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Series wrap-up: Avalanche and Oilers win with six goals apiece

 Michael Johnson
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Series wrap-up: Avalanche and Oilers win with six goals apiece
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot
Last night, the National Hockey League featured four crucial playoff games, with four Game #3s in four different series.

Game #3 of a series always represents a very important pivotal game that generally describes how the rest of the series will unfold.

Here, then, is a review of those four games.

Avalanche explode with five third-period goals

Probably the best series in the NHL so far is the one between the Winnipeg Jets and the Colorado Avalanche.

Yesterday was the third game of the series and the first home game for the Avalanche.

And let’s just say it took a while for the Avalanche to fire up their fans.

Indeed, after two periods, it was 2-1 to the Jets, and you could feel the crowd getting restless, especially after seeing the Jets’ first goal, Tyler Toffoli’s, on a shot that Alexander Georgiev had to stop.

In short, despite dominating in shots (28 to 18 after two periods), the Avalanche were trailing and needed to find a way to score goals.

Well, they did, as the Avalanche scored five unanswered goals.

First,Nathan MacKinnon tied the score, and then, on the power play, Valeri Nichushkin, who now has at least one goal in his last four playoff games, lifted the crowd with a power play goal.

Artturi Lehkonen then gave the Avalanche a cushion with his third goal in three games since the start of the playoffs.

Ross Colton and Devon Toews (in an empty net) completed the scoring.

Game #4 of the series takes place on Sunday at 2pm. This will be a game not to be missed.

Colorado leads the series 2-1.

Oilers completely dominate Kings

Here was another must-win tie-breaker, as the Oilers visited the Kings in Los Angeles for the first time in the series.

And for the occasion, let’s just say that the Oilers weren’t very kind to the Kings fans, as they gave them virtually no chance to celebrate.

The Oilers completely dominated the Kings from start to finish, winning 6-1.

With 40 shots against 28, the Oilers really came out strong, just as Georges Laraque had predicted.

Edmonton’s big guns had a lot of fun against the Kings.

Zach Hyman scored two goals (he has six in three games), Connor McDavid, who joined Wayne Gretzky, scored three points and the same went for Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

The Kings players were frustrated, and it showed midway through the third period when a scuffle broke out after Evander Kane received a heavy check.

Three Oilers players (McDavid with 9, Draisaitl with 7 and Hyman with 7) now sit atop the NHL playoff scoring charts.

In short, the Oilers have destroyed the Kings, and it will be interesting to see how the Kings bounce back in the next game on Sunday at 10:30pm.

Edmonton leads the series 2-1.

Rangers push Capitals to the wall

In the only series of the evening that wasn’t tied before Game #3, the Rangers were expected to be too strong for the Capitals.

Even though the Caps were playing their first game of the series in front of their home fans in Washington, the Rangers have simply been too strong since the start of the series.

And once again, they proved it with a 3-1 victory.

The Caps took the lead thanks to a gift from Igor Shesterkin, but it only lasted 34 seconds before Chris Kreider tied the game.

It was the first time in the series that Washington led in scoring.

The Rangers then took the lead two minutes later, before adding an insurance goal in the second period.

In short, the Rangers were so comfortable, Shesterkin even tried to score into an empty net.

Note that in the game, Tom Wilson tried to get Matt Rempe to fight after a heavy check by Rempe on Trevor Van Riemsdyk, but Rempe refused.

In short, the Rangers will have the chance to end the series on Sunday at 8pm.

New York leads the series 3-0.

Canucks narrowly escape with victory

In another tight Western series, it was a low-scoring affair, as Casey DeSmith, playing in relief of Thatcher Demko who appears to be out with a long-term injury, turned aside 29 of 30 shots.

The Nashville Predators dominated this game, but the Vancouver Canucks found a way to come away with a 2-1 victory, despite only taking 12 shots on net!

The Canucks can say a big thank you to DeSmith.

Note that Michael McCaron, the Habs alumnus, tried to injure the Canucks’ goalie, who is already the team’s second goalie. Imagine if that had hurt DeSmith… What a scumbag move by McCaron.

In terms of goals, it was J.T. Miller who opened the scoring with a beautiful power-play shot.

Brock Boeser doubled the Canucks’ lead in the second period, and Luke Evangelista gave Preds fans hope late in the third.

Game 4 of the series takes place on Sunday at 5pm.

Vancouver leads the series 2-1.


Overtime

– Here are yesterday’s complete results.

– Here are yesterday’s top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today’s NHL schedule: four games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)

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