Playoff Results - Mon, Apr 21 2014

Pittsburgh @ Columbus 4-3 - A trend has emerged through three games of the Eastern Conference First Round series between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins: A two-goal lead is never safe. The Penguins scored three goals in a 2:13 span of the third period to rally for a 4-3 win Monday at Nationwide Arena and a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Playoffs best-of-7 series. Jussi Jokinen scored the winner at 8:06 of the third when he deflected defenseman Olli Maatta's shot from the left point past Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
"I was trying to get the puck through, get it on net," Maatta said. "That's how to score. I did that. It was a little bit lucky."
The puck went off Columbus defenseman James Wisniewski, who was stationed in front of Bobrovsky, before going into the net for Jokinen's second goal in the playoffs.
"We got caught playing a little bit of their game, run and gun," Columbus left wing Nick Foligno said. "Their transition is so quick. That's what caught us a couple of times and a lucky bounce on the fourth one. That's playoff hockey."
All of the games in the series have been decided by a 4-3 score, with the losing team holding a two-goal advantage at some point. The Penguins twice trailed by two in Game 3.
"It's been kind of up and down the last three games," said Pittsburgh center Brandon Sutter, who scored the first of the Penguins' three third-period goals. "Any team that gets the lead finds a way to give it up."
Game 4 is Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS, FS-O, ROOT) in Columbus. Nationwide Arena was raucous at the opening faceoff and even more so after first-period goals by Boone Jenner and Jack Johnson put the Blue Jackets ahead 2-0. The Penguins didn't get on the board until defenseman Brooks Orpik scored late in the second period.
"The start obviously wasn't what we wanted," said Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby, who had his fourth assist of the series but has yet to score. "We stayed with it. There was a lot of hockey left. I thought we outplayed them, at least the second and third periods."
Cam Atkinson answered 64 seconds into the third to restore the Blue Jackets' two-goal advantage at 3-1. Atkinson's first career playoff goal came about after a backhander by linemate Brandon Dubinsky, who had two assists Monday, went in off his hand. The Penguins started their comeback about five minutes later, when Sutter scored his second goal of the playoffs at 5:53. Sutter redirected defenseman Paul Martin's point shot past Bobrovsky. Martin and forward Beau Bennett each had two assists for Pittsburgh. Lee Stempniak tied the game at 7:03, scoring his first of the playoffs with a wrist shot from the right circle that froze Bobrovsky. Sutter, Stempniak and Jokinen scored on consecutive shots. When the Penguins grabbed the 4-3 lead on Jokinen's goal, Pittsburgh held a 13-1 advantage in shots in the period. The Penguins outshot the Blue Jackets 15-5 in the third and 41-20 for the game. The Pittsburgh rally rewarded Fleury after he rebounded from a shaky start.
"Fleury was outstanding tonight," Sutter said. "I thought he was great. He made a lot of big saves to keep us in even though we only gave up 20-plus shots. It could have been 3-0 a couple of times."
Even though Columbus held the 2-0 lead after the first period, it was outshot 16-7 in the opening period in large part because Pittsburgh had all three power plays. The Penguins could not, however, solve Bobrovsky, who stopped all 16 shots in the first and made 37 saves in the game. The Blue Jackets, in their first home playoff game since April 23, 2009, scored two quick goals at the start.
"[The fans] got us energized," Dubinsky said. "Hopefully, we can expect the same thing in a couple of nights because we're going to need it."
Jenner gave Columbus the 1-0 led with his first career playoff goal at 1:38. The rookie forward beat Fleury through the pads after the goalie stopped the initial chance by Jack Skille but left the puck in the slot. Johnson made it 2-0 at 3:18 when he was in front to collect a shot by Dubinsky that Fleury could not corral. The defenseman has three goals in the series after scoring five in 82 games in the regular season.
"We knew they were going to come out hard," Sutter said. "They're a good team. They're playing hard. We had to try to match it. I thought we did a great job responding."
Orpik took the air out of the arena with 1.8 seconds left in the second period after prolonged pressure in the Columbus end. His second career playoff goal cut the Blue Jackets' lead to 2-1. Relentless forechecking enabled Bennett to dig the puck from along the right wall and send a pass across the ice to Orpik. The defenseman waited for Columbus left wing Matt Calvert to drop down to block his shot, then skated between the circles before beating Bobrovsky. Columbus is in the playoffs for the second time since joining the NHL as an expansion team in 2000-01. They were swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Quarterfinals five seasons ago and have lost all three home playoff games in their history.
