Montreal, New Jersey, and Edmonton First Series Win
Oilers 7 – Kings 4 (2x en)(Series 2-1 Los Angeles) Edmonton planted Los Angeles for Arbor Day as the Oilers win at home and Evander Kane’s return produces his first assist, goal, (each time tying the game) and penalty of the playoffs as the Oilers obtain their first win.
Florida, Toronto, Minnesota & St. Louis are the Vanquishers
Maple Leafs 3 – Senators 2 (OT) (Series 3-0 Toronto) Maple Leafs goaltender Stolarz dating back to last month has won 11 straight games and Toronto dominated the faceoff dots if not the scoreboard in another close game that has the Senators facing elimination.
Both teams scored on the powerplay, had the same number of blocked shots (17), same number of SOG (20), and both netminders played well enough to win, what remains to be seen is if Ottawa can send this series back to Toronto.
Capitals 3 – Canadiens 1 (en)(Series 2-0 Washington) This was one of the best 2-1 games I have watched, both goaltenders were brilliant and gave a clinic, Washington took 18 SOG just in the second period, and the Canadiens launched 14 SOG in the third period.
Montreal scored the game’s first goal 76 seconds into the second period and held the 1-0 lead for two and a half minutes until Washington sparkled offensively for 60 seconds, just one quick minute was all it took the Capitals to score twice for the one goal lead and for the only goals scored until the empty net goal with just two seconds remaining in the game.
Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Panthers & Wild’s Success
Hurricanes 3 – Devils 1 (en)(Series 2-0 Carolina) New Jersey out shot Carolina and took a 1-0 lead into the second period, but the Hurricanes scored twice in three minutes with the second goal coming shorthanded during the second period creating a tight 2-1 game all through the third period until with less than a minute to play New Jersey gave up the empty netter.
Maple Leafs 3 – Senators 2 (OT) (Series 2-0 Toronto) Toronto took the dreaded early 2-0 lead in the first period and Ottawa scored once in the second period, once in the third period to tie the game, and in overtime Center Domi crushes a shot through traffic to score his first of the playoffs.
Panthers 6 – Lightning 2 (Series 1-0 Florida) Tampa Bay goaltender Vasilevskiy look horrible as the Panthers scored six times on only 16 SOG, three of the goals were earned on the power play, nevertheless, one of the best modern-day goaltenders had one of the poorest showings of his playoff career.
Wild 5 – Knights 2 (en) (Series tied 1-1) This was a difficult game to watch as the two Referees were horrendous, (not one penalty whistled until near halfway through the third period) and now I understand how Nevada became the least penalized team in the NHL, withstanding obvious slew foot and blatant punch to the face Minnesota pushed on and took a 3-0 lead on just 10 SOG in the first period, scored again on 3 SOG in the second period to go up 4-0 before the Knights could even score.
Capitals 3 – Canadiens 2 (OT)(Series 1-0 Capitals) Captain Ovechkin has set personal records aside and has come to make a serious run at the Cup if game one is any indicator as the #1 NHL Leader in Goals Scored has come to play, earning 2G & 1A with his second goal in overtime additionally the only player to throw seven hits in the game as the Captain single handily saved his team after the Capitals lost the dreaded two goal lead.
Jets 2 – Blues 1 (Series 2-0 Jets) Winnepeg gets past St. Louis in an entertaining, physical game with spectacular goaltending with Blues rookie RW Jimmy Snuggerud the son of former Sabres LW/C Dave Snuggerud scoring his first playoff goal.
Stars 4 – Avalanche 3 (OT) (Series tied 1-1) Journeyman Center Colin Blackwell scored in his first playoff game for Dallas during overtime to help his team achieve the split before heading to Colorado.
Kings 6 – Oilers 5 (Series 1-0 Kings) After falling behind 5-2 the Oilers scored three times in the third period, twice they pulled the goaltender resulting in two goals to tie the game at five apiece with 88 seconds remaining in the game, unfortunately for Edmonton the Kings responded quickly and scored with 42 seconds left for the win and series lead.
Here along the Lake 