Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 12: Flyers eliminate Penguins, Golden Knights win in OT again
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop action as we witness 16 teams get whittled down to the one that will be crowned as the 2026 Stanley Cup champions. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop on everything that happens in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.
On Wednesday night, we had another elimination game in the Battle of Pennsylvania, while two pivotal matchups took place on opposite ends of the United States.
Dobes stands tall, Canadiens push Lightning to the brink
The first puck drop of the night was Game 5 between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning. It was a hotly contested matchup, with both teams looking to move within a win of Round 2. In the end, it was an excellent performance from Jakub Dobes and some lucky bounces to give the Canadiens a 3-2 victory.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis made a significant change to the lineup, inserting veteran Brendan Gallagher for the first time in the series in place of Oliver Kapanen. The gritty winger helped his team get a jump on the Lightning in the first few minutes of the game, as he scored on Montreal’s second shot of the game just three minutes into the contest.
The rest of the first period was physical but didn’t have much offense. That certainly wasn’t the case in period two, as both teams had a plethora of scoring chances. First, Dominic James scored the first goal of his NHL playoff career just before the seven-minute mark, tying the game at one.
However, the contest didn’t remain 1-1 for long. Just 11 seconds later, Kirby Dach used an outstanding effort to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to put the Habs back out in front.
The frantic action in the middle stanza continued, as the Canadiens and Lightning combined for 27 shots on goal. The game went into the second intermission tied at two after Jake Guentzel scored his second goal of the series with a couple of minutes to go in the frame.
It set the stage for a thrilling third period. Similar to the opening period, Montreal scored early. Alexandre Texier took a shot just over a minute into the third that somehow made its way past Vasilevskiy to give the Habs their third lead of the game.
The Lightning were striving for the equalizer as the minutes slowly ticked away. The pressure was at its peak in the last minute of regulation, as Tampa fired everything at the net, but thanks to a couple of saves from Dobes and numerous blocked shots by the guys in front of him, Montreal hung on for a win and a 3-2 series lead.
The Canadiens will return to Bell Centre on Friday night with a chance to clinch their first series win since 2021. Montreal hasn’t won a series in a “normal” postseason since 2015. The Lightning are at risk of being bounced in the first round for the fourth year in a row.
Despite a couple of questionable goals allowed, Dobes played his best game of the series, making 38 saves in the victory. Vasilevksiy was credited with 21 stops in the loss.
York’s OT winner sends Flyers to Round 2
The Philadelphia Flyers had a chance to eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins for the third game in a row. The pesky Pens refused to go down easy, with Pittsburgh’s Arturs Silovs and Philadelphia’s Dan Vladar going to save-for-save in Game 6. Overtime was needed, and Cam York’s first-ever playoff goal was the decider in a 1-0 final.
It was a very chippy and violent game between the two rivals. While only four penalties were called, that didn’t mean players weren’t taking liberties with one another. Several post-whistle scrums took place, including one early in the game that saw Penguins forward Blake Lizotte spearing Flyers rookie Porter Martone after Martone sent the former for a ride over Silovs.
The Flyers ended up outhitting the Penguins 43-23.
However, the true story was the goaltending. Silovs was tested early and often by the Flyers, but was up to the task, including a dandy stop in the third on Matvei Michkov.
Not to be outdone, Vladar, who had been wearing the goat horns after a couple of gaffes in the previous two games of the series, was sensational. Pittsburgh really pushed the play in the first period, and outshot Philadelphia 13-5 in the third. Yet, the Czech netminder was there, making a few ridiculous saves in the closing moments of regulation.
Thanks to the play of the two masked men, the game went to overtime scoreless. Both teams had glorious opportunities to end the game early in the extra frame, but it wasn’t until a seeing-eye wrister from York with just a few minutes to go in overtime that the Flyers got their first playoff series win since 2020.
It was York’s first goal since January 21. Vladar registered his second shutout of the series, making an incredible 42 saves. Silovs stopped 31 shots in the loss.
With the win, the Flyers advance to the Metropolitan Division Final, where they will take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The top seed in the Eastern Conference will be well-rested after sweeping the Ottawa Senators in the first round.
The Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since they beat the Flyers in the first round in 2018.
Golden Knights beat Mammoth in OT, again
Just a couple of nights removed from a huge overtime win in Salt Lake City, the Vegas Golden Knights ran it back on home ice in Game 5 against the Utah Mammoth, as Brett Howden scored the winner in the second overtime, giving the Golden Knights a 5-4 win.
Despite coming off a debilitating loss in Game 4 on home ice, the Mammoth were far from lethargic on Wednesday night. They were able to draw first blood late in the opening period thanks to John Marino’s first goal of the playoffs.
However, the lead didn’t last long. Just over two minutes later, with Vegas on the power play, Pavel Dorofeyev found the back of the net to tie the game at one heading into the break.
The first portion of the second period was relatively mundane, with the two teams more focused on punching each other in the face than finding the back of the net. That changed in the latter half of the frame. Utah’s Lawson Crouse got left alone in the slot, firing a shot by Carter Hart to give his team its second lead of the game.
Yet, the Golden Knights didn’t drift away. With less than five minutes to go in the period, Dorofeyev tapped home his second of the game, on the power play, to tie things up at two. It snapped a streak of 13 power plays without a goal for Vegas. Then, 100 seconds later, Shea Theodore, the OT hero from Monday night, scored his second goal in as many games to put his team out in front for the first time.
The Golden Knights carried the lead into the third, but the Mammoth had a prime opportunity to tie the game with a four-minute power play in the opening minute of the stanza. Yet, Vegas killed it off, but it didn’t deter Utah. They continued to press, and they were rewarded with Dylan Guenther hammering home a one-timer for his third of the series.
The Mammoth were playing with confidence, and a couple of minutes past the halfway mark of the period, Alex Kerfoot set up Michael Carcone for his second of the postseason, giving the visitors their third lead of the night.
Time started to wind down, and it seemed that Utah was going to grab another win on the road. That was, until Dorofeyev completed the hat trick with another tying goal, this time with less than a minute to play in regulation.
The ensuing overtime saw plenty of chances on both sides, but Hart and Karel Vejmelka came up with some crucial saves to keep the game going, resulting in a second overtime. The Mammoth had another man advantage early in the frame, but a great effort by Howden led to him scoring his third of the playoffs, giving Vegas a second straight OT win, and a 3-2 lead in the series.
With back-to-back wins in extra time, the Golden Knights have all the momentum as they will look to finish off the Mammoth in enemy territory on Friday night.
Hart ended up making 33 saves in the win for Vegas, while Vejmelka stopped 32 shots in the loss.