The New York Rangers used Carl Hagelin’s overtime goal and spectacular goaltending by Henrik Lundqvist to beat Pittsburgh 2-1 on Friday night to advance in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Hagelin skated out from behind the net and put a wrist shot on the short side behind Marc-Andre Fleury, who was equally as brilliant as Lundqvist.
The Rangers, who got all four wins in the series by the same score, are to play the winner of the Washington-New York Islanders series, which the Capitals lead 3-2.
Photo: AFP
New York also won Game 4 in Pittsburgh by the same score on Kevin Hayes’ overtime goal, on which Hagelin assisted.
Lundqvist made 37 saves in Game 5, including a nifty stop on Brandon Sutter in the extra session that was wide open, a bit sloppy, but very entertaining.
New York’s problematic power play opened the scoring. Dan Boyle’s weak shot from the point fooled Fleury, who knocked it down — directly to Derek Stepan in front of him. Stepan put home a tap-in just 3 minutes, 23 seconds in. Nick Spaling tied it in the second period.
SENATORS 5, CANADIENS 1
In Montreal, Craig Anderson made 45 saves as Ottawa avoided elimination with a victory over Montreal in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.
Montreal leads the best-of-seven series 3-2. Game 6 is scheduled for today in Ottawa.
Bobby Ryan, Patrick Wiercioch, Erik Karlsson, Erik Condra and Mike Hoffman scored for Ottawa. The Senators are trying to become the fifth team in NHL history to win a series after trailing 3-0.
Tom Gilbert had the lone goal for Montreal, and Carey Price stopped 20 shots.
Montreal’s struggling power play went zero for three to drop to one for 19 in the series. Ottawa was two for four.
WILD 4, BLUES 1
In St Louis, Missouri, Devan Dubnyk had a strong performance in goal as Minnesota beat St Louis to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference first-round series.
After allowing six goals in two periods in a 6-1 loss in Game 4, Dubnyk but made 36 saves in Game 5 and twice robbed Alexander Steen from close range in the second period.
The Wild scored four straight goals after Vladimir Tarasenko gave St Louis the early edge with his playoff-leading sixth goal, including Minnesota’s fourth power-play tally of the series.
Nino Niederreiter scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and Marco Scandella, Mikko Koivo and Charlie Coyle also scored for Minnesota. The Wild can wrap up the series at home in Game 6 today.
The Central Division champion Blues will be trying to avoid their third straight first-round elimination and bring the series back home for Game 7 on Wednesday night.
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