The Leafs and Blue Jackets were both on the brink of elimination tonight.
Toronto was coming off a big 4-3 win on Friday night which they almost squander. And the Blue Jackets were looking to get back on track after losing their last three.
Here’s how it went:
Day 11 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs saw one team move onto the second round as Tampa Bay eliminated New Jersey, one team took a step closer to moving on as Washington won the fourth game to go knto OT in their series, and the Leafs earned another game to stay alive with .
Here’s how it went down:
#KLUTCHEROV. 🔥#TBLvsNJD | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/K4iAbeoC6S
— #GoBolts (@TBLightning) April 21, 2018
The Tampa Bay Lightning had the opportunity to eliminate the Devils and move on to the second round and they did not hesitate one bit. They totalled 38 shots on net, 10 in the first 18 in the second and 10 in the third period.
Mikhail Sergachev scored his first of the playoffs eight minutes into the game, rifling one home from the top of the circle for a 1-0 Lightning lead.
The scoring continued in the third period where Nikita Kucherov scored his fifth goal of the playoffs tying him for most in the post-season with Sidney Crosby.
Five minutes later the Devils got back into it with their net empty. Patrick Maroon scored his fourth goal as a Devil and his first of the playoffs to bring New Jersey within one.
Ryan Callahan added an empty net goal with two seconds left to seal the deal for Tampa Bay and send them to the second round.
Honorary mention to Cory Schneider who stood on his head in this game, especially late to give the Devils a chance and keep them in it until the last two seconds of the game. Schneider turned away 35 of 37 Lightning shots including some amazing glove saves late.
The Devils put up a fight but the offensive line-up of Tampa Bay was too much, outscoring New Jersey 18-12 in the series and held the Devils to one goal a game for the last two games of the series.
It was a battle. Good luck to the @TBLightning the rest of the way! #NJDvsTBL pic.twitter.com/JhI8tYaq6I
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 21, 2018
Tamp Bay will play either Boston or Toronto in the second round, and regardless of who it is it should make one explosive series.
BACKSTROM WINS THE GAME! WASHINGTON LEADS THE SERIES! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/CWG2BJIcja
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 21, 2018
This series has been one of the more exciting ones to watch with Columbus taking the first two on the road and Washington winning the next three, after Alex Ovechkin guaranteed his Caps would tie the series at two.
Ten minutes into the first period Ovechkin turned the puck over on the powerplay sending Matt Calvert on a two-on-one with Josh Anderson. Calvert opted to shoot and pushed it past Braden Holtby for a 1-0 Jackets lead.
Three minutes later Nicklas Backstrom banked a shot off Sergei Bobrovsky and over his back into the back of the net to tie the game at one in the first period.
Washington took the lead in the second period, catching Columbus on a change. The odd-man rush lead to Evgeny Kuznetzov putting one through Bobrovsky’s five-hole for his fourth goal of the playoffs and a 2-1 Caps lead.
Columbus tied it at two, one minute later, with the puck sneaking past TJ Oshie sending Calvert on a breakaway where he scored a lucky back handed goal on a spin move after fanning on his original shot.
just as he drew it up#cbj | #marchon pic.twitter.com/tCWy53H78Y
— x – columbus blue jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) April 21, 2018
Oshie would redeem himself however, later in the second period as he tipped in a John Carlson shot in for his second powerplay goal in back to back games, giving the Caps a 3-2 lead.
Two and a half minutes into the third period, Oliver Bjorkstrand tipped an Ian Cole point shot past Holtby to tie the game at three, sending the game to overtime for the fourth time this series.
Both goaltenders turned away scoring chance after scoring chance in overtime with Braden Holtby turning away all six OT shots he faced and Sergei Bobrovsky seven of eight faced by the Caps.
Holtby made 39 total saves on 42 Columbus shots in the game, which is especially outstanding considering the Caps were outshot 16-1 in the third period alone.
With eight minutes left in OT Nicklas Backstrom scored his second of the game on another tipped shot from the point bringing Washington within one win of the second round.
Look for Columbus to come out hungry wanting to send this series to a seventh game, especially after a 42 shot game. Game 6 will take place in Columbus on Monday night.
Career #StanleyCup Playoff goal #1 for Andreas Johnsson, served up beautifully by @43_Kadri. pic.twitter.com/43pSZ0JI5J
— NHL (@NHL) April 22, 2018
With the Leafs having their backs against the wall, they were going to have a tough fight at the TD Garden Saturday night. Lucky for them them Nazem Kadri was back from his three suspension after Game 1.
The Leafs started out strong with their first line with Connor Brown scoring his first career playoff goal, batting a rebound out of mid-air, giving Toronto an early 1-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for Kadri’s presence to be felt, as he threw a perfect saucer pass through two Bruin’s defenders to Andreas Johnsson in front of the crease, who made a nice move around Tuukka Rask to score his first career playoff goal.
After Nikita Zaitsev took a tripping penalty to save a goal, the Bruins drew within one on the powerplay. David Backes scored his second of the playoffs 17 seconds into the man advantage, after the puck bounced in front of the net off the glass behind Frederik Andersen.
Toronto didn’t take long to pull ahead again, with Morgan Rielly breaking out with Tyler Bozak, threading a pass through the seam where Bozak finished it off glove side for a 3-1 Leafs lead.
Matt Grzelcyk was called for tripping on Mitch Marner one minute after the Bozak goal. On the powerplay, James van Riemsdyk roofed one over the shoulder of Rask.
The fourth Leafs goal was the last for Rask as he was replaced by Anton Khudobin, after making just nine saves on 13 shots.
Khudobin held his own early stopping two big scoring chances, setting up his team to get back into the game. On a defensive break-down by the Leafs, Sean Kuraly made it a two goal game, scoring his second of the playoffs.
Boston pulled within one, five minutes into the third period with Noel Acciari scoring his first of the playoffs making it 4-3. It wasn’t enough however, as the Leafs were able to hold on just long enough to force a Game 6 back at the ACC on Monday night.
Frederik Andersen was very impressive in this one making 42 saves on 45 shots. In an elimination game Andersen stood tall against all sorts of scoring chances from a Bruins team who were desperate to move onto the second round. Andersen’s performance was especially fascinating considering the Bruins had a total of eight powerplays and were only able to score on one. The Leafs netminder will be the backbone to them pushing for a Game 7.
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The offense finally slowed down on day seven of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with goaltenders stealing the show. Connor Hellebuyck led the Jets to a 2-0 victory, the Capitals getting back into their series and the Knights became the first expansion team to win a playoff series.
Here’s how it went down:
It was a thrilling Sunday of hockey in the NHL with four games on the card.
The offence was still their for majority of teams, but we still had a few goaltending performances from Matt Murray, Devan Dubynk, and Sergei Bobrovsky.
Washington, however, may now have a decision to make between the pipes heading into the game three down 2-0.
Here’s how the games went:
The Columbus Blue Jackets are set to begin their first-round matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight and even though they’re the lower seed, there are a decent amount of experts and fans who are taking the Jackets to win this series.