"Game 4 can't come fast enough," Johnson said. "We're pretty anxious to play them again. They're nothing special. We're a pretty damn good hockey team too. We're not shying away from anything. We're in this series to win the Stanley Cup, and they're in our way to win it."
Colorado @ Minnesota 0-1 OT - Minnesota Wild forward Mikael Granlund is a man of few words. He let his play do the talking Monday night. Granlund's highlight-reel goal 5:08 into overtime gave the Wild a 1-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round series at Xcel Energy Center. Colorado now leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be played in Minnesota on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET, TSN2, CNBC, RDS2, ALT, FS-N, FS-WI). Granlund, who gained control of the puck in the left corner, skated behind the net to the right corner, fought off Colorado defenseman Jan Hejda, skated to the front of the net and beat Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov while in mid-air. It was Granlund's first career goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Granlund's mad-scramble to the front of the net on the game-winner was his fourth such rush of the night. He finished the game with seven shots on goal, a career-high. Until the game-winner, Varlamov stood tall. He turned away the first 45 shots he faced, including 22 in the first period alone. By the end of regulation, Varlamov had 44 saves, including several grade-A chances. Minnesota had already broken the franchise record for shots in a playoff game (40) with nine minutes left in the third period. Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper was good too, stopping all 22 shots to earn the franchise's first-ever playoff shutout. In addition to the loss on the scoreboard, Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie left the game after a knee-to-knee hit from Wild forward Matt Cooke in the second period. Barrie struggled to the bench and down the tunnel to the locker room and did not return. Roy said Barrie will miss 4-to-6 weeks with an MCL injury. Cooke has a history of supplemental discipline with the NHL, but has stayed out of trouble for the past 38 months. Minnesota nearly won the game several times in regulation, including shots by Charlie Coyle and Matt Moulson that went off the post, with Coyle's coming on a 2-on-1 break in the first period and Moulson's off a deflection in the second. The save of the game may have come with four minutes left in regulation when Wild forward Mikko Koivu skated into the slot with the puck and fired a shot with traffic in front of Varlamov, but Avalanche forward Maxime Talbot slid in front of the puck before it could cross the goal line to keep the game scoreless.
St Louis @ Chicago 0-2 - The Chicago Blackhawks didn't waste another opportunity to close out a game against the St. Louis Blues. After coughing up a one-goal lead in the third period and losing in overtime in each of the first two games of the Western Conference First Round series in St. Louis, the Blackhawks held on Monday for a 2-0 win at United Center. It was anything but easy, after getting an early goal from captain Jonathan Toews and then fighting hard the rest of the game to make it stand up. The Blues again poured on a late charge in the third, seeking the equalizer, but this time goalie Corey Crawford and the Blackhawks were up to the challenge.
"Losing back-to-back in OT, after having the lead in the third and having them tie it up late, that's definitely hard to take," said Crawford, who got his glove on a wrist shot by Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo with 43 seconds left in regulation. "But this group has gone through some pretty tough moments the last couple years. Even this year, we've gone through some tough things and we've always been able to just stay calm and have that confidence. Our leaders do a great job of that. They set the tone and everyone else just follows."
The Blues lead the best-of-7 series 2-1, with Game 4 on Wednesday in Chicago (9:30 p.m. ET, CBC, RDS, NBCSN, FS-MW, CSN-CH), but St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock knows how difficult it will be to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions in this series. "When you're knocking off just a team in the League, it's a different animal. When you're knocking off the defending champion, they're not a defending champion because they have skill. It's because they've got resolve. You're trying to beat the resolve. You're not trying to beat their skill. Everybody's got skill. And it is one helluva of a challenge."
Toews gave the Blackhawks their first 1-0 lead of the series 4:10 into the game with his first goal of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Crawford really stood out after absorbing his share of the blame for the Blues' late goals in the first two games. He helped Chicago kill off three St. Louis power plays, the Blues are 1-for-16 on the man advantage in the series, and had to make a couple strong saves in the third to preserve a 1-0 lead. The guys in front of him also sacrificed their bodies to block shots, with veteran Michal Handzus' effort in the third standing out most.
"He's a warrior," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said of Handzus. "You can't say enough to what he brings the team and the little things he does so well. He leaves it out there. He's a great pro. This series, it's not going to slow down as far as the intensity. It's extremely high-paced, passionate, and we've just got to keep persevering, because we expect that team to not change a bit that approach."
