the first four games, the loser held a 3-1 lead, or in the case of the Penguins in Game 4, a 3-0 advantage as well.
"We've got a rivalry born here between the Jackets and Penguins," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "They gave us everything we could handle. It was a great series for them. They were an extremely tough first-round opponent."
Trailing 4-0, Columbus got goals from Fedor Tyutin, Artem Anisimov and Nick Foligno 4:52 apart, beginning with 9:39 left in the third period and had the puck in the Penguins' end with an extra attacker on the ice when the game ended.
"We said in here we're going to leave it all on the ice and see what happens," Columbus center Ryan Johansen said. "Our guys played with a lot of pride in the third period."
For 50 minutes, Malkin was the story by his breaking a nine-game postseason goalless streak with two goals in the first period and another at 15:22 of the second for 4-0 advantage. Reunited in Game 5 with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz, the move paid off Monday when Kunitz assisted the first goal at 9:11 of the first and Crosby the second at 13:13.
"When you can't score you need to just work and work every day through practice and the puck will [go] in," Malkin said. "Thanks to my linemates, they did a great job passing to me. I score the goals and [have] more confidence."
Crosby did not score in the series; Kunitz had two goals. Sutter made it 3-0 with his third goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 34 seconds into the second period. The Penguins had finished their first penalty kill when Columbus defenseman James Wisniewski gave the puck away to him at the Blue Jackets' blue line and it was a free skate from there. Sutter went to the backhand over goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (24 saves). Sutter was forced to leave the game with less than minutes left in the second with an undisclosed injury. Malkin completed his second career postseason hat trick off an odd-man rush with a shot from the left circle past Bobrovsky, a Russian teammate at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Malkin has 39 goals in 89 career postseason games.
"It was another hat trick by Malkin when we needed it," Bylsma said.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Malkin became the third player in franchise history to record multiple hat tricks in the playoffs, joining Mario Lemieux (3) and Crosby (2). Malkin previously recorded a hat trick on May 21, 2009, against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final."More importantly, we win the game and the series is done. It was a tough series," he said. "I hope the second round I score the first game."
The Penguins became the first team in the series to score first and win, but it wasn't easy even though Marc-Andre Fleury appeared to be cruising to his seventh career playoff shutout before the Blue Jackets erupted, sending the 19,189 fans on to their feet for the remainder of the game. Tyutin scored his first of the playoffs and the Blue Jackets' third shorthanded goal of the series from the right dot to end a 97:26 goalless streak by Fleury, who had 24 saves. The Blue Jackets cut the deficit to 4-2 on an Anisimov power-play goal with Jack Johnson picking up his second assist. Tyutin and Anisimov were also on the Russian Olympic team in February. Foligno, who scored the overtime winner in Game 4, redirected a Tyutin shot past Fleury with 4:47 to play to send up the frantic finish.
"You could feel the momentum changing," Kunitz said. "The fans got into it goal after goal. The last three or four minutes we did a good job matching their intensity."
With less than a minute to go, the Blue Jackets rimmed the puck behind the Pittsburgh net, just like Game 4 when Fleury wandered out and the puck bounced over his stick. Brandon Dubinsky scored goal with 24 seconds left in regulation that game, but Fleury learned his lesson and stayed in the crease this time and allowed his teammates to successfully defend the play in front of him. Time ran out on the Blue Jackets' second postseason appearance.
"I felt like with 4 ½ minutes left, after we got the third goal, that anything could happen. I really did," Columbus coach Todd Richards said. "The way the game was going, you could feel the energy. Our bench had life. They'd done it two games ago. The last time in this building it happened."
Colorado @ Minnesota 2-5 - This is why the Wild paid big money to bring Zach Parise home two years ago. Parise, the Minnesota native, scored two goals and had a Stanley Cup Playoff career-high four points to lift the Wild to a 5-2 victory against the Avalanche in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round series at Xcel Energy Center on Monday night. The Wild evened the best-of-7 series at 3-3 and forced the need for a Game 7 on Wednesday at Pepsi Center in Denver (9:30 p.m. ET, TSN, CNBC, RDS2, FS-N, ALT). Parise, who signed a 13-year, $98 million contract two summers ago, also helped give the Wild a chance to win a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 2003, when they went to the Western Conference Final. The Avalanche haven't won a playoff series since 2008, when they beat the Wild in six games. The winner in Game 7 will play the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. Each of Parise's goals, including the game-winner with 6:29 to play in the third period, came off deflections from in front of the net. On the winner, Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda tried to clear the puck up the wall, but Suter held it in at the left point. Wild captain Mikko Koivu collected the loose puck and said he realized there would be traffic in front of the net, so he ripped a shot from the left point. Parise, who was getting checked in the back by Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov, got his stick out and deflected the puck in off his blade. He scored 49 seconds into the first period when Suter's shot from the right point went in off his leg to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Colorado coach Patrick Roy pulled Varlamov with 2:44 left in the third period, continuing his trend of pulling the goalie for a 6-on-5 advantage earlier than it's typically done by coaches in the NHL. It worked in Games 1 and 5, but not Monday; Jason Pominville scored an empty-net goal at 18:34 and Marco Scandella added another 30 seconds later. After Pominville scored, Koivu said he thought back to the two-goal deficit that jis brother Saku and the Anaheim Sucks overcame against the Dallas Stars on Sunday by scoring two empty-net goals. The Avalanche came back from an early 2-0 deficit. Center Paul Stastny scored a shorthanded goal in the first period and defenseman Nick Holden added a power-play goal in the second. Colorado center Matt Duchene returned to the lineup for the first time since injuring his left knee on March 29. Duchene, who missed 13 straight games, had an assist on Holden's goal. He played with a knee brace on. Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper finished with 21 saves. The Avalanche were outshot 78-38 between Games 3 and 4 at Xcel Energy Center, but were far more offensive-minded in Game 6. They had to be because the Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Parise and Mikael Granlund 9:35 into the first period. The Avalanche used their special teams to mount a comeback and tie the game. Stastny scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 16:59 of the first period, moments after Colorado finished killing off a 5-on-3 for 67 seconds. The Avalanche finally figured out their power play early in the second period. Duchene was a big part of it. He was also a big missing piece in the first five games, when Colorado went 1-for-18, with the one being an empty-net goal in Game 2. After Granlund failed to clear the puck down the ice when he had a chance, the Avalanche made four crisp passes before Holden scored on a one-timer from the left side. Holden delivered a hard pass up to PA Parenteau on the left point. He went diagonally across to Duchene, who then moved the puck down to O'Reilly below the right circle. Holden went backdoor behind Granlund and Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon, and O'Reilly found him. The Avalanche are perfect at Pepsi Center in the series. They need to stay that way to advance.
Penalties

1st Period
00:26 COL	Nathan MacKinnon  Holding against  Charlie Coyle
03:19 MIN	Dany Heatley  Slashing against  Patrick Bordeleau
06:45 MIN	Charlie Coyle  Roughing against  Gabriel Landeskog
06:45 COL	Gabriel Landeskog  Roughing against  Charlie Coyle
12:36 MIN	Mikko Koivu  Tripping against  PA Parenteau
14:49 COL	Paul Stastny  Slashing against  Cody McCormick
15:42 COL	Andre Benoit  Delaying Game-Puck over glass
2nd Period
03:27 MIN	Matt Moulson  Slashing against  Nathan MacKinnon
16:15 COL	Nick Holden  Interference against  Matt Moulson
16:15 MIN	Matt Moulson  Hi-sticking against  Nick Holden
17:01 MIN	Zach Parise  Tripping against  Andre Benoit
17:01 COL	Andre Benoit  Unsportsmanlike conduct against  Zach Parise
3rd Period
05:34 MIN	Clayton Stoner  Interference against  Maxime Talbot
20:00 COL	Patrick Bordeleau  Misconduct (10 min) against  Clayton Stoner
20:00 COL	Cody McLeod  Misconduct (10 min) against  Nate Prosser
20:00 MIN	Clayton Stoner  Misconduct (10 min) against  Patrick Bordeleau
20:00 MIN	Nate Prosser  Misconduct (10 min) against  Cody McLeod

