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The Texas Stars rode Remi Poirier’s 29 saves to a 4-0 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Tuesday in Game 1 of the Central Division Semifinals at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.
The Griffins had won Game 1 in each of their last three playoff series and in seven of eight series dating to 2017, but the Stars handed the home team its second straight postseason shutout.
Grand Rapids goalie Sebastian Cossa allowed four goals on 19 shots and was replaced in the second period by Jack Campbell, who stopped all 11 shots he faced.
Amadeus Lombardi led the team with five shots on goal with Elmer Soderblom and Axel Sandin-Pellikka each recorded three goals on goal.
Senators keep Battle of Ontario alive
Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for the first playoff shutout of his career as the Ottawa Senators edged the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 on Tuesday night to cut the deficit in the teams’ first-round series to 3-2.
Thomas Chabot and Dylan Cozens gave the Senators a 2-0 lead before Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk added empty-net goals for Ottawa, which once again staved off elimination after picking up a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 4 at home Saturday. Tkachuk and Stutzle added two assists each for three-point performances.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 15 shots for the Leafs.
Only four NHL teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series – the 1942 Leafs, 1975 Islanders, the 2010 Flyers and the 2014 Kings.
“Our will to win was high and I think it paid off,” said Tkachuk. “It’s all about now resetting and getting refocused.”
Game 6 is Thursday in Ottawa.
Toronto, which beat Ottawa four times in a five-playoff span in the early 2000s, dropped to 1-13 in potential series-clinching games in the Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner era dating back to the 2018 playoffs. That lone victory came in a first-round triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning two years ago.
“Everybody’s fine in here,” Matthews said. “The playoffs, it’s a roller-coaster. It could be ups and downs. It’s about staying as even-keeled as you possibly can and making adjustments when you need to.”
The Leafs, who took the opener of this series against its provincial rival 6-2 before back-to-back 3-2 overtime victories pushed them to a 3-0 lead, will need to do just that after the Senators once again won the special teams battle in a tight-checking affair.
“I’m not feeling anything,” Toronto coach Craig Berube, in his first season with the club, said when asked if he’s getting nervy vibes from a core that has stumbled badly in previous playoffs. “Our group was focused and ready to go.”
The Senators, meanwhile, picked up their first playoff victory since 2017 in Saturday’s extra-time decision that kept their season going before again doing their best to plant a seed of doubt in the Atlantic Division winners’ star-studded roster.
“It can change fast,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said of postseason momentum. “You can feel great about yourself, you can feel (crappy) about yourself or your team or where you’re at. Those are the types of things that we’ve really talked to our team (about) throughout the season.
“I think it’s paying dividends now.”
Ottawa opened the scoring at 3:46 of Tuesday’s second period on a Chabot point shot that found its way past Stolarz through traffic following an offensive zone faceoff win for the defenseman’s first-ever playoff goal.
Toronto – with plenty of post-season baggage, including a blown 3-1 series lead in the 2021 playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens – looked disjointed as the period wore on before the home side finally started to push inside a tense Scotiabank Arena.
The Leafs got a power play in the third period when Ridly Greig needlessly tackled Marner along the boards.
The Senators, however, broke the other way and Cozens scored his first at 8:24 when he took a pass from Adam Gaudette on a 2-on-1 and fired past Stolarz as Ottawa scored short-handed for the second time in as many games against a five-forward man advantage.
Matthews, who hit the post in OT on Saturday with the series on his stick, found iron again with five minutes to go in regulation before Stutzle sealed it into the empty net with 2:51 to play.
More Tuesday playoff games
(At) Carolina 5, New Jersey 4 (2OT): Sebastian Aho hammered a one-timer past Jacob Markstrom at 4:17 of the second overtime to help the Hurricanes clinch their first-round playoff series in five games.
