Playoff Results - Sat, Apr 19, 2014

Chicago @ St Louis 3-4 OT - Barret Jackman let the eruption of 19,639 paint the picture. The only responsibility the St. Louis Blues' defenseman had was firing the puck towards the goal. When the puck squirted through the pads of Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford, it put the defending Stanley Cup champions on the ropes. Jackman's goal 5:50 into overtime gave the Blues a 4-3 victory against the Blackhawks in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round series Saturday afternoon at Scottrade Center. Jackman's shot from the top of the left circle found its way through Crawford's pads with Maxim Lapierre in front setting a screen. It gave the Blues a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series, with Game 3 set for Chicago's United Center on Monday night (8:30 p.m. ET; CNBC, CBC, RDSI, FS-MW, CSN-CH).
"I think I still had my eyes closed by the time I got mobbed," said Jackman, who also scored a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings last season. "The eruption of the building said it all. It's a pretty neat feeling."
Crawford said: "It was a little bit of a screen but it went straight through. I had my pads together but there was a little space there and it just kind of squeezed through."
Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko tied the game with 6.4 seconds remaining when his power-play wrister from just inside the top of the right circle zipped through a screen and past Crawford. It came with the Blues skating 6-on-4 after pulling goaltender Ryan Miller with 1:46 remaining and with Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook ejected after being assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit on Blues forward David Backes at 15:09. Backes did not return to the game
"How do you think he is? Not great," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We'll let the League deal with it."
The Blues were determined to answer the play on the ice. "We got a five-minute power play and 5-on-3," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "It certainly changed momentum the last five minutes of the game. You never want to see Dave go down like that; he's an important player the way he works on and off the ice. We thought the best revenge at that point would be to get the puck and score. That's what we did."
Added left wing Chris Porter, who scored his second career playoff goal: "As soon as that hit happened, we're like, 'We're winning this for him.' In these five minutes, we're going to score, we're going to win it whether it's in regulation or in overtime."
Seabrook, who scored in the third period to tie the game 2-2, said: "I was just trying to make a play on Backes. I thought the puck was there, I was on [Alexander] Steen, I was just coming down the wall and I just tried to finish my hit."
The Blues, who were 1-for-9 on the power play, converted when Pietrangelo found Tarasenko, who snapped a wrister into the net.
"I didn't know how many seconds left," Tarasenko said. "I just tried to be open for 'Petro.' I know I will wrist it as quick as I can, probably low glove shot. Our whole team worked all game. If you work hard and trust your team, trust your coaches, you will come back."
Pietrangelo said it was hard not to spot his teammate. "I heard him scream. I didn't know if it was English or Russian or what it was. I knew he wanted the puck. Kid can shoot the puck. He's an offensive player ... it's good to see him back."
The Blues got first-period goals from Porter and Kevin Shattenkirk, who also had two assists. Miller stopped 25 shots. Seabrook and fellow defenseman Michal Rozsival scored third-period goals, Duncan Keith also scored for the Blackhawks, who have gotten five of six goals in the series from their defensemen. Crawford finished with 27 saves. Chicago trailed 2-0 before Keith's goal at 17:25 of the second period. Seabrook tied the game 4:53 into the third period when his one-timer from the top of the right circle caromed off Porter's stick and beat Miller high to the short side. Rozsival gave Chicago its first lead 1:45 later when his shot from the right point deflected off Backes and past Miller. At that point, the Blackhawks were feeling like they could get the series back to Chicago tied 1-1. It was not meant to be.
"The other game was tough; it was tough losing with a buck and change," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said in reference to the Blues tying Game 1 with 1:45 remaining. "But tonight was brutal. Did a great job killing, outstanding job, and you're right there, six seconds away."
Chicago finally snapped Miller's shutout streak going back to Game 1 at 119:27 on Keith's point shot that got through a screen with 2:35 left in the second to cut the Blues' lead to 2-1. After Miller allowed three goals on the first seven shots faced in Game 1, he stopped 53 straight shots until Keith solved him. The Blues were buzzing in the first period, even though the Blackhawks had three opportunities on the power play but failed to convert on any of them. The Blues' fourth line struck first in Game 2, just as it did in the series opener. Porter, who had just stepped onto the ice for a shift, picked up Jordan Leopold's shot, which was blocked by Seabrook. He stepped into a slap shot and beat Crawford high to the short side 7:08 into the first period for a 1-0 lead. Porter was a ninth-round pick of the Blackhawks in the 2003 NHL Draft.
