Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 9: Ducks sneak past Oilers in OT, Avalanche sweep Kings

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.

It was a busy way to end the weekend, as four games were on the docket, including another potential elimination game out in Hollywood.

Sabres hammer Bruins in Beantown

Starting off the day was a crucial fourth game in New England, as the Boston Bruins looked to even the series against the Buffalo Sabres. However, it was the visitors who laid down the law, as the Sabres ran away with a dominant 6-1 victory.

Buffalo wasted little time getting after the Bruins. Just a few minutes into the contest, a costly turnover by Boston led to Peyton Krebs scoring his second of the series,

Just a few minutes later, Josh Doan, who took a rather hard hit earlier in the frame, tapped in a great pass from Ryan McLeod to make it a 2-0 game…but the Sabres were far from finished.

Just a couple of minutes after Doan found the back of the net, Zach Benson tipped in a shot from Doan for his Stanley Cup Playoff goal just before the halfway mark of the frame. Bowen Byram capped off the surprising opening 20 minutes with his third of the playoffs, giving Buffalo a 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

The Sabres outshot the Bruins 19-5 in the opening frame, with the home team being serenaded with boos as they skated off the TD Garden ice. During that first period, Bruins forward Viktor Arvidsson took a hard hit from the Sabres’ Mattias Samuelsson, which led to the former exiting the game with an upper-body injury.

The scoring subsided until the third, when Beck Malenstyn and Alex Tuch tacked onto the Sabres’ lead. The Bruins were able to avoid the shutout with a shorthanded goal from Sean Kuraly late in regulation, but the game was well out of reach, as the Sabres are heading back to Buffalo with a 3-1 series lead.

Prior to Kuraly’s marker, we saw massive fireworks between the two rivals. Krebs and David Pastrnak went at it after the whistle, while Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov attacked Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin.

Zadorov was handed a five-minute major for cross-checking and a game misconduct. It’s not yet known if Zadorov will face any additional discipline for his actions.

The Sabres outshot the Bruins, 35-24. Alex Lyon picked up his second win of the series after making 24 saves. Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman was after giving up six goals on 29 shots. Joonas Korpisalo stopped all six shots he faced in relief.

Krebs, Doan, Tuch and Byram all had two points in the win.

Avalanche sweep Kings, Kopitar retires

We had our second elimination (or advancement, depending on what side you’re on) on Sunday. After a trio of down-to-the-wire games, the Colorado Avalanche finally picked up a convincing win, beating the Los Angeles Kings 5-1, advancing to the second round of the playoffs.

The Kings really hung in there with the Avalanche in the first three games of the set, but the Presidents’ Trophy winners truly looked like the better team on Sunday. It started with Nathan MacKinnon finally scoring his first goal of the series in the latter half of the first period.

Colorado added to its lead early in the second period, as Cale Makar found the back of the net for the second time in these playoffs. The Kings got back within one late in the frame, as Joel Edmundson snuck a shot by Avs netminder Scott Wedgewood.

Unfortunately for fans in Hollywood, that was as close L.A. would get. Nicolas Roy scored just minutes into the third to restore Colorado’s two-goal lead. Just a few minutes later, it was time for Devon Toews to get on the action, making it a 4-1 game. MacKinnon capped off the afternoon with an empty-netter, as the Avs made their way to the second round for the first time in two years.

The loss marked the final game for longtime Kings star Anze Kopitar. He went out with class, and to a standing ovation, capping off one of the most fruitful careers in the modern era.

Wedgewood turned away 24 of the 25 shots he faced in Game 4, while Anton Forsberg made 27 saves in the losing effort. MacKinnon led all skaters with three points.

Colorado awaits its opponent in the second round. The Avs will face either the Dallas Stars or the Minnesota Wild in the Central Division Final.

Hagel sparks third-period rally for Lightning

Even though the patrons inside the Bell Centre were hoping their team could push the Tampa Bay Lightning to the brink of elimination, they were sent home disappointed, as a second-half surge from the Lightning led to a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of their Atlantic Division Semifinal.

