Predators End Blues Season In NHL Playoffs

By ESPN

Ryan Johansen celebrated his game-winning goal with a windmill fist pump, and the Nashville Predators finished off the rest of a thrilling third period with the standing-room only crowd on their feet anticipating history.

Yes, the team that plays in a place called "Smashville" is going someplace the Predators have never been before: The Western Conference final.

Johansen scored 3:15 into the third, and the Predators advanced to the conference finals in their fourth try by beating the St. Louis Blues 3-1 to take the series in six games.

"It's a big step for the franchise," Predators defenseman Roman Josi said. "This is such a great city, such a great hockey city, I think people finally recognize that. Our fans are unbelievable."

The Predators won their ninth straight playoff game in Nashville going back to last postseason.

"It's obviously a tough building," Blues goalie Jake Allen said. "So whoever they play next is going to have their hands full."

"Right now, it means everything," Rinne said. "We haven't gotten further than this before. Obviously, it's a great feeling. There's a lot of work left. After this second round, there are only four teams left. We all know that we have what it takes and everything is in our hands. It's a good feeling. This is why you play this game. Right now, I'm pretty happy."

Nashville will play either Anaheim or Edmonton.

Paul Stastny scored for St. Louis, which fell short of a second straight conference final.

The Predators and Blues were tied through the first 40 minutes for a third straight game and fourth overall in this series when Johansen skated up the slot for a pass from Viktor Arvidsson and beat Allen with a backhand.

Allen kept the Blues close as he had all series, stopping Filip Forsberg on a breakaway with 13:31 left. But Jarnkrok scored with a minute to go to clinch it, amping up Nashville's celebration.

"We're halfway there," Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis said. "We've still got a ton of work to do. Enjoy it tonight and get ready for the next series."

This was a painful loss for St. Louis. Allen ranked just behind Rinne among stingy goalies this postseason, and the Blues had been the NHL's best team after coach Mike Yeo replaced Ken Hitchcock on Feb. 1. They had been 12-1-1 on the road, including three wins in Minnesota in taking the first round.

"There were times where we felt like it was winnable, we could've come out on the other side," Yeo said of this series. "They definitely deserve to be moving on. But we feel it stinks. I hate to say it. But we'll learn from this and we'll find a way to get better."

The Predators got forward Craig Smith back for the first time in this series after he was hurt in Game 3 against Chicago in the first round. And the Blues got back left wing Alexander Steen, who missed Friday night's 2-1 win with an injury revealed after the loss to be a broken foot aggravated by blocking a shot in Game 4.

Nashville had Grammy winners Lady Antebellum sing the national anthem, and forward Kevin Fiala, who broke his left leg in Game 1, wave the towel to rev up the fans who were ready for the puck to drop.

The Predators weren't.

St. Louis took the first seven shots and went up 1-0 on Stastny's goal, a wrister just 2:04 into the game off assists from Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz.

Tarasenko's shot from the right circle hit off Rinne, then Stastny who knocked the puck in for the goal. The Blues even took the first two penalties of the game, and Nashville couldn't take advantage of the man advantage with sloppy puck-handling and too many turnovers.

It was the first even-strength goal the Predators had allowed in the first period this postseason. It also was only the third goal St. Louis scored in three games in Nashville, and the Blues wouldn't beat Rinne again.

"He's been unbelievable," Arvidsson said of Rinne.

The Predators needed only 35 seconds into the second to tie it up. Mattias Ekholm found Josi all alone in the right circle for a quick shot past Allen's glove. That gave Nashville defensemen nine goals this postseason, a franchise record.

Johansen, Arvidsson and Forsberg came into this game having combined for only three points in this series after getting 15 in sweeping Chicago.

Johansen had an assist on Josi's goal, then scored his first goal of the series and second this postseason with Arvidsson getting his first point against St. Louis on the primary assist.

Oilers 7, Ducks 1

The Edmonton Oilers bounced back from a tough loss in the last game with a resounding win, and put the pressure on the Anaheim Ducks.

Leon Draisaitl had three goals and two assists, Mark Letestu added two goals and two assists, and the Oilers cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night, forcing a decisive Game 7 in their Western Conference semifinal series.

"Obviously the season was on the line and we all had to step it up a notch and the whole group did," Draisaitl said.

Game 7 is Wednesday night at Anaheim, with the winner advancing to face the Nashville Predators in the conference finals.

"The big test is coming up," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "We're going to have to park this one quickly and get ready for a big battle down there."

