The Los Angeles Kings advanced to the second round of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs with a 2-1 win over the St Louis Blues on Friday, boosting their hopes of back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.
Meanwhile in other games, Detroit beat Anaheim to stay alive and force a Game 7, while Toronto won at Boston to cut the series deficit to 3-2, and Washington downed the New York Rangers to go ahead 3-2.
LA’s Dustin Penner scored the tiebreaking goal in the final second of the second period, while Jonathan Quick made 21 saves and Drew Doughty scored his first goal of the postseason for the Kings, who came back from a 2-0 deficit in the series to win it 4-2.
Penner put the Kings ahead with his latest big playoff goal, ripping a slap shot from just inside the blue line past Brian Elliott right before time expired.
Elliott stopped 14 shots and Chris Porter scored his first career playoff goal for the Blues, who were eliminated by Los Angeles for the second straight season.
Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg scored his second goal 1 minute, 4 seconds into overtime to give the Red Wings a 4-3 win over Anaheim.
Detroit blew a two-goal lead in the last 3.5 minutes of regulation time, sending the team to a fourth OT in a series for the first time in franchise history.
Anaheim’s Emerson Etem and Bobby Ryan scored 51 seconds apart late in regulation to pull the Ducks into a 3-3 tie.
Zetterberg, who scored earlier in the third period, had a shot to win it with about a minute left. However his shot hit the right post and slid across the crease, but he made up for it with the overtime winner.
The second-seeded Ducks are to host the seventh-seeded Detroit today in the deciding game.
Toronto’s Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scored to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 win at Boston, staying alive in their series.
Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer stopped 43 shots to preserve the win for Toronto, who are to host Game 6 before a switch back to Boston if there is a Game 7.
Boston has won both games in Toronto in the series and has not lost on the Leafs’ home ice in the playoffs since 1959.
Zdeno Chara scored for Boston to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 8:48 left. The Leafs killed off a delay-of-game penalty in the last four minutes and then protected the lead when the Bruins pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 1:11 left.
Only once in their history have the Leafs come back to win a playoff series after falling behind 3-1: the 1942 Stanley Cup finals win over Detroit.
The Bruins are 15-2 in playoff series after taking a 3-1 lead, but they blew a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia in the 2010 Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Washington’s Mike Ribeiro scored in overtime to give the Capitals a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers, and the momentum in the series. Ribeiro put in the puck after Troy Brouwer deflected a shot from the blue line.
Game 6 is scheduled for today in New York.
The home team have won every game in the series, with Washington taking the first two and New York pulling even in Games 3 and 4. The Capitals have been fighting history along the way: The franchise have lost eight playoff series in which they have held a two-game lead.
Brian Boyle scored for New York in the first minute, but that was it for the Rangers, with Joel Ward tying it in the second period.
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