San Jose @ Los Angeles 1-4 - Five days ago, the Los Angeles Kings were on the precipice of an ignominious departure from the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now they're less than two days from potentially one of the greatest days in the franchise's history. Justin Williams and Anze Kopitar each had two goals Monday night and the Kings fended off elimination by the San Jose Sharks for a third time in a 4-1 victory at Staples Center in Game 6 of this Western Conference First Round Series. The Kings scored three times in a span of 2:46 in the third period to break open a tie game and force a winner-take-all showdown Wednesday in San Jose at SAP Center (10 p.m. ET, CBC, RDS, NBCSN, PRIME, CSN-CA).
"I don't think anybody expected it to unfold how it did," Kings captain Dustin Brown said. "I think we started to improve our game with each game. To do what we needed to do, we had to keep getting better. Part of it is the belief system over the past five, six years here. That goes a long way at this time of year."
Williams gave the Kings lead on a controversial goal at 11:56 of the third. San Jose goaltender Alex Stalock was unable to corral Robyn Regehr's shot from the left wing. The puck was behind Stalock, and Williams was able to put his stick through the goaltender's legs and force it across the goal line. The play was reviewed and it was determined the puck crossed the goal line in a legal manner.
"I felt it was loose, behind him somewhere," Williams said. "The ref didn't blow the whistle and I just tried to dig at it and it went in. I was just kind of thinking either way. If they decided not to count it, fine. I was OK with that as well. It counted."
Replays on the Los Angeles local broadcast of the play showed the puck was visible behind Stalock, but Sharks coach Todd McLellan disagreed.
"We got cheated. Simple as that," McLellan said. "I was told you could see the puck laying behind his feet the whole time. That is why the whistle didn't go. It's pretty clear when you look at it after [it wasn't]. That was obviously the turning point. Got to move on and overcome it again."
Kopitar scored on the rebound of a Williams shot at 13:27 and again on the power play at 14:42 to complete the three-goal surge. Williams now leads the Kings with four goals in this series and Kopitar has a team-high eight points. The Kings are the ninth team in NHL history to force a seventh game after trailing a series 3-0. Three teams have come back to win a Game 7 after losing the first three games. Most recently, the Philadelphia Flyers won four straight to win a seven-game series against the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, a Flyers team which featured current Kings forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. They would be the first players to ever do it twice.
"We haven't even talked about that to be honest," Kings center Jarret Stoll said. "A couple times you see it on TV, they're talking about that kind of stuff, but we're looking to go into San Jose and play our best game of the series and that's about it. We understand we've got a tough opponent and a tough building to go into and we've got a big task at hand."
San Jose has experience in this situation as well. The Sharks won the first three games against the Detroit Red Wings in the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals before dropping three straight. They regrouped and won Game 7 to advance. The Sharks were not happy with the ruling on Los Angeles' second goal, but they also did not respond well in the aftermath.
"We worked all 82 games to have home ice in this situation," Sharks captain Joe Thornton said. "Obviously we would have liked to win tonight. I thought we played well until that one goal that we thought should have been disallowed. We go home now and it's a huge game."
Williams had the lone goal of the first period. He started a rush with a pass from the right wing to defenseman Jake Muzzin near the Kings blue line. Muzzin turned and sent the puck along to partner Drew Doughty, who carried into the Sharks end before feeding Williams at the right post for a tap-in. It was Williams' third goal of the series, and they've all come in the past three games since Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter moved him to a line with Stoll and Dwight King. San Jose leveled the score in the second period. The Kings took three consecutive penalties, including two 23 seconds apart, but they survived an extended 5-on-3 disadvantage and another Sharks power play after that. The Sharks scored 32 seconds after the third power play expired. Justin Braun took a shot from the right point that James Sheppard deflected in the slot before it hit Regehr near the right post and ended up behind goaltender Jonathan Quick, who made 26 saves and has allowed four goals in the past three games of this series. The Sharks had played the first five games of this series without making any changes to the lineup, but there were three moves for Game 6. One was health related; defenseman Matt Irwin replaced star Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who missed the game with an upper-body injury. Vlasic missed the final 45 minutes of Game 5 after a hit from Stoll behind the San Jose net. McLellan also put Marty Havlat into the lineup for Mike Brown, and Stalock made his first postseason start, replacing Antti Niemi.
"[Stalock] has a shot to play Game 7 and I thought Alex played very well," McLellan said.
The Sharks won the first three games of this series. San Jose swept the first two games at SAP Center in convincing fashion with 6-3 and 7-2 victories. They won 4-3 in overtime in Game 3 at Staples Center, with Patrick Marleau providing the winner. Los Angeles started to play better in Game 3 and looked more like the team that has been a Stanley Cup contender the past two seasons in Games 4 and 5. The Kings won 6-3 in Game 4 and then suffocated the Sharks 3-0 on Saturday in San Jose.
"From an X-and-O standpoint, we're just getting back quicker to our zone," Brown said. "They have a really good forecheck, but if we can get back quick and help each other with the support and clean passes, it gives a chance to break their forecheck and go the other way. From there, it is about puck possession."
Penalties

1st Period
06:11 LAK	Kyle Clifford  Fighting (maj) against  Andrew Desjardins
06:11 SJS	Andrew Desjardins  Fighting (maj) against  Kyle Clifford
11:14 SJS	Joe Thornton  Kneeing against  Dustin Brown
2nd Period
06:17 LAK	Robyn Regehr  Interference against  Matt Nieto
06:40 LAK	Jarret Stoll  Hi-sticking against  Joe Pavelski
09:54 LAK	Drew Doughty  Hi-sticking against  Patrick Marleau
3rd Period
01:29 LAK	Tanner Pearson  Unsportsmanlike conduct against  Alex Stalock
02:01 SJS	Dan Boyle  Interference against  Anze Kopitar
13:56 SJS	Tommy Wingels  Hooking against  Anze Kopitar
14:47 LAK	Mike Richards  Fighting (maj) against  Logan Couture
14:47 SJS	Logan Couture  Fighting (maj) against  Mike Richards
14:59 SJS	Raffi Torres  Misconduct (10 min)
14:59 LAK	Justin Williams  Misconduct (10 min)
14:59 LAK	Justin Williams  Roughing against  Raffi Torres
14:59 SJS	Raffi Torres  Roughing against  Justin Williams
18:14 SJS	Joe Thornton  Interference against  Jonathan Quick
18:14 LAK	Dwight King  Misconduct (10 min)
18:14 LAK	Jarret Stoll  Roughing against  Andrew Desjardins
18:14 LAK	Jonathan Quick  Roughing against  Joe Thornton
18:14 SJS	Brent Burns  Misconduct (10 min)
18:14 SJS	Joe Thornton  Roughing against  Jonathan Quick
18:14 SJS	Andrew Desjardins  Roughing against  Jarret Stoll
18:14 SJS	Andrew Desjardins  Misconduct (10 min)