Aho’s score off a feed from Shayne Gostisbehere came with the Hurricanes on a four-minute power play on a double-minor high-sticking penalty by Dawson Mercer that sent Jesperi Kotkaniemi skating off to the tunnel with a towel to his face. Aho provided the capper, the only lead the Hurricanes would have in a wild game that pushed them into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
They’ll next play the winner of the Montreal-Washington series, with the Capitals leading 3-1 in that one.
Taylor Hall, Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for Carolina, which is one of four teams in the playoffs for at least seven straight years. But the Hurricanes are the only one of that group to win at least one postseason series each time.
It also marked the second time in three seasons that the Hurricanes had eliminated the Devils in a five-game series that ended with a sudden-death goal in Raleigh. The other came in the second round in 2023.
Mercer, Timo Meier and Stefan Noesen scored during New Jersey’s game-opening flurry, then Nico Hischier added a second-period goal for a 4-3 lead after Carolina’s rampaging comeback.
(At) Vegas 3, Minnesota 2 (OT): Brett Howden scored 4:05 into overtime Tuesday night to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild and put Vegas one game away from advancing out of the Western Conference first round.
The Golden Knights take a 3-2 series lead back to St. Paul for Thursday night’s Game 6. Vegas, which had the second-best record in the Pacific Division this season and won the Stanley Cup in 2023, will try to advance to at least the second round for the fifth time in their eight-year history.
Minnesota will attempt to avoid another first-round series exit. The Wild’s last series victory occurred in 2015 when the Wild made the second round.
William Karlsson and Mark Stone also scored goals for the Golden Knights, and Jack Eichel had two assists. Eichel had just one assist in the first four games. Adin Hill made 20 saves.
Edmonton 3, (at) L.A. Kings 1: Mattias Janmark scored the tiebreaking goal at 7:12 of the third period, and Edmonton beat Los Angeles for their third consecutive victory and a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.
Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored and Calvin Pickard made 20 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who can advance with a win in Game 6 in Edmonton on Thursday.
Edmonton was finally rewarded for dominating possession and shots throughout Game 5 when Janmark converted a rebound of Viktor Arvidsson’s shot.
After some fraught final moments, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added an empty-net goal to finish the Oilers’ franchise-record third consecutive comeback playoff victory.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored and Darcy Kuemper stopped 43 shots for the second-seeded Kings, who are one loss away from their fourth consecutive first-round playoff exit at Edmonton’s hands despite winning the first two games of this series at home and blowing third-period leads in the next two.
Panthers’ Ekblad suspended
Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for two games for elbowing Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the head midway through Game 4 of the Panthers’ first-round series against Tampa Bay.
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced its ruling after a phone hearing with Ekblad earlier Tuesday. He will be out for Game 5 and either Game 6 of this series or the Panthers’ first game next round.
No penalty was called when Ekblad hit Hagel in the chin with his right elbow and forearm with just under nine minutes left in the second period on Monday night. Hagel left the ice and did not return, and Ekblad scored the first of two goals in 11 seconds late in the third to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a comeback victory and a 3-1 series lead.
Coach Jon Cooper said Hagel would not play in Game 5. Hagel was suspended for Game 3 for his late hit that knocked Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov out of Game 2.
Ekblad missed the first two games and the final 18 of the regular season after being suspended for violating the league and NHLPA’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Florida got accustomed to playing without Ekblad.
“If it’s the first time it happens, there’s even questions from the coaching staff about what’s the right adjustment to make in your lineup and how will that play out – there’s a lot of unknown,” coach Paul Maurice said. “Because we’ve been through it so much when Aaron’s out we know what the D-pairs are – let’s assume – if he’s out of the lineup.”
Another Panthers defenseman, Niko Mikkola, was fined $5,000 for boarding Tampa Bay’s Zemgus Girgensons. Mikkola was given a five-minute major and ejected for the play early in the third period of Game 4.
Tocchet won’t return as Canucks coach
Rick Tocchet is not returning as coach of the Vancouver Canucks, the team announced Tuesday, plunging them into another search and making him a top candidate for several vacancies around the NHL.
