Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 3: Ovechkin, Connor, Blackwell, Danault heroes in night of one-goal games

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell(scotmaxw)
Apr 22, 2025, 01:50 EDT
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens in game one of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena.
Credit: © Geoff Burke

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

Ovechkin’s OT winner staves off Habs comeback

The Washington Capitals are the clear favourite and should win this series easily, right? Clearly you don’t know puck, as the Montreal Canadiens made it known that they wouldn’t go out quietly in this series. After Alex Ovechkin scored in the first period, and Anthony Beauvillier followed in the second, the Canadiens got goals from two key players in Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki in the third to tie this game and send it to overtime.

But with all the pressure on the Capitals, their captain pulled through once again, and in no time at all. Not even three minutes into overtime, Ovechkin stealthily positioned himself in front of the net, and with no coverage, tapped home the winner. Unbelievably, this is his first overtime winner in the playoffs in his NHL career. He had an assist in addition to his two goals, while Dylan Strome also had a three point night with three secondary assists.

Connor comes up clutch again for the Jets

After playing a high-octane Game 1 didn’t seem to work for the St. Louis Blues, it looks like the game plan was to slow it down a lot more and grind out a win over the Winnipeg Jets instead. For most of the game, that worked. After Mark Scheifele and Jimmy Snuggerud traded goals in the first period for their respective teams, neither team generated any offense in the second period, and after two periods, there was just 32 shots between the two teams.

However, the Jets still found a way to pull through, and once again, it was thanks to Kyle Connor. Much like Ovechkin, Connor managed to sneak into the slot undetected, and Cole Perfetti teed him up for the eventual game-winning goal. The Jets held the Blues to just five shots from then on, and cruised to a 2-1 win to take a 2-0 series lead. Scheifele had another multi-point night, while Connor Hellebuyck was much more sound in this one stopping 21 of 22 shots in the win.

Blackwell scores in overtime to tie series

It was only Game 2, but it felt like the Dallas Stars already had their backs against the wall with the threat of going down 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche in their own building. But after a more one-sided affair in Game 1, the Stars kept the game much tighter this time around. The two teams traded goals in the first, and while the Avs had the 3-2 lead after two periods, Evgenii Dadonov scored midway through the third period to tie it and send it to overtime.

Unlike the Capitals-Canadiens overtime, this game needed a bit more time to find the winner. The hockey gods didn’t gift us with a double overtime game just yet, but it wasn’t until the final three minutes of the first extra frame that Colin Blackwell found an opening past Mackenzie Blackwood to score the winner. With that, the Stars tied the series, and gave themselves a bit of life as the series heads to Colorado.

Danault’s late winner saves Kings from blown lead

At first, it looked like it might be different this time. The Los Angeles Kings came out of the gates in Game 1, and looked like they had full control. The guys they wanted to score scored, and they exploded to a 4-0 lead by the late stages of the second period of the game. Even as the Edmonton Oilers got two back late in the second and early in the third, Kevin Fiala put the game out of reach again with the 5-2 goal with 15 minutes left in the game.

Or so we thought. Corey Perry scored a couple minutes later to make it 5-3, and with the goalie pulled, Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid scored two goals in 36 seconds to tie the game at 5-5. Suddenly a four-goal lead for the Kings was gone. But only 46 seconds after McDavid’s tying goal, a rush for the Kings resulted in Phillip Danault beating Stuart Skinner for a second time to give Los Angeles the lead again with just 42 seconds left. The Kings managed to survive this lead, and despite a combined nine points from McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, the Kings got two goals from Danault and three points from Adrian Kempe and Andrei Kuzmenko to take Game 1.

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