Playoff Results - Sun, Apr 27, 2014

Philadelphia @ NY Rangers 2-4 - The New York Rangers moved one game from a spot in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday, beating the Cryers 4-2 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference First Round series. Marc Staal, Brad Richards, Dominic Moore and Brian Boyle had goals, and Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves as the Rangers took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series. The Rangers can advance with a win in Game 6 on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Game 7, if necessary, would be Wednesday in New York. Vincent Lecavalier and Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers. Goalie Steve Mason stopped 18 of 21 shots. The Rangers haven't won a series in fewer than seven games since beating the New Jersey Devils in five games in the first round of the 2008 playoffs. And three of their past five series have gone seven games, with a fourth going six. Though a long playoff run never is easy, ending series as early as possible always is a good thing. It was another dominant defensive effort from the Rangers. They've allowed the Flyers an average of 24.6 shots per game, the fewest in the League. And they blocked 12 shots, running their total for the series to 90. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said the strong defensive play so far has been the result of doing the same things all season that helped the team be successful to this point. The Rangers also were effective in the offensive end. Staal scored 11:53 into the game to open the scoring. His shot off a set-up in the left circle by Martin St. Louis went off the shaft of the stick of Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn and fluttered under Mason's blocker. It was Staal's first playoff goal since May 6, 2012, and marked the fourth straight game in the series the Rangers scored the game's first goal. New York made it 2-0 at 8:07 of the second when Brad Richards scored his second of the playoffs off a play that started as a 4-on-2 Rangers rush. And Moore made it 3-0 when he forced Coburn into a defensive-zone turnover when his pass went off the skates of Hal Gill. Moore pounced on the loose puck in the slot and beat Mason from in close at 16:20. The Flyers finally broke through the Rangers' aggression at each end of the ice when Lecavalier scored a power-play goal with 32.6 seconds remaining in the second. His shot from the right side of the New York zone went off Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein and past Lundqvist for Lecavalier's first playoff goal since May 17, 2011, when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Philadelphia cut the deficit to 3-2 when Giroux scored his first of the postseason on a shot from the left circle with 1:29 remaining in the third period that was aided by a Wayne Simmonds screen. However that was all Philadelphia could get despite pulling Mason for an extra attacker for the final three minutes of the game. Boyle closed the game with an empty-net goal with 15 seconds remaining. Despite their series deficit, the Flyers don't lack for confidence. They have shown resiliency all season, whether it was making the playoffs after a 1-7-0 start or their 11 wins when trailing at any point in the third period of a game during the regular season. That's why the Rangers know they have to raise their level of play even higher if they want to close the series Tuesday.
St Louis @ Chicago 1-5 - The Chicago Blackhawks found a way to weather the storm Sunday at United Center against the St. Louis Blues and it mirrored what they did in a tough Western Conference First Round series. After falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-7 series, the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks won four straight games by winning 5-1 in Game 6 to keep their hopes of repeating alive. Chicago will face the winner of the series between the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild. Colorado leads that series 3-2 with a chance to close it out in Game 6 on Monday at Xcel Energy Center. Duncan Keith scored a goal and had three assists and goalie Corey Crawford made 35 saves to lead the way. Bryan Bickell, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Andrew Shaw also scored for Chicago.
"We knew those first two games could've gone either way and we knew that we didn't play our best hockey," said Keith, who matched his career high for points in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "It's a seven-game series for a reason. We've been through enough playoff series to realize that. It's not a sprint. It's a marathon."
The second period of Game 6 might've felt like a marathon to Crawford and the guys who play on the Blackhawks' penalty-killing units. Together, they were forced to kill four of six penalties to keep it tied 1-1 after 40 minutes.
"I think both our PK and [Crawford] won the game and the series, ultimately," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think that was a big factor in us getting through this series. It was a very competitive series. We had six straight penalties against us [Sunday] and getting through that and then scoring on our power play was obviously huge. I thought that was the [biggest] factor. They were dominating the first 40 minutes there and we came back with maybe our best period of the year."
In short, the Blackhawks did what they usually do when given a chance to clinch a series. They ended it. Since 2009, Chicago is now 11-2 in series-clinching games. Much like a year ago, when the Blackhawks overcame a 3-1 deficit against the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Semifinals, grit and determination were as vital to winning as speed and skill.
"It took a few games to get that emotion into it, and I think once we got going we carried the play for portions of the game," Keith said. "But you've got to give St. Louis credit too. They had momentum too in certain games and they carried the play too. They had lots of chances and shots, but I think when we're fully engaged we're a real tough team to beat."
The Blues, meanwhile, are forced to live with an empty feeling for a second straight offseason. They lost four straight games in the first round after taking a 2-0 lead for a second straight playoffs, after failing to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings in the same fashion a year ago. St. Louis, which outshot Chicago 36-27, went 0-for-6 on the power play and finished 2-for-29 in the series for a success rate of 6.9 percent. That was basically the difference in the game and series, that and Chicago's biggest weapons coming up with huge, momentum-swinging goals at key times. After scoring in overtime of Game 5, Toews made it 2-1 44 seconds into the third on carryover power-play time from the end of the second and Sharp made it 3-1 1:17 later off a breakaway. Keith also got his defense partner, Brent Seabrook, back after a three-game suspension for a hit on Blues captain David Backes in Game 2 at Scottrade Center. Seabrook finished with two assists and a plus-three rating in the game and had six points (two goals) in the three games he played. It didn't take him long to make his presence felt either. Seabrook picked up the primary assist on Bickell's goal to open the scoring 4:12 into the game. After collecting a point-to-point pass from Keith, he threw a wrist shot toward the net from the right point that Bickell tipped past Blues goalie Ryan Miller for a 1-0 lead. The Blues made a series of mistakes that allowed the play to happen, but they kept working the rest of the period and eventually knotted it 1-1 on T.J. Oshie's goal with 3:32 left. He scored his second goal of the series by redirecting a feed from Alexander Steen through Crawford's pads from the front of the crease after Steen had carried the puck around the back of the net. The Blues dominated the second period thanks to four power plays, including a four-minute advantage after Marian Hossa was given a double minor at 7:15 for high-sticking Steen. They outshot the Blackhawks by a 17-3 margin in the second and held a 28-11 advantage in shots starting the third. They couldn't put the puck in the net. Patrik Berglund nearly pushed St. Louis ahead 20 seconds into a power play caused by Toews' high-sticking minor, but Crawford got a piece of a loose puck heading toward the goal line with his glove by diving backward and knocking it away toward the left post. Crawford made a couple more big saves toward the end of Hossa's penalty, but his busy period wasn't finished. Sharp was called for tripping at 15:47 and put the Blues back on the power play. St. Louis nearly scored on a stuff attempt by Backes at the left post, but a video review showed the whistle blew to stop play before the puck trickled into the net.
"We have to work for our chances," St. Louis defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "We're a team that scored a lot of goals around the net. Dirty goals. We probably didn't do enough of that, didn't get enough pucks through to the net, battling and that sort of thing. On the flipside, they've got some skilled guys and if you give them opportunities and some space, they're going to finish."
That's exactly what happened after Crawford and the penalty killers in front of him finally got the Blackhawks off the hook. Chicago drew its own power play when Bouwmeester was called for tripping at 19:05 and Toews scored his third goal of the series to start the third, taking a feed from Keith and roofing a wrist shot through traffic into the top left corner. Sharp made it 3-1 off a breakaway at 2:01. After blocking Kevin Shattenkirk's point shot, Sharp took off into the neutral zone and got a short pass from Patrick Kane at top speed for the scoring chance. Shattenkirk got his stick up in Sharp's mouth on the rush, drawing a likely penalty shot, but the puck wound up in the net after Miller missed a poke check and fell to the ice.
"The third goal was really a backbreaker for us," Blues coach Hitchcock said. "That was really the one that hurt because we've been chasing all series and been able to catch up in games, but the third goal really took the wind out of our sails. We earned the power plays. We earned the power plays because of the way we worked and battled. We played a great first two periods. I thought the third goal, you could see a big sag on the team after that."
Shaw made it 4-1 at 7:30 by cruising through the slot and tipping Keith's slapper from the point past Miller. Keith tacked on his second goal of the series with 2:55 left to finish the scoring.
"This was a tough series," Shaw said. "They're a physical team. They're a great team over there and obviously got a lot of big bodies they're going to throw around, but we just kind of tried weathering the storm every game and used our legs and brains instead of our shoulders."
Anaheim @ Dallas 5-4 OT - Nick Bonino's second goal of the game came 2:47 into overtime and the Sucks won their Western Conference First Round Series against the Dallas Stars with a 5-4 overtime victory in Game 6 at American Airlines Center on Sunday night.
"I think we've come back a lot this season," Bonino said. "We've had one of the best comeback records. No one was down. I think we believed the whole time. It's easy to say that now, but we have a lot of character and it showed."
Bonino's first goal came with 2:10 remaining in regulation when he beat Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen short side. Devante Smith-Pelly's second goal with 24 seconds remaining in regulation sent the game to overtime.
"[I was thinking] don't miss," Smith-Pelly said. "The goal was pretty empty so I was hoping I wouldn't flub it."
Bonino then eliminated Dallas early in the extra period with a wrist shot from the slot that beat Lehtonen to give the Ducks the series victory. Anaheim will face the winner of the first-round series between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings. The Ducks recorded the 10th multi-goal comeback of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs (24.4 percent of the 41 playoff games played). That is a record for the most such victories in the first round of the postseason; there were only eight such victories in the entire 2013 playoffs. Jonas Hiller stopped all 12 shots he faced in relief of Frederik Andersen.
"He has a knack, no matter how he's playing, good or bad but you put him out at the end because there's something about him that he's in the right position at the right time to make the right play," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said of Bonino. "That's what he's all about, so we put him out at the end and in overtime. I couldn't have scripted it any better."
"It's a great feeling to find a way to win," Hiller said. "Sometimes you're kind of not really believing in yourself, but yeah, we found a way. I thought I had a couple good stops when I came in, which gave me some confidence and I kind of never looked back from there."
Dallas had built a 4-2 lead after two periods following two goals from Trevor Daley, who scored the game's first goal early in the first period. Daley scored again midway through the second. The Stars also received goals from Cody Eakin and Ryan Garbutt in the first period. Anaheim's goals were from Smith-Pelly in the first and Ben Lovejoy in the second.
"I would say it's tough to lose this series considering how well we played the whole series really. We had just dominant periods that one thing that was missing was a little bit of finish," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "We talked this morning about some of our finish. We had it right there at 4-2 with two minutes left. Sometimes hockey's cruel. It was cruel, really cruel, to a group of guys that worked as hard as they possibly could tonight. There wasn't one guy that was a passenger."
Lehtonen stopped 25 shots for Dallas; Eakin (goal, assist) and Alex Goligoski (two assists) each contributed two points.
"It's kind of like those couple of first games. I felt like we could have won them as much as they did and we lost those two and that hurt us," Lehtonen said. "This was kind of similar. We had it in the bag and just didn't get the result at the end."
Andersen, who stopped eight of 12 shots, was pulled midway through the second after Daley gave Dallas a 4-2 lead. The Stars struck early when Daley scored on a breakaway 5:16 into the first period. Six seconds earlier, Daley had finished serving a high-sticking penalty on Bonino. After Dallas forward Shawn Horcoff cleared the puck from the Stars blue line, Daley, fresh out of the penalty box, gained possession beyond the Ducks blue line and beat Andersen on a breakaway for his first goal of the playoffs. Dallas added a second in the first period at 10:27 when Eakin scored a power-play goal. Eakin received a pass from Tyler Seguin in the low slot and one-timed it through Andersen's five-hole for his second goal of the postseason to give Dallas a two-goal edge. Anaheim got one back at 17:57 of the first period when Smith-Pelly made it 2-1 with a power-play goal. Teemu Selanne assisted with a pass from behind the net to Smith-Pelly, who was alone at the near post for an easy tap-in. However, the Stars regained their two-goal edge when Garbutt tapped in a rebound with 58.2 seconds remaining in the first period. Andersen had denied Eakin's initial effort, but Garbutt rushed in to finish the chance for his third goal of the playoffs. The Ducks cut that lead in half early in the second when Lovejoy beat Lehtonen short side from the right point. Selanne stole the puck from Stars defenseman Brenden Dillon behind the Dallas net and got the primary assist with a pass to Lovejoy, which he quickly finished. Daley found the back of the net again for the Stars at 10:33 of the second when he beat Andersen short side, ending Andersen's night. Daley skated up the right side of the ice and scored with a wrister over Andersen's blocker. Andersen quickly left the ice and was replaced in net by Hiller for the second time in the series. Andersen was pulled in Game 4 after allowing four goals on 25 shots. Dallas had a great chance to put the game away late in the second when rookie Valeri Nichushkin had a breakaway with 25 seconds remaining, but Nichushkin's wrister instead found the crossbar.
"It happened so fast so it's a bit of a shock, but I'm proud of our guys," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "We battled hard all year. We battled hard to get into the playoffs and I thought we played a pretty good series against a pretty good team."