The Canadiens rode the energy of the home fans in the opening period, taking the play to the Lightning. Montreal struck first just past the halfway mark of the contest, as Zachary Bolduc notched his first NHL playoff goal.

Things continued to roll for the Habs in the middle stanza, as Cole Caufield registered his first goal of the playoffs, on the power play, just a few minutes later, to put the home side up by two.

There was a concerning moment in the second period, as Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky was nailed with a hard hit from Tampa’s Max Crozier. Slafkovsky gingerly skated off the ice, but would later return to the game.

That hit seemingly helped turn the tide in the Lightning’s favor. Tampa had the betterment of the chances in the frame, and it led to Jake Guentzel putting the visitors on the board in the final minute of the period, cutting the deficit to one.

Then, less than two minutes into the third, the red-hot Brandon Hagel scored to level the score. Tampa had a couple of power-play opportunities in the third, including one coming from an ill-timed cross-check from Jake Evans, which sent Nikita Kucherov viciously into the boards.

While the Bolts failed to score on the man advantage, they stayed on the attack. With just a few minutes to go in the third, Kucherov fired a shot off of Hagel and in to put his team in front for the first time.

Montreal certainly gave it their all in trying to tie things up in the dying seconds of regulation, but Tampa hung on, killing off a late penalty, to send the series back to the Sunshine State tied 2-2.

Tampa only outshot Montreal 20-18, with Andrei Vasilevskiy picking up the win despite making just 16 saves. Jakub Dobes made 17 stops in the losing effort.

Kucherov and J.J. Moser each had two assists for Tampa.

In a penalty-filled contest, each team was only able to find the back of the net once with the man advantage, with the Bolts going 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Habs were 1-for-6.

Poehling’s OT winner pushes Oilers to the brink

The last game of the night finished well after the sun went down, but the majority of fans inside Honda Center were sent home happy, as Ryan Poehling’s flukey goal in overtime gave the Anaheim Ducks a 4-3 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of their Pacific Division Semifinal.

The Oilers were desperate to turn the series around, giving Tristan Jarry the start in net over Connor Ingram. The team in front of him came out swinging in what felt like a must-win game for the visitors. Just 38 seconds into the contest, Kasperi Kapanen potted his fourth goal of the series to put his team in front.

Edmonton managed to stay on the attack. A power play several minutes later saw the team capitalize, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins firing in his second of the playoffs. However, the Ducks managed to weather the storm for the most part and ended up outshooting the Oilers in the first period, but Jarry made a number of key stops to keep his team in front.

Anaheim ramped up the pressure in the second and its power play went to work. A little past the seven-minute mark of the frame, Cutter Gauthier sniped Jarry to put the home team on the board. Late in the period, the Ducks found themselves on another man advantage, a beautiful give-and-go with Leo Carlsson led to Mikael Granlund potting his second of the series, giving the game a whole new feel heading into the third period.

The Oilers used their own bit of special teams to seemingly take back the game. Just a few minutes into the third, Evan Bouchard absolutely wired a shot by Ducks netminder Lukas Dostal to give Edmonton a 3-2 lead. Yet, Anaheim refused to go away. With a little over six minutes to go in regulation, a strong shift from its fourth line led to Jeffrey Viel potting his second of the postseason, tying things up once again.

Despite some frantic moments near the end of the third, including a couple of glorious chances for one Connor McDavid, overtime was needed to determine a winner.

It didn’t take long for a victor to be determined. Just a couple of minutes into the extra frame, Poehling jammed the puck through Tristan Jarry, barely crossing the goal line, giving Anaheim the win and a shocking 3-1 lead in the series.

The Ducks are now one win away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

While he ended up on the losing end, Jarry did his part in giving Edmonton a chance to win, making 34 saves. Dostal was clutch in his own right, stopping 24 of the 27 shots he faced on Sunday night.

Ducks defenseman John Carlson had a pair of assists, while Jackson LaCombe posted his second multi-point game of the series. Bouchard was the lone Oiler with two points in Game 4.