"It was a big goal at that time of the game," Porter said. "It felt nice to get the monkey off my back. I feel I've had some good chances as of late, but I'm just glad to find the back of the net and contribute any way I can."
Chicago's power play had plenty of opportunities, but the Blues' penalty kill, after allowing a power-play goal on the first attempt in the series, clamped down on all three first-period attempts. At the end of the first, the Blues were buzzing around Chicago's goal, and Shattenkirk's blast from inside the blue line beat Crawford with 1.8 seconds left after a scramble in front in which the Chicago goalie made a great glove save on Jaden Schwartz with 6.2 seconds left. But Schwartz regained the puck below the goal line after being stopped and got it back to the point. With time running out, Shattenkirk wound up and beat Crawford, who was scrambling to get back into position. Earlier in the period, Shattenkirk rang a shot off the post. Alexander Steen in the second period was given a breakaway and fired a shot off the crossbar with 14:20 left. The Blues had their turns on the power play early in the second period, including a 27-second stretch of 5-on-3. They also failed to convert on three power plays in the period. But after their captain left the game, the Blues remained composed and go to Chicago in good shape with a chance to take a commanding lead in the series Monday.
"I think [we had to] calm down and start to play again," Hitchcock said. "I thought we played our best hockey in the first period and then we played great in the overtime. I thought the overtime we were outstanding. We needed to just calm down and start playing again."

Penalties

1st Period
02:26 STL	Ryan Reaves  Charging against  Michal Rozsival
04:57 CHI	Brandon Bollig  Roughing against  Roman Polak
04:57 STL	Roman Polak  Roughing against  Brandon Bollig
09:05 STL	Barret Jackman  Cross checking against  Andrew Shaw
13:18 CHI	Brandon Saad  Slashing against  Alexander Steen
15:23 STL	T.J. Oshie  Tripping against  Brent Seabrook
2nd Period
01:42 CHI	Patrick Kane  Interference against  Maxim Lapierre
03:16 CHI	Duncan Keith  Tripping against  T.J. Oshie
06:09 CHI	Kris Versteeg  Roughing against  Derek Roy
20:00 STL	Kevin Shattenkirk  Roughing against  Andrew Shaw
20:00 STL	Steve Ott  Misconduct (10 min) against  Brandon Bollig
20:00 CHI	Brandon Bollig  Misconduct (10 min) against  Steve Ott
3rd Period
08:11 CHI	Duncan Keith  Hi-sticking against  Maxim Lapierre
13:55 CHI	Bryan Bickell  Kneeing against  Vladimir Sobotka
15:09 CHI	Brent Seabrook  Charging (maj) against  David Backes
15:09 CHI	Brent Seabrook  Game misconduct against  David Backes
1st OT Period
03:07 CHI	Jonathan Toews  Hi-sticking against  Vladimir Sobotka

Columbus @ Pittsburgh 4-3 2OT - The Columbus Blue Jackets gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a taste of their own medicine on Saturday night. Matt Calvert scored his second goal of the game 1:10 into double overtime to give the Blue Jackets the franchise's first Stanley Cup Playoff victory, a 4-3 win against the Penguins in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Consol Energy Center.
"You always dream about being the hero in overtime," Calvert said. "We battled for it and it didn't come easy. We were down a couple goals at different times. The penalty kill was great when it had to be and it's just a great feeling right now."
Columbus, which rallied from a two-goal deficit, will host Game 3 at Nationwide Arena on Monday (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, FS-O, CBC, RDS2).
"This is my third season and I know the struggles that we went through to get to this point, but I don't know the history of the team," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "For me, it's always about moving forward and what's going to happen next? What's next on our agenda? What's going to happen tomorrow? For me, it's a great win for our hockey team and for a lot of people back in Columbus, especially our fans in particular … people who have been devoted to this organization, it's big."
