Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Oilers try to win Game 7 at home against Kings

On Tap

Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes (4:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, SNE, SNW, SNP, TVAS, BSSO, NESN)

It’s Game 7 in a series where the home team has won each game. That could bode well for the Hurricanes, who have home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference First Round as the top seed from the Atlantic Division. They will look to eliminate the Bruins, who have erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 in this best-of-7 series but have not yet won on the road. The Bruins will try for the 16th Game 7 win in their history and the Hurricanes look to win their sixth straight Game 7. Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, who has six points (three goals, three assists) in six games, is expected to play in his 13th Game 7, which would be an NHL record for a forward. Defenseman Zdeno Chara and goalie Patrick Roy have also played in 13 Game 7s. It could be Bergeron’s final game if the Bruins lose. He can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and is uncertain about his future.

Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSUN)

The second of three Game 7s on the NHL schedule Saturday. The Lightning avoided elimination with an overtime win in Game 6 and look to win their ninth straight playoff series since 2020. The Maple Leafs try to advance past the first round for the first time since 2004; they have lost a Game 7 in three of the past five seasons. Toronto looks to become the 18th team to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champion in Game 7. Since 2009, seven defending champions have been eliminated in Game 7. Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh has been part of seven Game 7 wins. The NHL record, shared by five players, is eight.

Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSC)

The Oilers avoided elimination with a 4-2 road win in Game 6. They’re home for Game 7 where they’ve lost two of three games in the series (4-3 in Game 1 and 5-4 in Game 5). Edmonton is trying to avoid a third straight early elimination after a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the best-of-5 qualifying series in 2020 and being swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round last season. The Oilers have been to the second round once since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2006, when they lost to the Hurricanes in seven games. Edmonton captain Connor McDavid has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in the series, including three points in each of the past two games. The Kings, who are in the playoffs for the first time in four seasons, are looking to reach the second round for the first time since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014. 

About Last Night

New York Rangers 5, Pittsburgh Penguins 3

Chris Kreider broke a tie with 1:28 remaining in the third period, and the Rangers rallied to avoid elimination in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena. Kreider’s second goal of the game made it 4-3. His shot from the left point hit Louis Domingue before bouncing over the Penguins goalie and into the net. Mika Zibanejad had two goals and two assists, Andrew Copp scored into an empty net and Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves for the Rangers, the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division. Domingue made 33 saves for the Penguins, the No. 3 seed in the Metropolitan, who received goals from Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust. Pittsburgh played without center Sidney Crosby, who sustained an upper-body injury in Game 5. The Rangers, who avoided elimination twice after trailing the best-of-7 series 3-1, host Game 7 on Sunday. 

Florida Panthers 4, Washington Capitals 3, OT

Carter Verhaeghe scored at 2:46 of overtime and the Panthers eliminated the Capitals in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Capital One Arena. It’s the Panthers first Stanley Cup Playoff series win since 1996. Verhaeghe had 12 points (six goals, six assists) in the series. He scored the overtime winner in Game 4 and had five goals in the final three games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves for the Panthers. Nic Dowd, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie scored for the Capitals. Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves. Florida will face the winner of the Lightning-Maple Leafs series in the Eastern Conference Second Round. 

Dallas Stars 4, Calgary Flames 2

The Stars avoided elimination and tied the Western Conference First Round against the Flames with a win in Game 6 at American Airlines Center. Jake Oettinger made 34 saves for the Stars, who are the first wild card from the West. Roope Hintz, Michael Raffl, Tyler Seguin and Miro Heiskanen each scored for Dallas. Michael Stone had a goal and an assist for the Flames, the No. 1 seed in the Pacific Division. Jacob Markstrom made 36 saves for Calgary, which will host Game 7 on Sunday.

