Pittsburgh Penguins at Columbus Blue Jackets – PIT wins 4-3, PIT wins series 4-2
At the end of a shift of good pressure, a nice centering pass from Chris Kunitz found the stick of Evgeni Malkin. The puck quickly found the back of the net and it was 1-0 Pittsburgh with a little over 10 minutes left in the first period. The man they call Geno would make it 2-0 for Pittsburgh less than five minutes later with his second of the night on the power play. A pass from Sidney Crosby found Malkin alone in the slot, which he promptly snapped over Sergei Bobrovsky’s blocker. The Penguins would carry the play for most of the first, outshooting Columbus 16-7.
Brandon Sutter would make it 3-0 Pittsburgh very early in the second period. Sutter picked up a looaw puck in the neutral zone after a penalty kill and went in all alone on Bobrovsky. Sutter pulled the puck to his backhand and went over the blocker again for the three-goal lead. The nail in the coffin would be Malkin’s hat trick goal. On a 2-on-1 with James Neal, Malkin kept the puck, dragged it to the middle of the ice, and snapped it past the blocker of Bobrovsky to make it 4-0.
Fedor Tyutin would cut into the lead and make it 4-1 with less than 10 minutes left in the third with a short-handed goal. The 4-0 Pittsburgh lead would eventually be cut in half, as a power play goal by Artem Anisimov would make it 4-2. Anisimov would take a wrist shot from the top of the circle to the right of Marc-Andre Fleury and beat him under the arm.
Making things really interesting, Columbus would make it a one-goal game with their third goal in less than five minutes. Nick Foligno would redirect a slap-pass from Tyutin to make it 4-3. That was as close as Columbus would come, though, and Pittsburgh would hang on to move on.
Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild – MIN wins 5-2, Series tied 3-3
The Wild didn’t take long to make it 1-0 with a power play goal. Less than a minute into the game, a rebound off of Semyon Varlamov came out to a pinching Ryan Suter and he put it off an Avalanche defender and past Varlamov. Mikael Granlund would extend that lead for the Wild to 2-0 just under 10 minutes into the game. Granlund started off a rush for the Wild and finished it with a snap shot through the five-hole of Varlamov to double the lead. Paul Stastny would cut the lead in half with less than five minutes to go in the first period. Ryan O’Reilly would send Stastny, just out of the penalty box, on a breakaway. Stastny would hold the puck and snap it blocker side to beat Darcy Kuemper.
Nick Holden would tie the game for Colorado on the power play 4:47 into the second period on back-door play. Holden pinched from the blue line and the puck went down low to O’Reilly, who sent it across to Holden for the equalizer.
Zach Parise gave the Wild the lead with a nice tip from in front of the net with 6:29 left in the third period. Mikko Koivu had rotated to the point and took a shot on net where Parise deflected it perfectly past Varlamov to give his team a 3-2 lead. The Avalanche would pressure a bit with the goalie pulled early but Jason Pominville was able to get a clean shot from centre on the open net. He wouldn’t miss – neither would Marco Scandella from his own end not too long after – and the Wild would get a Game 7.
San Jose Sharks at Los Angeles Kings – LAK wins 4-1, Series tied 3-3
Los Angeles was able to open the scoring in this one, with Justin Williams providing the Kings with a much-needed spark early in an elimination game. Drew Doughty made a nice rush down the left-hand side and fed it across the crease, right on the tape of a driving Williams to give the Kings at 1-0 lead 5:39 into the first.
San Jose would tie the game at the 12:26 mark of the second period off a deflection from a point shot. Justin Braun was able to get his shot through to the net, and it was deflected by James Sheppard and past Jonathan Quick.
On a controversial goal, a shot by Robyn Regehr seemed to be underneath San Jose goalie Alex Stalock yet was never blown down. Justin Williams jammed his stick at Stalock’s pads and the puck went in. The referee never blew the play dead and he clearly indicated a good goal. The play stood, and it was 2-1 for Los Angeles with just under eight minutes remaining in the third. Anze Kopitar would make it 3-1, gathering a rebound off of Stalock’s pads for a goal about a minute and a half later. The nail would be a 4-1 goal from Kopitar again 65 seconds after his last goal and ensure a Game 7.