Unlike Game 2, when Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko scored with 6.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, Chicago put the puck into an empty net to seal the win. Brandon Saad chased down a loose puck behind the St. Louis goal and fed a short pass to Marcus Kruger, who slammed it home from the right post at 19:40. The only thing that changed from Game 2 was the amount of action after the whistle. There was noticeably less of it, even though the hits kept coming from each side. The Blues outhit Chicago 41-27 and finished with a 34-25 edge in shots, but Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell continued to make his presence felt. He led Chicago with eight hits and was a force all game long. Blues forward Steve Ott countered with eight hits of his own and delivered a big one in the third against Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith, who was at the center of controversy that developed late in Game 2. That's when the Blues lost captain David Backes to an injury after an illegal hit by Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook at Scottrade Center. Seabrook served the first of a three-game suspension for the hit Monday as Backes sat out with an upper-body injury. Sheldon Brookbank started in Seabrook's spot alongside Keith, who bristled when asked by reporters before the game Monday about his saying, "Wakey, wakey, Backes," after Seabrook's illegal hit on the Blues captain. Brookbank was credited with an assist on Toews' goal and played solid on the defensive end.
"It's nice to get on [the] board," Keith said. "We needed it tonight, obviously. It would've been a huge hole going down 3-0. We're back in the series here. We'll get some rest tonight and rest up [Tuesday] and get ready for Game 4."
Alexander Steen took Backes' spot centering the Blues' top line, and forward Patrik Berglund, who missed the first two games with an injury, returned to center the second line. The Blackhawks got exactly the kind of start they wanted. Quenneville juggled his lines from how the Blackhawks skated during pregame warmups, most notably moving Patrick Kane from the third line to right wing on the top line with Toews. Chicago controlled the action as Quenneville rolled through all four lines in the first few minutes and took a 1-0 lead on Toews' goal. After winning a faceoff in the defensive zone back to Brookbank, Toews and his linemates took off toward the Blues zone. Toews took a pass from Keith, carried the puck into the St. Louis zone and fired a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that snuck through Blues goalie Ryan Miller's pads. It turned out to be the only goal Miller allowed, despite the Blackhawks getting four power plays and 37 seconds at 5-on-3 in the second period.
"It was a weird puck," said Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who was defending on the play. "I didn't get to see it, obviously, because I was facing [Toews]. But [Miller] says it just [took] a weird bounce off the ice and gets by him. I mean, he made some really big saves the whole game. Ultimately, it's a 1-0 game. If we get a couple of chances here and there and put it in the back of the net, I think we're happy with the turnout."
The teams went a combined 0-for-7 on the power play. St. Louis nearly tied it on a couple scoring chances in the first, but good work by Chicago defensemen around the net helped Crawford keep the puck out. Aided by two power plays, the Blues held a 15-7 advantage in shots at the first intermission. There were no goals in the second, but the middle period had its share of action. The four Blues penalties gave the Blackhawks ample opportunity to increase their lead, but strong work by Miller, who stopped 23 of 24 shots in the game, and shot-blocking by the defenders in front of him kept it a 1-0 game. In the third, the Chicago had to kill off an early power play and weather another late push by the Blues. Knowing they came into the game just 1:51.4 away from leading the series 2-0, the Blackhawks tapped into that resolve Hitchcock mentioned to come out victorious.
"In some instances [in the third], I wouldn't say we were thinking about Game 1 and Game 2, but there's that thought there that you've got to be extra careful, and we're just throwing pucks out of our zone and making sure that we're not turning pucks over in dangerous areas," Toews said. "A lot of times we did have time to skate it and time to control it down in their zone. If we can do that and stay with our game a little bit more, I think we'll be better off."
Anaheim @ Dallas 0-3 - Dallas Stars fans have waited nearly six years to see Stanley Cup Playoff hockey return to American Airlines Center. On Monday night, a sellout crowd wasn't disappointed. Kari Lehtonen made 37 saves and forwards Jamie Benn, Valeri Nichushkin and Ryan Garbutt scored to lead the Stars to a 3-0 win against the Anaheim Sucks in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round series. It was Lehtonen's first career playoff victory and shutout. Anaheim now leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is set for Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, TSN, CNBC, RDS2, PRIME, FS-SW).
"At the age of 30, it was about time to get that first one," Lehtonen said. "It was nice to be able to be back there and help the team out. That's what I have to keep doing."
"As much as it's hard to experience a loss in the playoffs, this team needed to experience a win," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "That group in there needed to experience what it’s like to win and winning in the playoffs is different than the regular season."
Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, who has faced Lehtonen several times as an NHL coach, has seen this before from the Stars goaltender, so he wasn't surprised at his stellar performance. "He played good. That's what Lehtonen does. I've coached against him for many years and have seen him play games like that and he can do it, but we've got to find ways to score. We had chances to score. We just didn't get it done. I think their goal at the end of the first period was a big goal for them because I thought we were really starting to take the play to them the last half of the first period, but [Andersen] was fine for me. He kept his calm."
Dallas, which hadn't hosted a playoff game since May 2008 when it lost in the Western Conference Finals in six games to the Detroit Red Wings, led 1-0 after one period and 2-0 after two. Benn's goal came late in the first period when he tapped in a rebound 35 seconds before the first intermission. Nichushkin then scored late in the second when he blasted a wrister through the five-hole of Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen, who stopped 19 of 22 shots after winning the first two playoff starts of his career to help give Anaheim a 2-0 series lead. Garbutt gave Dallas an insurance goal at 7:52 of the third when he scored his second of the playoffs off a rebound. Garbutt's initial effort and a rebound chance from Cody Eakin were turned away by Andersen, but Garbutt dashed in to poke in the carom and the Stars had a three-goal edge. Anaheim was dealt a blow early in the second when veteran defenseman Stephane Robidas had to be helped off the ice with a fractured right leg 42 seconds into the period. Garbutt upended Robidas, his former Dallas teammate, in front of the Stars net. Robidas was unable to put any weight on his right foot, leaving the Ducks with five healthy defensemen. Robidas was transported to a local hospital.
"It's a huge loss because he was playing great," Boudreau said of Robidas. "And of course, I think all the guys on the bench felt extremely bad for him. Here's your teammate who's just fought his way back from a broken leg. I don't know what the extent of the injury is. I know it doesn't look good and he's probably out for a long time. You have to feel for an athlete that worked so hard to get back and then that same thing happens to him."
Lehtonen was rock solid for the entire 60 minutes, making several big saves, including a diving stop on Anaheim center Saku Koivu early in the second period.
"Of course I feel better after this one," Lehtonen said. "But these games are so exciting. There's no time to think about what has happened in the past and things like that. I just have to keep going. Be patient and be alert. That's the kind of stuff I keep telling myself."
The Stars' penalty kill was especially effective, killing off all six Ducks opportunities. Dallas also held Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf to one shot. Suck's goon Getzlaf, who found himself in the middle of a scrum with Antoine Roussel late in the second period, took exception to the level of physical play the Stars displayed in Game 3. "Well, it's one of those things. You've got to stay as disciplined as you can, but you've got to protect yourself too. That's part of the game. Obviously, I never expected them to target my face that much, but that's the way it goes I guess."
Getzlaf has some cheek considering the amount of dirty shots him and linemate Corey Perry deliver each game. However, Getzlaf did give Lehtonen a lot of credit for how well he performed to earn the shutout for Dallas. Anaheim outshot Dallas 37-22.
"A lot of the pucks that he saw tonight, he saw them all the way in and you're not going to beat a goalie like that. He's world-class," Getzlaf said.


Penalties

1st Period
09:43 ANA	Bryan Allen  Hi-sticking against  Colton Sceviour
17:15 DAL	Jamie Benn  Hooking against  Kyle Palmieri
2nd Period
01:41 DAL	Alex Goligoski  Hi-sticking against  Saku Koivu
06:12 ANA	Ben Lovejoy  Hooking against  Tyler Seguin
14:43 DAL	Chris Mueller  Interference against  Saku Koivu
18:14 ANA	Ryan Getzlaf  Roughing against  Antoine Roussel
18:14 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Roughing against  Ryan Getzlaf
18:14 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Roughing against  Ryan Getzlaf
19:29 DAL	Trevor Daley  Slashing against  Corey Perry
19:29 ANA	Corey Perry  Holding against  Trevor Daley
3rd Period
09:23 DAL	Kevin Connauton  Cross checking against  Nick Bonino
11:49 ANA	Bryan Allen  Interference against  Antoine Roussel
14:27 ANA	Mathieu Perreault  Slashing against  Vernon Fiddler
14:27 DAL	Vernon Fiddler  Roughing against  Mathieu Perreault
14:27 ANA	Devante Smith-Pelly  Misconduct (10 min) against  Patrik Nemeth
14:27 DAL	Patrik Nemeth  Misconduct (10 min) against  Devante Smith-Pelly
14:48 ANA	Patrick Maroon  Misconduct (10 min) against  Jamie Benn