News – NHL – The « Morning Skate » of Friday, May 13

NHL

The statistics of the night

• St. Louis became the second team to advance to the second round of 2022 and will face the only other team that has qualified so far, Colorado.
• Brayden Point once again demonstrated their playoff specialty by scoring the game-winning goal with 1:56 remaining in overtime to keep the Lightning chasing a hat-trick.
• Evander Kane scored twice to help the Oilers avoid elimination – his first-round goal tally is now trailed only by Jari Kurri and Mark Messier for the most goals in a series in franchise history. franchise.

There will be three games 7

The Bruins, Lightning and Oilers all won Game 6 to force a seventh on Saturday. Victories for the Rangers, Capitals and Stars on Friday could add three more knockout games on Sunday. If all goes as planned, six Game 7s would be the most single-round games in Stanley Cup Playoff history (6 in 1992).

• Saturday will be the first time since April 30, 2014 that three Game 7s will be played on the same day. The most Game 7s in a single day is four, seen on May 1, 1992 – all four winning games that day started at the same time, 7:30 p.m. ET.

The Blues, second qualified

Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko have each scored their fifth goal of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Jordan Binnington repelled 25 of the 26 shots he faced. The Blues earned their first series victory since winning the Stanley Cup in 2019 and became the second team to advance to the second round. The only two clubs that advanced also got a second-round game, with St. Louis and Colorado meeting for the second time in as many years.

• Binnington picked up his fifth series victory (2019 R1, R2, CF, SCF), which puts him tied with Greg Millen (1989 DSF, 1988 DSF, 1986 DF and 1986 DSF) and Glenn Hall (1970 SF, 1970 QF, 1968 SF and 1968 QF) for the most wins by a Blues goaltender in franchise history .
• O’Reilly (5-3-8 in 6 GP) and Tarasenko (5-1-6 in 6 GP) joined David Perron (5-4-9 in 6 GP) as the second and third Blues players to score five goals in the first round, establishing the first time in franchise history that three skaters have reached the mark in a series. Two Blues players have made it in a series only once before (1988 DSF: Brett Hull & Tony Hrkac). In fact, the trio marked only the 11th time in NHL history where three teammates scored five or more goals in a series.
• The Blues will face the Avalanche in the second round. St. Louis and Colorado have met twice in the postseason and the Avalanche have won both of those series, the most recent being the one that swept the Blues in the first round in 2021. Nathan MacKinnon led this series in goals and points with 6-3-9 (4 GP).
• St. Louis will look to beat an opponent in a Stanley Cup playoff series after being eliminated by that same club the previous postseason for the fifth time in franchise history. The Blues achieved the feat twice against the Minnesota North Stars (1986 DSF and 1972 QF) and once against the Blackhawks (1993 DSF) and Sharks (2001 CQF).

Victory goal for Point

John Tavares scored twice in the space of 26 seconds to give Toronto a 3-2 lead in the second intermission, but Brayden Point assisted on the equalizing goal of Nikita Kucherov and then scored the game-winning goal 1:56 from the end of extra time. Tampa Bay evened its first-round streak at 3-3.

• Point scored the third overtime goal of his NHL career – the first was scored in Game 1 of Round 1 of 2020, to mark the fourth-longest game in league history, and the second, just over a week later, to wrap up the same series in Game 5. He tied the franchise record for most postseason overtime goals with the Lightning, a mark set by Martin St.Louis.
• Point scored the seventh game-winning goal of his playoff career, ranking first in franchise history behind Ondrej Palat (9), Tyler Johnson (9) and St. Louis (8). Point has scored his seven game-winning goals since the start of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is the most game-winning goals in the NHL over that span.
• Point became the second current Lightning player to score at least three playoff overtime goals – he joined Corey Perry, who scored five overtime goals in the postseason. Perry is set to play Game 7 against the Maple Leafs for the second time in as many years, after scoring the game-winning goal in the 2021 Round 1 Final to help the Canadiens recover from a 3- 1 in the series.
• Tampa Bay is 6-3 in the knockout series, including 2-2 as a road team, while Toronto is 12-13 in the knockout series, including 7-2 home. The defending champions hold an 18-17 record in Day 7 games, including the Lightning’s 1-0 win in the 2021 Stanley Cup semifinals over the Islanders.
• The Lightning will try to pursue their dream of a three-peat on Saturday by playing a game in which they can be eliminated for the third time since 2020. Of the five Stanley Cup series over three consecutive years, only one team has won multiple games so that it faced elimination (at any point in the series): the Maple Leafs were eliminated four times during their three-game championship streak from 1962-64, all in the final year .

Kane scores twice

After the Kings scored 29 seconds into the third period to erase a 2-0 deficit, Tyson Barrie (1-0-1) scored the winning goal with just over five minutes left in regulation beforeEvander Kane (2-1-3) notches his second goal of the game and his seventh of the series, forcing the Oilers to a knockout game on Saturday in Edmonton.

• Kane (7-2-9 in 6 GP) tied Kirill Kaprizov and Jake Guentzel for the most goals among any skater in the first round of 2022. Only two active players have more in a single playoff series: Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkinwho scored eight apiece when the Penguins and Capitals met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2009.
• Barrie became the first Oilers defenseman to score a knockout goal in nearly 25 years. Drake Berehowsky and Janne Niinimaa are the only other defensemen to do the same for Edmonton after scoring the game-clinching goals in Games 6 and 7 of the 1998 Conference Quarterfinals against the Avalanche.
• Connor McDavid (1-2-3) took his 2022 Stanley Cup goal tally to 3-9-12 (6 GP) and passed Brad Merchant (4-7-11 in 6 GP) for the title of top scorer in the NHL this season. Ovechkin (8-6-14 in 2009 CSF), Crosby (5-9-14 in 2010 CQF) and Claude Giroux (6-8-14 in 2012 CQF) tied for the lead in single-round points among active skaters – a mark McDavid will look to match or surpass on Saturday.

Quite a winner at home

The trend of home teams winning the first-round series between the Bruins and Hurricanes continued in TD Garden Thursday after Brad Merchant (1-1-2) scored Boston’s first of five goals and that Jeremy Swaymanin his first career game facing elimination, made 23 saves to help the Bruins force a decisive Game 7 at Raleigh on Saturday.

• Merchant, who tied Patrice Bergeron (49) for the second most playoff goals in franchise history, recorded his 10th career goal in an elimination game, breaking his tie with Peter McNab (9) for the most in franchise history. The Bruins veteran is second only to Alex Ovechkin (13) for the most goals by an active player in these situations.
• Swayman became the fifth Bruins rookie goaltender to earn a knockout victory and the first to do so since Mike Moffat in Game 6 of the 1982 Divisional Finals. The others: Don Simmons (1957 SCF game 4), Frank Brimsek (game 7 of SF 1939) and Hal Winkler (Game 2 of SF 1927).