BLUES 3, JETS 2
ST. LOUIS -- Jaden Schwartz scored three times and Jordan Binnington stopped 18 shots to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in Game 6 of their playoff series Saturday night to advance to the second round.
The Blues will next face the winner of the Dallas-Nashville series, which the Stars lead 3-2.
Bryan Little and Dustin Byfuglien scored for Winnipeg, which tried to rally after falling behind 3-0 early in the third period. Connor Hellebuyck finished with 33 saves.
The Blues became the first home team to win in the series, and advanced to the second round for the third time in four years.
Schwartz, who had only 11 goals in the regular season, has four in the playoffs -- the Blues' last four, starting the tiebreaking tally with 15 seconds left in the 3-2 win in Game 5.
Binnington began the season as a backup for the Blues' AHL affiliate in San Antonio. He stopped 33 successive shots after giving up two first-period goals in Game 5.
Schwartz tallied just 23 seconds into the contest on a pass from Brayden Schenn. It was the third-fastest playoff goal in franchise history and the quickest since Brett Hull scored in Game 3 of a first-round playoff series with Vancouver on May 11, 1995.
Schwartz pushed the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal off a wrist shot with 7:24 left in the second period and completed the natural hat trick early in the third. It was the Blues first postseason hat trick since Vladimir Tarasenko scored three times on April 18, 2015, against Minnesota.
Byfuglien jumped on the rebound of a shot by Kevin Hayes with 7:43 left in the contest, and Little pulled Winnipeg within one with 37 seconds remaining and Hellebuyck pulled for an extra skater.
STARS 5, PREDATORS 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Alexander Radulov scored two goals in the second period and Dallas beat Nashville to push the Western Conference's No. 2 seed to the brink of elimination.
The Stars came into the postseason as the West's first wild card and are up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series over the two-time defending Central Division champs. Dallas will have a chance Monday night at home in Game 6 to join Colorado and Columbus as the latest lower seed coming through in the opening round.
Jason Dickinson also scored twice, Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Benn had three assists. The Stars have scored at least five goals in back-to-back playoff games for the ninth time in franchise history, the first since Games 3 and 4 of the 1991 conference finals when this team was still in Minnesota.
Ben Bishop, named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy during the game, made 30 saves for the win.
Rocco Grimaldi, Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris scored for Nashville. The Predators lost back-to-back playoff games for the first time since Games 5 and 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final.
Predators Coach Peter Laviolette got forward Brian Boyle back after missing the past three games with an appendectomy and mixed up his lines.
It just wasn't enough with Dallas' top line taking control. Seguin, Benn and Radulov took 16 of the Stars' 26 shots, and the trio was responsible for all three goals in the second.
Grimaldi has been Nashville's most surprising scorer in this series, and he gave them a 1-0 lead at 6:25 with a wrister over Bishop's glove. Then Rinne came through with a pair of dazzling saves while on his back 70 seconds later, stopping a backhander from Radulov with his left leg and then a shot from Benn with his left.
Dickinson tied it up for Dallas at 13:08 of the first, beating Rinne with a wrister for his first goal this postseason.
The Stars seized control in the second.
The Predators failed to clear the puck after winning a faceoff, and Seguin passed to Radulov who scored his third this series into an open net with Rinne at the far post just 40 seconds into the second period for a 2-1 lead. Radulov gave Dallas a 3-1 lead with a goal from the slot off a backhanded pass from Benn at 7:41 with the Stars fully in control.
CAPITALS 6, HURRICANES 0
WASHINGTON — Nicklas Backstrom needed five games to match his goal out-put from the entire 2018 playoffs, and he and Alex Ovechkin have the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals one victory away from the second round.
Backstrom had 2 goals and 2 assists, Ovechkin had 1 goal and 2 assists, and Braden Holtby stopped all 30 shots he faced to lead Washington to a victory over Carolina in Game 5.
Washington has a 3-2 series lead and can advance with a victory at Carolina in Game 6 on Monday night.
After scoring five goals in 20 games during the Capitals’ Cup run a year ago that included missing four games with two fractures in his right index finger, Backstrom has that many already in these playoffs. Ovechkin assisted on Backstrom’s second goal and Tom Wilson’s on the power play and added the exclamation point in the rout with a power-play goal in the third.
Carolina’s Petr Mrazek fired up the crowd and gave Washington the lead in the series back after laying an egg in losses in Game 3 and Game 4 on the road.
At a glance
NHL PLAYOFFS
FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7)
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Toronto 2, Boston 1
Colorado 5, Calgary 1
Colorado wins series 4-1
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Dallas 5, Nashville 3
Dallas leads series 3-2
St. Louis 3, Winnipeg 2
St. Louis wins series 4-2
Washington 6, Carolina 0
Washington leads series 3-2
TODAY’S GAMES All times Central
Boston at Toronto, 2 p.m.
Toronto leads series 3-2
San Jose at Vegas, 6 p.m.
Vegas leads series 3-2
Sports on 04/21/2019