NEW YORK (AP) – Mats Zuccarello scored twice in the second period and the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in Game 6 on Saturday night to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Derek Stepan also scored and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots to help New York get past the first round for the fifth time in six years. The Rangers won three straight after falling behind 2-1 to beat Montreal for the ninth time in 16 postseason series.
The Rangers will face the winner of the Ottawa-Boston series, which the Senators lead 3-2.
Alexei Emelin scored for Montreal and Carey Price finished with 20 saves. The Canadiens, winners of the Atlantic Division after missing the playoffs last year, were bounced from the postseason by the Rangers for the second time in four years. In 2014, it was in the conference finals.
BLUES 4, WILD 3, OT
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Magnus Paajarvi scored at the 9:42 mark in overtime, giving the St. Louis Blues a series-clinching win over the Minnesota Wild.
The Blues advanced to play Nashville in the second round.
Jake Allen made 34 saves for the Blues, who led 2-0 and 3-1 in Game 5 before a furious rally by the Wild to try to keep their season alive forced the extra frame.
Paajarvi’s first career playoff goal gave Blues coach Mike Yeo the satisfaction of beating the team that fired him a little over a year ago.
Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker scored to bring the Wild back from their second two-goal hole, a deficit that held past the midpoint of the third period.
OILERS 3, SHARKS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Leon Draisaitl and Anton Slepyshev scored on breakaways in the opening minutes of the second period and the Edmonton Oilers advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a victory in Game 6 over the San Jose Sharks.
Draisaitl and Slepyshev each buried their chances for their first career playoff goals and the Oilers held off the Sharks after that to get the win in their first playoff series since getting to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. Connor McDavid iced the game with an empty-net goal with less than a second to play for his first even-strength point of the series.
Patrick Marleau got the Sharks on the board with 7:48 left in the third period, but Cam Talbot didn’t allow anything else on 28 shots to get the win.
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