Penalties

1st Period
03:10 DAL	Trevor Daley  Hi-sticking against  Nick Bonino
09:55 ANA	Mark Fistric  Elbowing against  Brenden Dillon
10:43 ANA	Saku Koivu  Interference against  Colton Sceviour
16:37 DAL	Erik Cole  Interference against  Francois Beauchemin
2nd Period
07:17 DAL	Alex Goligoski  Interference against  Corey Perry
09:19 ANA	Matt Beleskey  Roughing against  Brenden Dillon
09:19 DAL	Brenden Dillon  Roughing against  Matt Beleskey
12:21 ANA	Ben Lovejoy  Hooking against  Tyler Seguin
15:04 ANA	Cam Fowler  Cross checking against  Antoine Roussel
19:56 ANA	Patrick Maroon  Tripping against  Valeri Nichushkin
3rd Period
02:41 ANA	Corey Perry  Hooking against  Ryan Garbutt
02:41 DAL	Ryan Garbutt  Diving against  Corey Perry
17:34 ANA	Andrew Cogliano  Roughing against  Alex Chiasson
17:34 DAL	Alex Chiasson  Roughing against  Andrew Cogliano

Playoff Results - Sat, Apr 26, 2014

Detroit @ Boston  2-4 - When the Red Wings won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round 1-0 against the Bruins last week, it appeared the 24-point difference between the teams in the Atlantic Division standings was inconsequential. Over the final four games of the series, the Bruins looked every bit the part of Presidents' Trophy winners against the conference's second wild card. The Bruins won their fourth straight game and clinched the series in Game 5 on Saturday, when four players scored a goal and Torey Krug assisted on two in a 4-2 victory at TD Garden. Boston advances to play the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Second Round. The Canadiens swept the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins and Canadiens will meet in the postseason for the 34th time. Montreal won three of four games this season and 24 of the previous series. In this series, the Bruins avoided the mistakes they made last season, when they allowed the Toronto Maple Leafs to overcome a 3-1 deficit and push Boston to seven games. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made 31 saves on 33 shots, and the Bruins advanced beyond the first round for the fifth time in seven seasons under coach Claude Julien. Defenseman Zdeno Chara and forward Loui Eriksson each scored a power-play goal, and forward Jarome Iginla scored an empty-net goal for Boston. The Bruins outscored the Red Wings, 14-6, in the series. Red Wings goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who made a second straight start in place of Jimmy Howard (flu), stopped 29 of 32 shots. The Red Wings lost in the first round for the second time in three seasons; they were eliminated by the Nashville Predators in 2012. Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg, who missed the first three games of the series while recovering from back surgery, said he thought the Bruins' biggest advantage was their lengthy history together as a team. It didn't take the Bruins long to score Saturday. During a power play, defenseman Dougie Hamilton gained the offensive zone by splitting two Red Wings then stopped at the bottom of the right circle. Hamilton's pass toward the middle was deflected a couple of times before it landed on Eriksson's stick for a backhand goal from the left side of the slot at 3:27. Eriksson, who was with the Dallas Stars prior to this season, hadn't scored a playoff goal since May 14, 2008. The Bruins held an 11-8 shots advantage and a 1-0 lead after the first period, when they also killed two minor penalties. Special teams dominated the second period with each team scoring on the power play. The Red Wings scored their second power-play goal of the series at 14:41 to make it 1-1. Zetterberg's one-timer from the blue line caught Rask up high and the rebound went right to Pavel Datsyuk, who shot it into the net. A run of minor penalties started at 16:48, three against Detroit and one against Boston. The Bruins took a 2-1 lead on a 4-on-3 goal by Chara at 19:56. After Krug landed a shot on Gustavsson, he tracked the rebound then lost the puck to teammate Patrice Bergeron. The Boston center fired a pass across the ice for a one-timer by Chara from the top of the right circle that beat Gustavsson high. Lucic extended the lead to 3-1 with a little help from Krug. The Boston defenseman picked off Johan Franzen's clearing attempt then set up Lucic for a goal in front at 8:27 of the third period. Zetterberg cut the lead to 3-2 with his first goal of the series. Rask flashed the pad to stop Justin Abdelkader's redirect, but Zetterberg was there to clean up the rebound at 16:08. Iginla scored into an empty net with 16 seconds to go.