The Ducks will head back to southern California looking to end a trend of having lost a Game 7 at home in four straight years. Anaheim was eliminated in the first round in 2013 (Detroit) and 2016 (Nashville), the second round in 2014 (Los Angeles), and the conference finals in 2015 (Chicago) in Game 7s at the Honda Center. The Ducks led each of those series 3-2 before back-to-back losses ended their seasons.

"Half of the guys in here haven't been here for that stuff," Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "We're going back with the preparation to be ready for a big game. It doesn't really matter what the situation is. It is still win or go home."

The Oilers won twice in Anaheim to open this series and narrowly lost Game 5 there in double overtime.

Zack Kassian and Anton Slepyshev also scored and Cam Talbot stopped 34 shots for the Oilers, who led 5-0 after the first period.

Rickard Rakell scored midway through the second period for Anaheim. John Gibson was pulled after giving up three goals on six shots less than 8½ minutes into the game. Jonathan Bernier came on and finished with 25 saves.

Saturday's Games

Senators 5, Rangers 4

Kyle Turris capped Ottawa's comeback from two deficits and pulled the Senators one win from returning to the Eastern Conference final for the first time in 10 years.

Turris scored 6:28 into overtime to lift the Senators to 5-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday for a 3-2 series lead in their second-round series.

Derick Brassard tied the score with 1:26 left in the third period for Ottawa, which trailed 2-0 just 5 1/2 minutes into the game and 4-3 with 7:12 remaining.

"We've talked about not sabotaging ourselves and we were on our way to do that again," Senators coach Guy Boucher said of the early deficit.

Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Tom Pyatt also scored and Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots to help Ottawa get its fifth overtime win of the postseason, including a double-overtime victory here against the Rangers in Game 2. Erik Karlsson had three assists.

Jesper Fast, Nick Holden, Ryan McDonagh and Jimmy Vesey scored for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 32 saves.

Michael Grabner appeared to win it for the Rangers less than 5 minutes into overtime, but it was disallowed because his redirection came on a high-stick.

Turris then knocked in the rebound of his own shot through Lundqvist's five-hole to put the Senators one win away from returning to the conference finals for the first time since 2007.

Game 6 is Tuesday night in New York.

Capitals 4, Penguins 4

It was quiet in the Washington Capitals' locker room during the second intermission as they stared down the prospect of the end of their season and last best chance at a Stanley Cup potentially being 20 minutes away.

A few minutes into the third period, the players made their home rink very, very loud.

Nicklas Backstrom changed the course of the game with the tying goal and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin scored 27 seconds apart as the Capitals came back to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 in Game 5 Saturday night to avoid elimination. As Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins a boost with a return from his latest concussion, Braden Holtby had his strongest performance of the season, stopping 20 shots to help force a Game 6 back in Pittsburgh on Monday night.

"After second: "No panic, nobody talk a lot because everybody concentrate and that's what we need," Ovechkin said. "You see how we respond."

On the brink of elimination and trailing a Pittsburgh team that went 37-1-1 in the regular season and 6-0 in the playoffs when up after two periods, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals finally responded like the Cup contenders everyone thought they should be. With the slogan "Own the big moments" a reminder of how they didn't do so a year ago in their second-round loss to the Penguins, Washington's best players came to play when the moment was its biggest.

"That's just what we need in these tight games," said Andre Burakovsky, who scored the tying goal in the first period and had another good game after replacing Ovechkin as the top-line left winger. "We need our best players to step up and do the hard work and be the difference makers. I think that's what they were tonight."

In the process, the Capitals finally solved Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who allowed four goals on 32 shots after putting up a .937 save percentage in the first four games of the series. The three third-period goals came on five shots over a span of 5:02, including Kuznetsov's goal from a super-sharp angle.

"They finish first in the league, there's a reason for it," Fleury said. "The last (win is) always the hardest to get. Disappointing but move on."

Capitals players said there was no shortage of belief despite being down 2-1 after two on Penguins goals by Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel, and Game 5 following a similar script of more shots but fewer goals. Now there's no shortage of belief about getting the series back to Washington for a potential Game 7 on Wednesday.

"We came back and hopefully we build off this now," said Backstrom, who executed a perfect give-and-go with Burakovsky on his goal . "You've just got to win on Monday. Same scenario as today. We've just got to take one game at a time and you have to reset here and, hopefully, we can get some confidence off this win."

The Penguins' confidence stems from still having a 3-2 series lead, home ice in Game 6 and getting Crosby back five days after he was concussed.

Monday's Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at PIttsburgh, 6:30 p.m.

Game 6 -- Penguins lead 3-2

Tuesday,'s Schedule (All Times Central)

Ottawa at New York Rangers, 6:30 p.m.

Game 6 -- Senators lead 3-2