NHL scores: Maple Leafs high Lightning to finish drought, Rangers drive Sport 7, Oilers intention to complete off Kings

Saturday’s Stanley Cup Playoffs motion includes a distinct theme: It’s win or go house time for the house groups. The Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings all opened the night time hoping to stave off elimination on their house ice.

The Toronto Maple Leafs prevailed in a 2-1 time beyond regulation victory over the Lightning, giving them a 4-2 playoff sequence win, their first since 2004. John Tavares scored the game-winner for Toronto at 4:36 of time beyond regulation. With the playoff jitters seemingly behind them, Toronto will face both the Boston Bruins or the Florida Panthers within the second spherical.

After dropping their final three video games, the Rangers collected a powerful 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils at Madison Sq. Backyard to drive a Sport 7 within the sequence. 5 totally different Rangers gamers scored within the win, and Chris Kreider led the way in which with a objective and two assists. The Rangers and Devils will now play for a second-round playoff berth in a winner-take-all Sport 7 on Monday.

This time a 12 months in the past, the Edmonton Oilers trailed Los Angeles 3-2 of their first-round playoff sequence earlier than rattling off two consecutive victories to achieve the second spherical. The Kings are hoping to reverse that fortune in opposition to an Edmonton workforce coming off two straight wins, together with an time beyond regulation victory in Sport 4, which happened in Los Angeles and noticed the Kings squander a three-goal lead.

For the total playoff schedule and last rating updates on each Stanley Cup Playoff sequence, click on right here. For now, comply with alongside tonight as the primary spherical inches nearer to an finish.

Maple Leafs high Lightning in OT, win first playoff sequence since 2004

The Maple Leafs earned their first playoff sequence win since 2004 in fashion on Saturday, defeating the Lightning 2-1 in time beyond regulation because of a game-winning objective from John Tavares. Toronto will now face both the Boston Bruins or Florida Panthers within the second spherical.

Toronto’s Auston Matthews opened the sport’s scoring with a objective at 13:47 of the second interval, and the Leafs would maintain that one-goal lead by the rest of the body. However Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos responded with a game-tying objective at 4:11 of the third interval, which led to a short however thrilling time beyond regulation.

The time beyond regulation game-winner from Tavares got here lower than 5 minutes into the interval and was a magnificence, because the Leafs captain skated across the internet earlier than shortly turning and firing a wrist shot previous Lighting goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Whereas Tavares stole the present late, Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov was distinctive all through the sport. The netminder made 31 saves for a save proportion of 96.9%, stopping the Lightning offense useless in its tracks at their very own enviornment.

Rangers bounce again vs. Devils to drive Sport 7 in New Jersey

After successful the primary two video games of their first-round playoff sequence in opposition to the Devils, the Rangers fell utterly flat, dropping three straight whereas being outscored 9-2 over that stretch. However with their season on the road in Sport 6 at Madison Sq. Backyard, the Rangers put collectively a dominant displaying to get just one win away from the second spherical.

The Devils struck first with Curtis Lazar scoring on a wrist shot at 11:49 of the opening interval, nevertheless it was all Rangers from then. New York scored 5 unanswered targets, the primary coming from Chris Kreider with lower than 30 seconds remaining within the first interval. Kreider was very good all night time, scoring a objective and helping on two others for the Rangers.

Vladimir Tarasenko was additionally pivotal within the Rangers’ win, as he recorded a objective and an help over his quarter-hour on the ice. Barclay Goodrow, Braden Schneider and Mika Zibanejad accounted for New York’s remaining targets.

The Rangers and Devils will meet once more Monday in a winner-take-all Sport 7 on the Prudential Heart.