Columbus @ Pittsburgh 1-3 - Marc-Andre Fleury temporarily silenced his critics. Fleury's 23 saves carried the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference First Round series Saturday at Consol Energy Center. The Penguins hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 and will attempt to eliminate Columbus from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Game 6 at Nationwide Arena on Monday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, RDS2, ROOT, FS-O). After falling behind 1-0 midway through the first period, Fleury made 15 stops through the second and third to seal Pittsburgh's victory. Fleury faced criticism following a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 4, when he allowed two avoidable goals, one with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation and another in overtime. The crowd chanted Fleury's name at the beginning of the game, and at the end.
"I don't think it was about bouncing back," Fleury said. "[The chants were] a good boost of confidence. You get a little bit of goose bumps when you're in there. It was a good feeling."
Forward Jussi Jokinen scored the game-winning goal 6:16 into the third period. Lee Stempniak carried the puck through the neutral zone and wristed a shot on Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who bobbled it before Brandon Sutter tipped it back on net. The puck slid out to Jokinen, who buried a backhand behind Bobrovsky to put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1 with his third goal of the playoffs. Defenseman Kris Letang scored an empty-net goal with 1:01 left. The Blue Jackets echoed throughout their locker room that they expect to rebound Monday.
"It's that time of year where you need to have a short memory," Columbus forward Brandon Dubinsky said. "I think everybody knows in here that we need to play better. We talk about that resiliency and resolve in here, and I believe in this room and I think the room believes in itself that we'll come back better and stronger."
Bobrovsky might have had his most impressive performance of the postseason. After allowing at least three goals in each of the first four games, Bobrovsky made 48 saves. Teammate Ryan Johansen credited Bobrovsky with giving the Blue Jackets a chance to win while expressing frustration at their inability to make Fleury work.
"[Sergei] definitely stood tall and kept us in there all game," Johansen said. "He really did his job tonight. We'll go over some tape and stuff, but obviously our forecheck, creating turnovers and things like that. I thought we didn't do that nearly as good as we need to, and we only had one power play as well. [We] just have to find ways to get pucks to Fleury. Obviously, there was a lot of talk going around that he's struggling, so we didn't test him nearly as much as we should."
Pittsburgh controlled the second period, outshooting the Blue Jackets 21-8, and tied the game with a power-play goal from Chris Kunitz. After Sidney Crosby sent a shot through Kunitz's legs on goal, Bobrovsky lost sight of it and got turned around in his crease. Kunitz turned and absorbed a collision with Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard while backhanding a shot past Bobrovsky 7:42 into the second. It was Kunitz's second goal of the playoffs and Crosby's fifth assist. Crosby failed to score a goal for his 10th consecutive playoff game dating to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Ottawa Senators last postseason. Pittsburgh attempted to spark its two primary stars by putting Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who also has not scored a goal this postseason, on its top line with Kunitz. The adjustment led to little production, particularly during the first period, when Malkin committed three turnovers and Crosby recorded two shots.
"I thought we generated some good chances," Crosby said. "I didn't expect [to be paired with Malkin] as much as it was. It was pretty regular, but I think with that being said, when everybody's playing well, you don't want to change too much. I think that's just a credit to everyone, that we all played a pretty strong game."
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said Crosby and Malkin wanted to play together and he felt the adjustment paid dividends throughout Pittsburgh's lineup. "I thought Brandon Sutter playing between Jussi and [James Neal], he was real strong in this game and you saw his speed through the neutral zone. He almost broke in a couple times. I think we went into the game with a good idea we were going to see that on numerous occasions, and I think the players going in knew it was going to happen."
The Penguins carried the majority of the play in the first period but trailed 1-0. With Marcel Goc in the penalty box for slashing, Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner scored his first playoff goal with five seconds left on the power play. Jenner sent a shot from the right side of the net into Pittsburgh's crease. The puck ricocheted off Penguins forward Joe Vitale in front and back to Fleury, who was knocked over by Pittsburgh defenseman Olli Maatta. Fleury reached to cover the puck with his glove, but it slipped to Jenner, who backhanded a shot past the downed goalie with 7:05 remaining.
"I thought the first period was probably our best period," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "I thought they took it to another level in the second and they started winning battles. We spent too much time in our own zone and we didn't have much of a forecheck. [Bylsma] challenged them and they responded. Now we have to do the same thing on Monday."
At the end of the game Matt Calvert delivered a cheap-shot cross check on Kris Letang which resulted in both dropping the gloves.

