Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 11: Canes, Avs move on to second round with Game 5 wins

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 11: Canes, Avs move on to second round with Game 5 wins
Credit: © James Guillory

Four games featured 3-1 series leads, which means that four teams had the chance to move on the second round, and four teams had some must-win hockey to play during Tuesday’s slate of first round action.

Knies’ OT winner keeps Leafs season alive

It was do-or-die for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Boston, as with the Bruins up 3-1 in their series, the Leafs needed a win to survive in the playoffs. It wasn’t going to be easy, especially with Auston Matthews out for Game 5 with whatever ailment he’s been dealing with, but perhaps a goaltending change to Joseph Woll might be what they need.

It wasn’t going to be easy on the stress level of either team’s fans either, because this game was close and it was also very low scoring. Jake McCabe opened the scoring 5:33 into the first period with a bomb from the point, and a bad bounce on a Simon Benoit clearing attempt resulted in the puck landing right on Trent Frederic‘s stick in front of the net for the easy goal to tie it, and those two goals would be the only offense we’d get through three periods of play.

This game saw the Leafs’ first playoff overtime matchup against the Bruins since their 2013 Game 7 collapse, so already the nerves were intense when the puck dropped this time around. But it clearly didn’t phase the Leafs, because not even three minutes in, John Tavares drove the net to throw the puck at the goal, and the rebound bounced out for Matthew Knies to pot the overtime winner and keep the Leafs in this series with a 2-1 win.

While Knies had the big moment, both goalies stole the show in Game 5. Jeremy Swayman stopped 31 of 33 shots in the loss, while Woll stopped 27 of 28 in the win.

Canes hold off Isles rally with 6-3 win to move on to second round

While the Carolina Hurricanes had a 3-1 series lead, it was still very important that they won Game 5 and eliminated the New York Islanders now. Not only would they be going back to Long Island if they lost, it’s also just unnecessary momentum to give to a team that they probably should have eliminated over the weekend.

It was a high-scoring start to the game, but thankfully for the Canes, it was in their favour. Teuvo Teravainen needed only 83 seconds to open the scoring, and within the next two and a half minutes, Andrei Svechnikov had given the Canes a 2-0 lead, and Mike Reilly had cut that lead in half. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored on a penalty shot midway through the period, and Carolina was already starting to sit pretty in this game.

The Isles wouldn’t let it be that easy though. Brock Nelson scored 3:45 into the second to make it a one-goal game again, and then Casey Cizikas got the tying goal with 22 seconds left in the period. Suddenly, the game was tied, and the Isles had a chance to keep their season alive.

But that went away in very quick fashion. Jack Drury scored the first playoff goal of his career 4:36 into the third period, and just eight seconds later, Stefan Noesen scored again for the Canes, and Carolina had a two-goal lead again just like that. Seth Jarvis capped off the game with an empty net goal, and the Canes would win 6-3 and move on to the second round, eliminating the Islanders. Jarvis finished the game leading both teams in scoring, as he had two assists along with his empty net goal to get three points on the night.

The Canes advance to the second round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season and the fifth time in six seasons, and set up a 2022 Metropolitan Division Finals rematch against the New York Rangers. The Islanders get eliminated in the first round for the second straight season, and like last year, it’s at the hands of the Canes.

Rantanen scores twice as Avs eliminate Jets with 6-3 win

After a strong opening game where it looked like the Winnipeg Jets were capable of outgunning the Colorado Avalanche, the next three games have not gone their way, and suddenly they’re back in Winnipeg with their season on the line. How would they respond?

Well technically it was by not scoring any of the first three goals of the game, even though it was only 2-1 Avs after the fact. That’s because the Jets did get the first goal 75 seconds into the game courtesy of Kyle Connor, but it wasn’t directly off his stick as Josh Manson‘s clearing attempt hit Artturi Lehkonen and bounced into the net. But Valeri Nichushkin got the game tied for the Avs only a couple minutes later, and it was a 1-1 tie for the rest of the first period.

It wasn’t until just under six minutes into the second that it became 2-1 for Colorado with a Yakov Trenin goal. Josh Morrissey tied it on the power play over a minute later, but Lehkonen got some redemption on his own goal later in the period when his pass through the slot got deflected off of Neal Pionk and in to give the Avs the lead again.

Tyler Toffoli got the Jets tied back up again 2:06 into the third period, but that lasted all of 2:05 before Mikko Rantanen got his first goal of the series to regain the lead and make it 4-3 for Avs. He got his second of the game just four minutes later to make it 5-3, and Colorado sailed away with the win, topped off with an empty net goal from Manson, who also got some redemption for the own goal to open the scoring. With that, the Avs win 6-3 and move on to the second round, eliminating the Jets in five games. Rantanen had an assist to go with his two goals to give him three points in the game, while Alexandar Georgiev stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced not from his own team.

After a first round exit last season, the Avs move on to the second round for the fifth time in six seasons and will face either the Dallas Stars or the Vegas Golden Knights depending on who wins their series, which is currently tied 2-2. The Jets bow out in five games for the second straight season after losing to the Golden Knights in the same fashion last year.

Carrier one of the three d-men to score in 2-1 win for Preds

After blowing a two-goal lead late in Game 4, the Nashville Predators had their backs against the wall in Vancouver against the Canucks. The Preds needed their big names to show up if they wanted to win and keep their season alive.

Through two periods, the big names showing up were the goaltenders. While it was another low-shot game in this series with it only being 15-11 for Nashville through two periods, both Arturs Silovs and Juuse Saros were perfect through the first two frames to keep it at 0-0.

It wasn’t until 3:11 into the third period when we saw the game’s first goal, as Nikita Zadorov rushed the puck up the ice and went for the shot himself to snipe home his second of the playoffs and give the Canucks the 1-0 lead. It looked like the Preds season may have been in jeopardy, but they also looked to their blueline for an answer. Four minutes after Zadorov’s goal, Roman Josi tied the game, and then with less than eight minutes left in the game, Alexandre Carrier gave the Preds the lead.

The Canucks pushed for the tying goal, but once again, Saros held strong to keep the Preds ahead. Nashville never got the empty net goal, but they wouldn’t need it, as Vancouver just couldn’t get the tying goal and the Preds would win Game 5 by a score of 2-1. Filip Forsberg would be the lone two-point scorer with assists on both of the Predators goals, while Saros stopped 19 of 20 shots for the win.

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