What We Learned

Rangers shoot and good things happen

The Rangers did not feel they were testing Penguins goalie Louis Domingue enough earlier in the series, particularly after Game 4, when he faced 24 shots in a 7-2 win. That was the night Rangers coach Gerard Gallant called his team “soft.” They’ve been much harder to play agsainst since despite falling behind 2-0 in both Games 5 and 6. The Rangers had 34 shots on goal in Game 5, a 5-3 win. They peppered Domingue with 38 shots in Game 6, scored three goals on shots from more than 40 feet away, including Chris Kreider’s 65-foot game-winner with 1:28 remaining in the third period, and again won 5-3. “Yeah, put pucks to the net and good things happen sometimes,” Gallant said. More importantly, the Rangers had a net-front presence on a lot of their shots, something that was also lacking earlier in the series. Frank Vatrano screened Domingue on Mika Zibanejad’s second goal that made it 2-2 at 6:21 of the second period. Zibanejad was coming across Domingue’s line of sight on Kreider’s goal that won it. — Dan Rosen, senior writer

Penguins special teams hurting them

The Penguins had a 5-on-3 power play for 67 seconds with Game 6 tied 2-2 midway through the second period. They did not even attempt a shot on goal. The Rangers cleared the puck out of the zone four times and the moment the 5-on-3 ended Mika Zibanejad popped out of the penalty box and had a shorthanded breakaway that he shot off the crossbar. Meanwhile, the Rangers needed five seconds to score on their first power play, which was gifted to them when Pittsburgh forward Evan Rodrigues picked up a roughing minor for retaliating after he was hit by defenseman Ryan Lindgren. The Rangers also scored 51 seconds into a four-minute man-advantage for a high stick by defenseman Mike Matheson. New York was 2-for-3 on the power play. Pittsburgh was 0-for-3. — Dan Rosen, Senior Writer

Panthers are comeback kids

Comebacks aren’t only a regular-season thing for the Florida Panthers. After leading the NHL with 29 come-from-behind wins during the regular season, the Panthers closed out their first Stanley Cup Playoff series win since 1996 by rallying for their third straight comeback win against the Washington Capitals in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round. Carter Verhaeghe was the hero again, scoring 2:46 into overtime to give Florida a 4-3 victory. It was Verhaeghe’s second overtime goal of the series (also in a 3-2 win in Game 4) and his third straight game-winning goal, capping a remarkable series in which he set a Panthers record with six goals and led Florida with 12 points. — Tom Gulitti, Staff Writer 

Capitals face many questions after elimination 

It’s going to be another long summer for the Capitals after they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018. Washington will have a lot of time to think about how it let leads slip away in the final three games of the series and wonder if it will get another chance like this with their core not getting any younger. “This year, I think we were extremely close to being 100 percent everyone on board, and we let three games get away from us,” said forward T.J. Oshie, whose 6-on-4 goal with 1:03 remaining in regulation forced overtime. “In playoffs, the margin of error is so small. One bad bounce or one misread can change the whole momentum of a game.” — Tom Gulitti, Staff Writer

Raffl run helping stars

Forward Michael Raffl doesn’t have an answer as to why he’s playing so well against the Flames, but he’s been a major asset for the Stars. The left wing looked good on the top line with center Roope Hintz and right wing Joe Pavelski in Game 5 and started there again in Game 6. He was moved to the second line midway through the first period, when Jason Robertson was reunited with Hintz and Pavelski and continued to make an impact, scoring his second goal of the series to give the Stars a 2-0 lead 6:04 into the second. He scored seven goals in 76 regular-season games this season. Raffl also killed some time off the clock by trapping the puck in his skates with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. — Tracey Myers, staff writer

Pressure is back on the Flames

Yes, the Calgary Flames will have an edge because they’ll be back at home for Game 7. But they’re also carrying the onus of not having won a playoff series since defeating the Vancouver Canucks in six games in the Western Conference First Round in 2015. The Flames won the Pacific Division and had big expectations entering the playoffs. They tried to come back from a one-goal deficit in the third period of Game 6, much like they did in Game 5, but it didn’t happen. Now they’ll need to bring their best game of the series for Game 7. — Tracey Myers, staff writer