Minnesota @ Colorado 3-4 OT - The Avalanche used some last-minute magic for the second time in their Western Conference First Round series against the Wild and pulled out a 4-3 overtime win at Pepsi Center on Saturday night. PA Parenteau tied the game with 1:14 to play in regulation after goalie Semyon Varlamov went to the bench for a sixth skater and rookie Nathan MacKinnon completed a three-point night by scoring at 3:27 of the extra period. The Avalanche lead the best-of-7 series 3-2 and will attempt to close it out Monday in Game 6 at the Xcel Energy Center (9 p.m. ET; CNBC, RDS2, TSN, FS-N, ALT). MacKinnon, who has an NHL-leading 10 points with two goals and eight assists, all coming in Colorado's three home games, put a shot from the left circle past Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper's glove shortly after Avalanche defenseman Nick Holden made a game-saving stop against Matt Moulson. MacKinnon was swarmed by teammates after the goal, accidentally knocking off his helmet in the celebration. Gabriel Landeskog had the puck along the left-wing boards when he heard MacKinnon yell. The Avalanche tied the game after Roy pulled Varlamov with 2:22 to play in the third period, shortly after they killed an unsportsmanlike penalty to Gabriel Landeskog for spraying snow into Kuemper. The Avalanche won the series opener 5-4 when Paul Stastny scored in overtime after he tied the game with 13.4 seconds left in regulation and Varlamov on the bench. This time, Stastny took a shot that Kuemper stopped, but Stastny managed to slide the rebound up the slot. Parenteau converted for his first point of the series. Parenteau had six shots on goal and clanged a shot off the post late in the second period. Wild coach Mike Yeo said the outcome was "frustrating and obviously disappointing," adding no good could come from thinking about it too much. Zach Parise and Kyle Brodziak scored 1:51 apart early in the third period to give the Wild a 3-2 lead. Parise collected his first goal of the series at 4:34 after taking a cross-ice pass by Jason Pominville. He fired from the left circle dot and beat Varlamov to the glove side. Brodziak put the Wild in front for the first time at 6:25 after Avalanche forward Marc-Andre Cliche gave his stick to defenseman Jan Hejda, who had dropped his broken stick. Brodziak put a screen shot past Varlamov after taking a pass from Dany Heatley, who had two assists. The Wild went on their third power play at 15:27 after Landeskog sprayed Kuemper with snow. The Avalanche took a 2-1 lead in the second period by sandwiching goals by Cody McLeod and Nick Holden around one by the Wild's Matt Moulson. McLeod scored a shorthanded goal at 8:04 after the Avalanche were penalized for having too many men on the ice. He knocked the puck away from Suter in the neutral zone and got it to Ryan O'Reilly, who moved down left wing and fed McLeod driving to the net. McLeod redirected the puck behind Kuemper. The Wild answered at 9:17 on Moulson's goal after Avalanche defenseman Andre Benoit broke his stick . Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon took a shot from above the circles and Moulson tipped it past Varlamov. Holden scored at 12:16 during a 4-on-4 with Minnesota's Mikko Koivu and Landeskog serving coincidental roughing minors. MacKinnon used his speed to race into the Wild zone and passed the puck back to Benoit just inside the blue line. Benoit fired a shot that was going wide when Holden deflected the puck between Kuemper's pads. The Avalanche failed to convert on three power plays and are 1-for-18 in the series. The Wild went 0-for-3 and are 2-for-15 in the series.
Los Angeles @ San Jose 3-0 - This might turn out to be the tight-knit series so many people expected after all. The Los Angeles Kings stormed out to an early lead Saturday and claimed a 3-0 victory against the San Jose Sharks in Game 5 of this Western Conference First Round series. It's the second straight win for the Kings, who will host Game 6 at Staples Center on Monday night (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS, CSN-CA, PRIME) with a chance to push to the limit a series that San Jose once led 3-0.
"We're really happy with our game tonight. That's more of the L.A. Kings style of play," defenseman Drew Doughty said after the Kings allowed fewer than three goals for the first time in the series. "It's not giving up many goals and scoring the goals when we needed them. Power play was big, penalty kill was big. Just overall it was a good game."
After yielding 16 goals in the first three games, Jonathan Quick followed a solid performance in Game 4 with a better one Saturday night. He didn't have much work early, but Quick finished with 30 saves, including a handful of great ones to keep the score 3-0 when the Sharks finally started pushing back in the final 25 minutes or so. Quick's save percentage in this series have continued to improve: .821 (in Game 1), .825, .900, .923, 1.000.
"Obviously [Quick] played well tonight. We counted on him and he made big saves," Doughty said. "At the same time, the team is playing better in front of him. I thought this was our best defensive game so far this series. We don't want [Quick] to have to stand on his head every night. We want to be playing well in front of him and make it a little easier for him. We did that tonight, but when he was called upon, he was huge."
For the Sharks, this loss felt different than Game 4. San Jose played well for much of the defeat at Staples Center two days earlier, but some breakdowns and a rough night for goaltender Antti Niemi left the Sharks short against a desperate club. Coach Todd McLellan talked about not wanting to play like the team had mulligans to spare when San Jose led the series 3-0, but this game felt like one. When the Sharks did start to play well late, it was far too little and much too late. To make matters worse, top defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic did not play in the final 45 minutes after being checked by Kings center Jarret Stoll. McLellan said Vlasic has an upper-body injury and his status is uncertain for Game 6.
"We didn't win the game," an agitated Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said. "Listen man, [the media] do what you want to dissect it. We didn't win the game. You can blame a lot of different things, but we've got to turn the page and move on. Winning teams do that, and we will do that."
Tyler Toffoli and Anze Kopitar scored during the Kings-dominated first period that ended with L.A. Up 2-0. Toffoli, who had the winner in Game 4, opened the scoring at 8:09. Rookie Tanner Pearson won a race to the puck down the left wing and connected with fellow freshman Toffoli on a cross-ice pass. He toe-dragged the puck past San Jose forward James Sheppard and snapped a shot into the net. Pearson and Toffoli were united on the second line with Jeff Carter for the start of Game 4. They played together for the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League last season.
"That was a great play by both of them," Doughty said. "That's what we need from everyone. It's not always going to be [Kopitar] who does all the work up top. It's great to see other guys pitch in. I thought [Toffoli] and Tanner were really, really good tonight and were big reasons why we won."
Kopitar made it 2-0 at 12:52. Quick made a quality save on a deflection by Sharks rookie Tomas Hertl and the Kings were able to break out quickly. A couple of San Jose forwards were caught behind the play, and after Dustin Brown and Kopitar completed a give-and-go, Kopitar put the rebound of a Brown shot from the right wing past Sharks goalie Antti Niemi. The first period was the Kings' most dominant of the series. They had 22 of the 29 shot attempts at even strength and an 18-6 advantage in shots on goal despite San Jose having the only power play of the period.
"I think it was just managing the puck," Kopitar said. "The first couple games here they had odd-man rushes left and right coming at us. We were bad on line changes and we just wanted to sharpen up. I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight."
It didn't get any better for the Sharks in the second. Carter scored a power-play goal 22 seconds after the opening faceoff when he turned and backhanded the puck toward the front of the net and it went into the net off Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart. It was Carter's second goal of the series. He and Kopitar lead the Kings with five points. Niemi was lifted in favor of rookie Alex Stalock after allowing three goals on 19 shots. He's now allowed eight goals on 45 shots in the past two games, and failed to finish both. Stalock has stopped all 26 shots he's faced in relief. McLellan said he has a decision to make with the goaltenders for Game 6 like any other night, but he clearly didn't like how his team played in front of either one.
"I don't have an explanation for [the sloppy play]," McLellan said. "I thought we were slow. Simply put we were slow. We didn't have legs and we didn't execute well which made us even slower. We had poor puck support, and that made us slow."
The Sharks had control of this series after winning the first three games and piling up 17 goals against the team that was the toughest to score on against during the regular season. San Jose raced to a 5-0 lead in a 6-3 win in Game 1, scored seven straight goals in a 7-2 Game 2 victory and got an overtime goal by Patrick Marleau in a 4-3 triumph in Game 3. Los Angeles played much better in Game 4. Justin Williams and Marian Gaborik each scored a pair of goals and the Kings won 6-3 to extend the series. There were 34 goals in the first four games, one year after these two teams combined for 24 in a seven-game series. The Kings played in seven postseason series in 2012 and 2013, and none of them had more than 25 goals. This was the first win at the Shark Tank, or maybe now it should be called the Shark Cage after Kings coach Darryl Sutter's comments two days prior, in a long time for Los Angeles.
"No, not at all actually," Doughty said when asked if 3-2 feels less daunting than 3-0. "If anything, if feels more daunting. We came this far to get two and now we need to get two more. We need to take it one at a time, and that puts more pressure on us because now we can smell it. We can't get ahead of ourselves. We still have a lot of work left."

Penalties

1st Period
14:09 LAK	Jarret Stoll  Roughing  - 2 min against  Marc-Edouard Vlasic
19:28 SJS	Justin Braun  Tripping  - 2 min against  Marian Gaborik
2nd Period
04:03 SJS	Jason Demers  Roughing  - 2 min against  Dwight King
04:03 LAK	Dwight King  Roughing  - 2 min against  Jason Demers
07:12 SJS	Dan Boyle  Tripping  - 2 min against  Dwight King
13:24 LAK	Kyle Clifford  Tripping  - 2 min against  Justin Braun
19:23 LAK	Jeff Carter  Roughing  - 2 min against  Dan Boyle
3rd Period
00:16 SJS	Brent Burns  Tripping  - 2 min against  Mike Richards
01:08 LAK	Anze Kopitar  Interference on goalkeeper  - 2 min against  Alex Stalock
07:05 SJS	Patrick Marleau  Slashing  - 2 min against  Dustin Brown
10:19 SJS	Jason Demers  Tripping  - 2 min against  Marian Gaborik
14:22 LAK	Justin Williams  Interference  - 2 min against  Matt Nieto

Hawks v Blues - Great Series So Far

 

The Blackhawks and Blues played their fourth overtime game in the first five contests of their First Round series. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marks the fifth time in Stanley Cup Playoffs history that at least four of the first five games of a series have required overtime. The others:

• 2012 CQF: First 5 games between Blackhawks and Coyotes went to OT (PHX won series 4-2)
• 2001 CQF: Four of first 5 games between Oilers and Stars went to OT (DAL won series 4-2)
• 1951 SCF: All 5 games between Canadiens and Maple Leafs went to OT (TOR won series 4-1)
• 1933 SF: Four of 5 total games between Bruins and Maple Leafs went to OT (TOR won series 3-2)
• Overall, the Blackhawks-Blues series marks the 13th time in Stanley Cup Playoffs history that a series has required at least four overtime games.m

Playoff Results - Fri, Apr 25, 2014

NY Rangers @ Philadelphia 1-2 - The last time Steve Mason won a playoff game, he was a 19-year-old goaltender with the Kitchener Rangers in the 2008 Ontario Hockey League playoffs. He's come a long way since then. Making his first start in more than two weeks, Mason made 37 saves as the Cryers beat the Rangers 2-1 in Friday in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference First Round series. Jakub Voracek scored the game-winning goal in the second period after Read tied the game in the first. The Flyers also played most of the final two periods with five defensemen after Nicklas Grossmann left with a lower-body injury at 6:25 of the second. The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2 with Game 5 on Sunday in New York (noon ET; NBC, RDS, TSN). Game 6 will be Tuesday in Philadelphia and Game 7, if necessary, will be in New York on Wednesday. Dominic Moore scored for the Rangers, and goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves. It was Mason's first start since April 12, when he sustained an upper-body injury in the second period against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mason sat out the final game of the regular season and the first two games of this series. He made his first appearance in Game 3, playing the final 7:15 in relief of starter Ray Emery in a 4-1 loss. Mason's only previous Stanley Cup Playoff experience came when he was in goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets when they were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Mason was tested early as the Rangers outshot the Flyers 16-6 in the first period. The game turned the Flyers' way when Voracek scored on the power play at 7:22 of the second. Moore was sent off for cross-checking at 5:58, putting the Flyers on the power play for the second time in the game. Late in the man advantage, Voracek raced the puck into the New York end but slipped and lost control of it. Jason Akeson won a battle for the puck with Martin St. Louis and kicked it to Mark Streit at the left point. Streit sent it across the zone to Brayden Schenn, who put a low shot toward the net that Voracek, stationed in the slot, tipped over Lundqvist's blocker for his second goal of the postseason. It was the Flyers' first home power-play goal; they went 0-for-5 in Game 3. The Rangers would have liked a similar output. They had a chance to tie the game late in the second period when Read was whistled for hooking with 15.1 seconds left, giving the New York a 4-on-3 advantage that carried into the third period. However they managed two shots on goal. For the game they went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Rangers continued to push through the third period, outshooting the Flyers 10-8, but Mason was up to the challenge. An undermanned defense also played well after Grossmann was injured. He fell feet first into the boards in the Philadelphia end while battling for the puck with the Rangers' Derick Brassard. Without Grossmann, Braydon Coburn played a game-high 25:27 and Kimmo Timonen played 23:36. Now the attention turns to Game 5 on Sunday. The Flyers won Game 2 at MSG, their first win at the Garden since February 2011. They hope the memory of that game and the momentum from their Game 4 win will carry over into Sunday.

Chicago @ St Louis 3-2 OT - The Blackhawks knew they'd have to win at least one game at Scottrade Center to have a chance to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To get it, the Blackhawks figured they'd have to create at least one lucky break for themselves at a crucial moment. Done and done, finally. Duncan Keith's zone-clearing attempt sprung Jonathan Toews for a red-line-in breakaway goal in 7:36 into overtime that gave Chicago a 3-2 victory against the Blues on Friday and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round series. The Blackhawks have won three games in a row, including two straight in overtime, since blowing late leads and losing Games 1 and 2 in overtime. They have a chance to close out St. Louis in Game 6 on Sunday at United Center (3 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, RDS).
"It just happened so fast," Toews said. "I jumped on the ice and got the puck and it just came right to me and it happened to go in. The celebration, just wasn't sure if it was real or not, it happened so quick."
The Blues are in danger of having history repeat itself in eerily similar and depressing fashion. They took a 2-0 series lead with back-to-back home wins against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round last year, but dropped the next four games to lose the series. Just like against the Blackhawks in this series, the Blues lost to the Kings 4-3 in Game 4 and 3-2 in overtime in Game 5. They lost 2-1 to L.A. in Game 6.
"What's pouting gonna do?" Blues forward Alexander Steen said. "You just get back on the horse. It's a game. You have to win four. They have three, we have two. Off to Chicago we go. See you there."
Chicago won in St. Louis for the first time since April 14, 2013, but for the fourth straight time at Scottrade Center, dating back to the regular season, the Blackhawks had a lead entering the third period and couldn't hold it. The script was different this time. Toews had just come on for a line change and was heading back toward the Blackhawks' zone when Keith flung the puck up the ice. It hit Andrew Shaw's shin pad and found Toews, who went in alone, deked to his backhand and got his shot around Blues goalie Ryan Miller (27 saves).
"I'm trying to get the puck out of the zone and all of a sudden it lands on his stick, couldn't believe it," Keith said. "So I was pretty happy seeing that. If we were to have a guy on the breakaway it would be him. He's pretty clutch when it comes to that. Nice goal."
Prior to Toews getting the puck, Blues defenseman Roman Polak went off for what turned out to be an ill-timed line change. Instead of having a right-side defenseman back with Toews, Jay Bouwmeester had to race onto the ice and couldn't catch up. Toews was also behind Jordan Leopold when he got the puck.
"It seems against a team that's got this type of finish you make a big error you pay for it," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That's what happened in this series. We've played extremely hard, at times dominated, playing to our potential, playing to our structure, but when we make an error like on the first goal and on the third goal we pay for it. That's what's happening. We're paying for our mistakes. They've got people who know how to finish and they're making us pay for it."
Game 5 was the fourth overtime game of the series, marking only the fifth time in Stanley Cup Playoffs history that at least four of the first five games of a series have gone to overtime, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"I don't see anything changing," Hitchcock he said. "We're going to have tremendous resolve, as will they. We're going to have to go earn a victory. We would have had to win two games anyway to win this series. Now we have to win them in Chicago and in our building, but it's very doable."
The Blues had chances to win Game 5 before Keith found Toews for the breakaway. They had several odd-man rushes in the third period, but capitalized on just one, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo's game-tying goal with 18:18 remaining in regulation off a 2-on-1 with forward Jaden Schwartz. T.J. Oshie, who scored a game-tying goal at 11:04 of the second period, had a chance off a 2-on-1 roughly eight minutes after Pietrangelo scored, but Chicago goalie Corey Crawford (27 saves) got across to make a diving save. Crawford also came out to challenge and make a save on defenseman Barret Jackman's slap shot from inside the right circle 6:49 into overtime. There were other chances too, such as when Oshie misfired on an open look off a turnover from between the hash marks at 15:50 of the second period. Blackhawks forward Ben Smith scored his first goal of the series 90 seconds later to give Chicago a 2-1 lead going into the third period. Pietrangelo had a chance to score on a 2-on-1 with Oshie with one minute left in the first period, but Crawford made the save, allowing Marian Hossa's goal less than three minutes earlier to stand up as the only one in the opening period. St. Louis also had two power play chances early in the first period, but managed just one shot on goal. Its power play is 2-for-23 in the series.
"We had plenty of chances to take bigger leads and didn't and it cost us," Steen said. "If you want to win in the playoffs you have to score on your chances."
Chicago scored on its break, one that Hitchcock called "lucky" and Chicago coach Joel Quenneville termed "fortunate." The Blackhawks knew all along that they'd have to get one to beat the Blues at Scottrade Center. They gave away chances to win Games 1 and 2. If it didn't happen in Game 5, they might not have had another opportunity.
"When it comes down to it there's chances on both sides in an overtime period, and that's four out of five games that have gone to overtime," Toews said. "You think sometimes it is about bounces, but for us it's just about belief and working for those bounces and hopefully we get lucky."Patrick Kane had a fight with Adam Cracknell at 19:43 of the second.