After allowing three first-period goals, Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky shut down the Penguins for more than 60 minutes to earn his first playoff win. Bobrovsky finished with 39 saves. Ryan Johansen and Jack Johnson also scored for the Blue Jackets. Brian Gibbons scored twice and Matt Niskanen had a goal and an assist for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury made 41 saves in the loss. With Kris Letang in the penalty box for interference, Johnson scored his second goal of the series to tie the game 3-3. Fleury was screened by Brandon Dubinsky, which limited his sight and the puck slipped to Johnson at the right of the net. Johnson wristed a shot into a wide-open net with 6:01 remaining in regulation. Columbus' special teams were the catalyst to its comeback. The Blue Jackets, who blew a 3-1 lead en route to a 4-3 loss in Game 1, scored two power-play goals and one shorthanded Saturday. Calvert scored Columbus' second shorthanded goal of the series 6:25 into the second period. He elected to keep the puck on a 3-on-1 break and snapped a shot past Fleury to cut Pittsburgh's lead to 3-2.
"We've been a resilient group," said Blue Jackets forward RJ Umberger, who returned from an upper-body injury. "We've never quit and battled and battled and 3-1 is not a great scenario, but I think a lot of teams would have been done, but we kept fighting and found ways. The power play did a great job of getting us back into it and the shorthanded goal was huge."
The Blue Jackets earned two additional scoring chances, including on a 2-on-1, during the rest of the Penguins' power play. Pittsburgh allowed a shorthanded goal to Derek MacKenzie in the second period Wednesday.
"The shorthanded goals have hurt us big time and we've certainly scored with our power play in the first two games, but tonight clearly, special teams is the difference in this game," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "Us not being able to capitalize with our power play in the second period is a huge factor, and of course they get the second power-play goal of the game to tie the game up. So it ends up being three special-teams goals for them tonight and it is certainly the difference in this game."
The Penguins dominated the first period on their way to a 3-1 lead. "I think it's a missed opportunity," Niskanen said. "We're at home, Game 2 and we're having a great first period. We have a two-goal lead and we're in complete control of the hockey game. Whether it's a mistake or them capitalizing on an opportunity, the momentum changes and it took us a while for us to get back to playing."
Gibbons scored his first of his two first-period goals to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead 3:30 into the game. Gibbons deflected a slap shot from Niskanen past Bobrovsky's stick and into the top of the net. Gibbons scored a shorthanded goal less than minute later with Joe Vitale in the penalty box for interference. Gibbons, dubbed by Bylsma as the Penguins' fastest player, carried the puck through the neutral zone and flew past Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski before deking to the right and bringing the puck back to the left to wrap it around Bobrovsky's pads 4:24 into the first. But Gibbons left the game after playing 2:26 in the first with an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by forward Tanner Glass on the Penguins' top line. Bylsma did not provide an update to Gibbons' status after the game, while Richards did not update the status of defenseman Fedor Tyutin, who played 6:55 in the first period but not at all after that. Johansen slapped a shot past Fleury 45 seconds after Gibbons' second goal during the same power play to cut Pittsburgh's lead in half, but Columbus didn't register another shot for nearly 12 minutes. The Penguins, who finished the period with a 15-4 lead in shots, took advantage late in the period with a power-play goal. Niskanen ripped a slap shot into the upper-right corner of the net for his fourth point and second goal of the postseason with 2:08 left in the period. Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby earned two assists in the first, moving him into third on the franchise's all-time postseason points list with 108.
"We have to be better," Crosby said. "That's really, I think, the bottom line. Right on through, whether it's special teams or 5-on-5, we've got to be better."
Minnesota @ Colorado 2-4 - The Minnesota Wild had no answer for the Colorado Avalanche line of rookie Nathan MacKinnon, Paul Stastny and Gabriel Landeskog on Saturday night. MacKinnon and Stastny each had four points and Landeskog scored two goals to power the Colorado Avalanche a 4-2 win at Pepsi Center in Game 2 of their Western Conference First Round Series. The Landeskog-Stastny-MacKinnon line combined for four goals and six assists, and goalie Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves as the Avalanche took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 3 is Monday at the Xcel Energy Center (7 p.m. ET; CNBC, RDS, TSN, FS-N, ALT).
"That line was on fire tonight, they played really well," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "They had an outstanding game. They were moving the puck really well, they were skating well. I have to say one thing here, all our guys played really well. I thought it was a really good team win."
After collecting three assists in his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut Thursday, MacKinnon was even more of a force Saturday. He scored an electrifying first-period goal to tie the game 1-1 and assisted on each of the Avalanche's other three goals.
"It's very exciting out there," he said. "Everybody's having a blast. We're having fun because we're winning. I still feel like a kid, I'm 18. I'm trying not to grow up too fast. I'm enjoying this."
