Series at a Glance: Tonight, the Lightning will try to follow in the Wild’s footsteps

Marc-Olivier Cook
Series at a Glance: Tonight, the Lightning will try to follow in the Wild’s footsteps
Credit: Capture d'écran / X

The playoffs continue in the National League.

Three games were on the schedule for Saturday.

What happened, you ask? Let's take a look:

1: The Lightning will try to follow the Wild's lead 

Last night, the Minnesota Wild hosted the Dallas Stars.

The Stars held a 2-1 lead in the series heading into last night's game: while it wasn't exactly a must-win for the Wild, let's just say the game was still pretty important.

In the first period, both teams traded goals:

The second period belonged to Dallas.

The Stars buzzed around the opponent's zone and it finally paid off. Miro Heiskanen scored to make it 2-1 Stars:

The Wild desperately needed a goal in the third period… and that's when Marcus Foligno stepped up. Nick's brother tied the game to send everyone into overtime:

The hero of the game is truly Marcus Foligno.

Because without his third-period goal… Matt Boldy would never have been able to score the game-winner in overtime. Wild win 3-2:

The Lightning will try to follow the Wild's lead tonight and win Game 4 of the series to bring both teams back to square one.

It's 2-2 in the series between the Wild and the Stars. It remains to be seen if the Bolts will be able to even their series against the Canadiens…

2: Sidney Crosby Shows No Signs of Slowing Down 

Ah, good old Sidney Crosby…

The Penguins' captain had a huge game yesterday as his team faced elimination. He scored the first goal of the game, and you could feel it energize his team:

With the score at 2-1 in favor of the Pens, the Kid stood out again… by assisting on a goal by Kristopher Letang.

Just like in the good old days:

After Letang's goal, the Flyers absolutely had to find a way to get back into the game. And you guessed it…

That's exactly what happened when Travis Konecny scored to cut the lead to a single goal:

But… it was already too late for the Flyers.

Connor Dewar scored the insurance goal into an empty net, and the Penguins won to avoid elimination.

The Flyers now lead the series 3-1, and it heads to Pittsburgh for Game 5…

It's worth noting that at the end of yesterday's game, Crosby (him again) caused a bit of a ruckus on the ice. He hit Travis Sanheim, and the two teams exchanged a few blows as the buzzer sounded.

That's the Battle of Pennsylvania for you: 

3: Ah, the Sens…

The Ottawa Senators are out of the playoffs.

My colleague Jonathan Di Gregorio wrote about it yesterday: Brady Tkachuk was terrible throughout the series against the Hurricanes, and clearly, that wasn't the Ottawa team's problem.

That said… We need to talk about what happened in yesterday's game because it really stirred things up.

It all started when Tyler Kleven absolutely demolished Alexander Nikishin:

It continued with a really violent hit by Brady Tkachuk on Taylor Hall… and that was all it took for every player on the ice to get involved in a massive brawl.

Let's note this, amidst all that: while some players were fighting, Ridly Greig… decided to throw an uppercut without warning at a player who wasn't even fighting him.

We know he's a rough player. But this… goes way too far:

The Sens lost 4-2.

Their season is over, and it will be interesting to see what happens in Ottawa over the next few months.

Because we can certainly expect some changes…


Overtime

– Yesterday's top scorers:

(Credit: Screenshot / NHL.com)

– Four games today, including the Habs' game:

(Credit: Screenshot / NHL.com)
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