Tocchet’s departure comes after 2 1/2 seasons in Vancouver since replacing Bruce Boudreau in January 2023. He won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2024 for guiding the Canucks to a 50-win season and first place in the Pacific Division.
Vancouver dealt with locker room drama between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson for several months, did not have injured captain Quinn Hughes at times and missed the playoffs. Miller was traded to the New York Rangers at the end of January, and Tocchet was critical of Pettersson in his season-ending news conference.
Tocchet did not have a contract moving forward and decided not to sign another with the Canucks.
“Family is a priority, and with my contract lapsing, this becomes the opportune time,” Tocchet said. “While I don’t know where I’m headed, or exactly how this will play out for me over the near term, I feel like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities in and around hockey.”
Tocchet won the Stanley Cup as an assistant with Pittsburgh in 2016 and ’17 and played more than a decade with Philadelphia. The Penguins and Flyers have coach openings, along with Chicago, Boston, Anaheim, Seattle and the New York Rangers.
Given his resume, Tocchet joins Cup champions Mike Sullivan, Joel Quenneville and Peter Laviolette as a few of the top options available to fill those jobs.
Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford called Tocchet’s departure “very disappointing news.”
“But we respect Rick’s decision to move to a new chapter in his hockey career,” Rutherford said. “We did everything in our power to keep him, but at the end of the day Rick felt he needed a change. He is a good friend, a good coach, and we can’t thank him enough for all he did for our organization.”
Eastern Conference playoff scheduleTampa Bay vs. Florida
(Florida leads 3-1)
▶ Game 1: Florida 6-2
▶ Game 2: Florida 2-0
▶ Game 3: Tampa Bay 5-1
▶ Game 4: Florida 4-2
▶ Game 5: Wednesday at Tampa Bay, TBA
▶ Game 6: x-Friday at Florida, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Sunday at Tampa Bay, TBA
Washington vs. Montreal
(Washington leads 3-1)
▶ Game 1: Washington 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 2: Washington 3-1
▶ Game 3: Monteral 6-3
▶ Game 4: Washington 5-2
▶ Game 5: Wednesday at Washington, TBA
▶ Game 6: x-Friday, May 2 at Montreal, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Sunday at Washington, TBA
Carolina vs. New Jersey
(Carolina wins series 4-1)
▶ Game 1: Carolina 4-1
▶ Game 2: Carolina 3-1
▶ Game 3: New Jersey 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Carolina 5-2
▶ Game 5: Carolina 5-4 (2OT)
Toronto vs. Ottawa
(Toronto leads 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Toronto 6-2
▶ Game 2: Toronto 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 3: Toronto 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Ottawa 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Ottawa 4-0
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Ottawa, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Toronto, TBA
Western Conference playoff scheduleDallas vs. Colorado
(Stars take 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Colorado 5-1
▶ Game 2: Dallas 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 3: Dallas 2-1 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Colorado 4-0
▶ Game 5: Dallas 6-2
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Colorado, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Dallas, TBA
Los Angeles vs. Edmonton
(Edmonton leads 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Los Angeles 6-5
▶ Game 2: Los Angeles 6-2
▶ Game 3: Edmonton 7-4
▶ Game 4: Edmonton 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Edmonton 3-1
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Edmonton, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Los Angeles, TBA
Vegas vs. Minnesota
(Vegas leads 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Vegas 4-2
▶ Game 2: Minnesota 5-2
▶ Game 3: Minnesota 5-2
▶ Game 4: Vegas 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Vegas 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Minnesota, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Vegas, TBA
Winnipeg vs. St. Louis
(Series tied 2-2)
▶ Game 1: Winnipeg 5-3
▶ Game 2: Winnipeg 2-1
▶ Game 3: St. Louis 7-2
▶ Game 4: St. Louis 5-1
▶ Game 5: Wednesday, April 30 at Winnipeg, TBA
▶ Game 6: Friday, May 2 at St. Louis, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Sunday, May 4 at Winnipeg, TB
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