Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 7: Avalanche score five in third period to knock off Jets

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 7: Avalanche score five in third period to knock off Jets
Credit: © Steve Roberts

With several Game 3’s underway, we got to witness our fair share of intriguing matchups on Friday. Two winning teams did so while one of their players made a questionable hit, while two more saw their stars take over and pull away with the victory. Let’s dive into what happened.

Shesterkin makes 28 saves as Rangers take 3-0 series lead with 3-1 win

Another team going home down 2-0 in a series, another team losing yet again to fall down 3-0 in their series. While the Washington Capitals were probably the least surprising team in the first round to be looking at an 0-3 hole, especially considering their opponent in the New York Rangers, they joined the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders in the unfortunate situation that only four teams have ever come back from.

Things started off well for Washington, as 5:34 into the game John Carlson opened the scoring to give the Caps the 1-0 lead in the game. They’d been giving the Rangers trouble early in games all series, so maybe this would be the game that they carried that to the finish line.

Not even close. Chris Kreider only needed 38 seconds to tie the game, and then exactly two minutes later, when the Capitals had an opportunity to get the lead back with a power play, Barclay Goodrow gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with a shorthanded marker. Vincent Trocheck scored a power play goal late in the second period to take a 3-1 lead, and those would be all the goals we’d see. Washington couldn’t come back in the third period despite outshooting New York 14-5, out-attempting them 24-12 and having a 1.44-0.64 edge in expected goals, and the Rangers would take a 3-0 series lead with the 3-1 win.

The game wouldn’t be without controversy though. Shortly after Goodrow’s 2-1 goal, the gigantic sensation Matt Rempe made a bit hit on Trevor van Riemsdyk, forcing the Caps defenseman to leave the game with an injury, and giving Rempe a two-minute penalty for interference. But the fact that some believe that it should have gotten a harsher punishment is why there has been plenty of conversation around this moment in the game.

Igor Shesterkin proved to be a big factor in this win with saves on 28 of the 29 shots on net. Trocheck finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Mika Zibanejad had two assists in the game.

Canucks win 2-1 despite only taking 12 shots on net

At this point, I’m convinced that the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators came to an agreement of taking as few shots as possible in this series. After the two teams combined for just 45 shots in Game 1, they doubled down in Game 2 and only took 34. While the Preds broke their truce in Game 3 by nearly taking as many shots as both teams did in Game 2, the Canucks just kept leaning more into the bit.

We barely got into the action before we got some more controversy on the night, as Dakota Joshua laid a questionable hit on Spencer Stastney. While Joshua was originally given a five-minute major, the penalty was downgraded to a two-minute minor. Unfortunately for Stastney, that would be the end of his game, as he left with an upper-body injury from the hit.

After the Preds got on the board with their first shot of the game in Game 2, the Canucks decided they were going to do the same thing. However, it took 13:23 of playing time and a power play for them to get it, with J.T. Miller‘s marker giving Vancouver the 1-0 lead. That trend continued into the second period, as 4:33 into that frame, Brock Boeser gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead with another power play goal, this time on just their fifth shot of the game.

Now, there have been teams that have parked the bus very aggressively. In fact, we’ve seen it already in these very playoffs when the New York Islanders blew a 3-0 lead to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2. But, the Canucks really sat back to close out this one. Vancouver only fired seven more shots at Juuse Saros after that early second period goal, while the Predators took 25 over the final two periods, and while they did get a late goal from Luke Evangelista to make it a one-goal game, Nashville never got the game tied. The Canucks win the game 2-1 despite having the second-lowest shot total by a winning team in a playoff game, and it gives them a 2-1 lead in the series.

Miller had a goal and an assist in the game, while Quinn Hughes was the other player in the game to get two points with assists on both of the Canucks goals. Casey DeSmith had an excellent bounce-back from a disappointing Game 2 with 29 saves on the night.

Avs score five straight in the third period to win

The Colorado Avalanche changed the tide of their series against the Winnipeg Jets with a huge win in Game 2, and now with the series in Colorado, everything seemed in their favour. But there was only so long that the Avalanche could score with ease on Connor Hellebuyck, right?

That momentum from Game 2 did continue for the Avalanche on Friday, largely in part to a big goal from Zach Parise midway through the first period to give them the lead. That would hold only until the second period when Tyler Toffoli and Josh Morrissey scored back-to-back goals for the Jets five minutes after each other, and suddenly Winnipeg was looking pretty good going into the third with the lead, especially considering how well that’s favoured them this season.

But, Colorado seemed to flip a switch in the third period, because it was an absolute barrage. Not only did they outshoot Winnipeg 12-5, they put up five straight goals, including four past Hellebuyck. Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin started it in the first five minutes with two power play goals to tie the game and then take the lead, Artturi Lehkonen helped give them some breathing room with 12 minutes left in the game, and then in the final eight minutes, Ross Colton scored the insurance goal and Devon Toews got an empty netter to give the Avs the 6-2 win and a 2-1 series lead.

Casey Mittelstadt was the most productive player in the game, as he registered assists on three of Colorado’s goals in the win, while Alexandar Georgiev was solid again with 22 saves on 24 shots in net.

Hyman, Draisaitl score twice as Oilers blow out Kings again

Even after the 5-4 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2, there wasn’t a massive amount of concern surrounding the Edmonton Oilers and whether or not their chances had shifted in this series. The Oilers had faced more of a challenge from the Kings in both 2022 and 2023 and still found a way to win those series’, and it felt even more lopsided this year, especially after how Game 1 went. That lack of concern proved to be correct, because the Oilers not only put up a similar performance to Game 1, it might have been even better.

The Oilers came flying out of the gate in the first period with Zach Hyman scoring within the first seven minutes of the game. That wasn’t all though, as Leon Draisaitl followed up with a goal later in the frame, and then Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the postseason on the power play with 1:26 left. Already, the game seemed in their hands.

Enter Drew Doughty in the second period. After not scoring a playoff goal in almost 10 years before his goal in Game 2, the Kings defenseman got his second in as many games to make it 3-1 in the second. That was as close as the Kings would get to getting back in the game though, as Evander Kane scored just two minutes later to give the Oilers their three-goal lead back, and then Hyman and Draisaitl both scored their second of the game in the third period to make it 6-1. That held as the final score, and just like that, the Oilers were up 2-1 in the series.

Three Oilers walked away with three points, as Draisaitl’s two goals and one assist, McDavid’s one goal and two assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkin‘s three assists led the way, largely through their red hot power play. Meanwhile, after plenty of doubt in Stuart Skinner‘s game in the post season, he posts a quality game by stopping 27 of the 28 shots that he faced.

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