MacKinnon brought the crowd to life and regained momentum for the Avalanche after Charlie Coyle drove to the net to give the Wild a 1-0 lead at 4:18 of the opening period with his second goal of the series. After taking a pass from Stastny just inside the Colorado blue line, MacKinnon skated past Wild center Mikko Koivu, sped into the Minnesota zone and stepped around defenseman Jared Spurgeon into the right circle, where he fired the puck past goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's right arm.
"I wanted to kind of skate to the middle and I kind of jumped to the outside," MacKinnon said. "I didn't know I'd have that much room. Obviously, I'm pretty fortunate that he bit on it, I guess, and I just fired it at the net and it went in."
MacKinnon admitted to watching the replay on the large video board after getting back to the bench."Yeah, I did, I won't lie about that. It was my first playoff goal, so it was pretty exciting. I don't expect to get four points in Game 3, I just want to help the team anyway I can."
With a goal and six assists, MacKinnon has tied the NHL record for the most points by a player in his first two playoff games. Odie Cleghorn did it in 1919 and Barry Pederson in 1982. The Landeskog- Stastny-MacKinnon unit had three goals and five assists through the first two periods, when the Avalanche built a 3-1 lead and chased Bryzgalov, who permitted two second-period goals on three shots. Roy put the three together in the third period Thursday in an attempt to kick-start the offense after the Wild took a 4-2 lead, and Stastny responded with the tying and overtime goals.
"A couple of the goals tonight, we all had a hand in them," said Stastny, who has three goals and five assists in the series. "When you're playing with two guys like MacKinnon and Landeskog, as long as they're moving, I'll find them and that creates a lot of space."
Wild coach Mike Yeo called the high-scoring line's performance "the story of the game, for sure," and is hopeful that he and his coaches can figure out a way to slow it down on home ice. When we get home maybe we can make it a little more uncomfortable for them. Part of it is getting home, getting the matchups we're looking to get. Part of it is we still need to be better. We've been able to shut down really good players all year long. We're backing up a little bit, too much as far as I'm concerned. I think we're allowing them to build speed, so we have to do a better job."
The Wild pulled within 3-2 with 1:19 left in regulation on a shorthanded goal by Marco Scandella after relief goalie Darcy Kuemper went to the bench for an extra skater. But the Avalanche put the game away when MacKinnon fed Stastny for an empty-net goal with 14.2 seconds to go. The Avalanche thought left wing PA Parenteau, who caught an unpenalized high stick by Jonas Brodin near his left eye at 15:53, scored into the Wild's vacated net with 1:30 to play for a 4-1 lead, but the play was ruled offside.
"In the past, when calls like this happen, we seemed to lose our focus," Roy said. "You just want to regroup and say, 'Hey, guys, let's stay focused.' Adversity in the playoffs happens. Those things happen."
The Wild's most pressing problem is finding a way to control the Avalanche's fleet forwards.
"Their line's been on fire, making a lot of plays, making a lot of things happen," Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said. "They're very confident right now. We just have to get that momentum back. It doesn't matter if you lose 10-0 or you lose with 13 seconds left. It's a loss. A loss is a loss and you have to get the next one. That has to be the mind-set. You can't get frustrated. I mean, we didn't play the way we're capable of playing. They played well. They played really well, and we have to be better."
The Avalanche also got a strong game from Varlamov, who made seven saves on three Wild power plays.
"He was rock-solid," Roy said. "He made some key saves at the right time."
Landeskog broke a 1-1 tie at 2:58 of the second period. Stastny got the puck to MacKinnon, who left a drop pass for Landeskog in the right circle for a shot over Bryzgalov's glove into the top corner of the net. Landeskog scored again three seconds after the Wild finished killing off an Avalanche power play. MacKinnon sped down left wing into the bottom of the circle and passed back to Stastny, who spun around to get the puck to Landeskog in the slot for a shot into a half-open net at 11:59.
"Certainly it feels good to contribute and to give our team some momentum in the second," Landeskog said. "Our line has done a good job of working hard, and that's where it starts for all of us. We complement each other very well with Nate's speed and Paulie's smartness and vision, and I just try to find the open ice and use my shot."
Yeo replaced Bryzgalov after Landeskog's second goal with Kuemper, who missed the previous eight games because of an upper-body injury. Kuemper stopped all 14 shots he faced.
"Obviously for me to go in something had to go wrong, we'd have to be down or a situation like that," Kuemper said. "But I was ready and that's why I was back in the lineup, because if they needed me I was ready to go."