Dallas @ Anaheim 2-6 - The Dallas Stars were all over the Anaheim Sucks late in the second period and were controlling this Western Conference First Round series game at even strength. Anaheim, which had lost two straight in the series, was clinging to a one-goal lead after 40 minutes and needed to change the course of Game 5 at Honda Center. Three goals in less than seven minutes will do that. Jakob Silfverberg, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry scored in the opening 6:49 of the third period and the Sucks rolled to a comfortable 6-2 victory Friday and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.

"I thought we were a lot more calm this time around instead of the first two games [in Anaheim]," said center Andrew Cogliano, who set up Silfverberg's goal. "The first two games, you sometimes sit back and wait for bad things to happen, but this time, we said 'Let's just keep going for it. If you sit back, they're bound to score at some point. But if you attack and keep them on their heels, not only are they defending but you have a good opportunity to score. I thought it was good for [Silfverberg] to score. I thought that was a big goal for our team, and then you see what happens - guys are feeling good, guys start pressing even more because we're up two goals and you keep scoring."

Getzlaf had a goal and two assists in his return to the lineup after missing Game 4, and passed Teemu Selanne for the all-time franchise lead in Stanley Cup Playoffs points with 66. Perry also had a goal and two assists, and the Sucks chased Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen after he allowed five goals on 21 shots. Game 6 will be Sunday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN2, RDS2, PRIME, FS-SW), where the Ducks lost Games 3 and 4.

"It's about maintaining our focus," Getzlaf said. "When we got to Dallas last time, we got a little revved up and got into some things that weren't part of our game. Tonight, we did a better job of focusing on what we need to do."

Getzlaf did not play in the previous game because of an undisclosed upper-body injury, but it is believed to be related to needing stitches on his face after being hit by a shot in Game 1. He returned, as did Selanne, who was a healthy scratch in Game 4, as coach Bruce Boudreau shuffled his lineup after the back-to-back losses in Dallas. Silfverberg scored 67 seconds into the third period to make it a 4-2 game. Cogliano fed him near the edge of the left circle with a pass from behind the net. Perry connected with Getzlaf on a similar play from behind the net on the opposite side of the ice at 4:30. Getzlaf now has seven points in the series despite missing a game. He leads the Ducks in scoring and is tied for second in the playoffs. The Stars replaced Lehtonen with Tim Thomas, but that didn't help. Thomas lunged far out of his crease to try and poke the puck away from Perry near the left circle, but he rounded the goalkeeper like someone would in soccer and scored into the open net for a 6-2 lead.

"They jumped on us early [in the third] and I took a stupid penalty and that was it," Stars captain Jamie Benn said.

Dallas had plenty of chances early in this game. The Stars hit three posts and dominated the first two periods at even strength, but yielded three power-play goals in the first 40 minutes before imploding early in the third period. Benn was dominant in the first two periods. When he was on the ice at even strength, the Stars had 14 shot attempts and yielded one. In Benn's first three shifts of the third period, his line had zero shot attempts, was scored on once and his penalty led to a fourth power-play goal against and made it a four-goal game.

"[We] mentioned in between periods that that line had [15] of the 28 shots and when they're on the ice you better pay a little bit closer attention to them," Boudreau said of the line of Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alex Chiasson. "That was the only thing we mentioned, so maybe they took a little onus on themselves and said, 'Hey, watch this guy a little closer. He's a phenomenal player.' "

Mathieu Perreault scored Anaheim's third power-play goal of the game 65 seconds into the second period. Dallas got caught being a little too aggressive in the Ducks' end while on the penalty kill, and Perreault turned a perfectly placed pass from Getzlaf into his second goal of the series. Dallas forward Shawn Horcoff had a goal disallowed earlier in the game, but he put the puck behind Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen a second time on the rebound of a Vernon Fiddler shot at 8:19 of the second period; this one counted to get the Stars within a goal at 3-2.

"I thought in the second period we utterly dominated," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Hit a post, hit a crossbar, spent the whole time down in their end, but it is tough. We lost the special teams battle and that was a difference."

Nick Bonino put the Sucks in front 5:32 into an eventful first period. With the Sucks on the power play, Bonino moved around Stars defenseman Jordie Benn and scored on a shot as he was falling down for his first of the series. Bonino was moved up to the top line next to Perry and Getzlaf for this game. Ryan Garbutt speared the odious Perry at center ice as the Sucks' star was coming onto the ice for a shift and was ejected at 9:11. It has to be asked why more people have not taken swipes at the vilest 'star player' in the NHL. He continues to take cheap shots at opposing players and then finds it a surprise when he is on the receiving end of similar treatment.

"I was coming back to the bench and got careless with my stick," Garbutt said. "It was definitely something I didn't want to do. I don't want to put the team in that position, and I'm definitely going to learn from it."

Anaheim had a five-minute power play, but Benn made it a 1-1 game at 10:00 when he took the puck from Getzlaf in the high slot in the Sucks' end and had an unimpeded path to the net to beat Frederik Andersen. But Sucks rookie Rickard Rakell scored 26 seconds later to put Anaheim ahead to stay. He deflected a Francois Beauchemin shot near the top of the crease. The home team has won all five games in this series, a fact that's not lost on Ruff as he looks toward a must-win Game 6.

"We played well all night. We gave up an opportunity and it was in the back of the net," Ruff said. "That took some wind out of us. We were pressing up the ice and the next opportunity was in the back of the net. We were controlling play but the opportunities we gave them were in the back of the net. I like where our team is at. When we've been up against adversity, we've answered the call."

Penalties

1st Period
04:12 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Interference against  Frederik Andersen
09:11 DAL	Ryan Garbutt  Spearing (maj) against  Corey Perry
09:11 DAL	Ryan Garbutt  Game misconduct
12:04 ANA	Nick Bonino  Tripping against  Jamie Benn
14:30 ANA	Mathieu Perreault  Interference against  Shawn Horcoff
16:16 ANA	Cam Fowler  Cross checking against  Alex Chiasson
19:55 DAL	Alex Goligoski  Interference on goalkeeper against  Frederik Andersen
2nd Period
02:26 ANA	Teemu Selanne  Interference against  Kevin Connauton
03:39 ANA	Andrew Cogliano  Interference on goalkeeper against  Kari Lehtonen
05:54 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Unsportsmanlike conduct
05:54 ANA	Emerson Etem  Unsportsmanlike conduct
05:54 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Misconduct (10 min)
05:54 ANA	Emerson Etem  Misconduct (10 min)
3rd Period
05:57 DAL	Jamie Benn  Cross checking against  Ryan Getzlaf
07:40 DAL	Shawn Horcoff  Fighting (maj) against  Luca Sbisa
07:40 ANA	Mathieu Perreault  Roughing against  Kevin Connauton
07:40 ANA	Mathieu Perreault  Misconduct (10 min)
07:40 ANA	Patrick Maroon  Unsportsmanlike conduct
07:40 DAL	Kevin Connauton  Misconduct (10 min)
07:40 DAL	Kevin Connauton  Roughing against  Mathieu Perreault
07:40 ANA	Patrick Maroon  Misconduct (10 min)
07:40 DAL	Vernon Fiddler  Misconduct (10 min)
07:40 ANA	Patrick Maroon  Roughing against  Vernon Fiddler
07:40 DAL	Vernon Fiddler  Roughing against  Patrick Maroon
07:40 ANA	Luca Sbisa  Fighting (maj) against  Shawn Horcoff
13:47 ANA	Bryan Allen  Hi stick - double minor against  Alex Chiasson
20:00 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Roughing against  Bryan Allen