Around the NHL: Predators Advance; Oilers, Ducks to Meet in Game 7

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The first of the final four teams playing for the Stanley Cup is now known. The Nashville Predators are comfortably waiting for their opponent in the Western Conference Finals.

In the meantime, two Game 6s in the Eastern Conference and the first Game 7 of this year's playoffs in the other West series are on the schedule for the rest of the six teams still alive in the playoffs.

Here is the latest Around the NHL update.

Nashville Predators-St. Louis Blues

The series stretch a little longer when the Blues managed to pull out a 2-1 win on Friday night to force Game 6 in Nashville, and it was certainly interesting when the Blues scored first in Game 6 with a goal by Paul Stastny.

Nashville got on the board early in the second with a goal by Roman Josi. After 40 minutes with the score locked at 1-1, the Predators broke the ice in the third with a pretty goal by Ryan Johansen on a nice saucer pass by Viktor Arvidsson.

That proved to be the game-winning goal, as Nashville got an empty-net goal from Calle Jarnkrok with one minute left in regulation to seal the series win and advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.

Edmonton Oilers-Anaheim Ducks

The Predators are still awaiting their opponent in the West Finals because of two wild outcomes in the series between Edmonton and Anaheim.

On Friday night, the Oilers scored three goals in the second period to open up a 3-0 lead, a lead was still completely intact with under four minutes to play in regulation.

That’s when the unthinkable happened. Ryan Getzlaf scored on a shot from the point with 3:16 left in regulation with the goalie pulled. With the goalie off again, Cam Fowler scored on Anaheim’s next shot 35 second later, making it a one-goal game with 2:45 to play. Rickard Rakell completed the unlikely comeback with 15 seconds left, scoring on a rebound to even the score at three and forcing overtime.

One overtime came and went. In the second overtime at 6:57, Corey Perry scored the game-winning goal to give Anaheim the series lead at 3-2 going to Game 6 on Sunday night.

It was a different story for Edmonton on home ice on Sunday. They scored three goals in the first 8:25 of the game, chasing John Gibson. They added two more goals in the remainder of the first to take a 5-0 lead after 20 minutes. They scored two more in the second period, with Leon Draisaitl netting a hat trick and Mark Letestu adding two goals in the 7-1 win to force Game 7 in Anaheim on Wednesday night.

Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals

The Penguins had a chance to close out the series against Washington on Saturday night and got Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary back in the lineup.

But the Capitals scored three goals in the third period to take Game 5, 4-2, and force Game 6 on Monday night. Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin each had goals in the third period for Washington.

Ottawa Senators-New York Rangers

Saturday brought an important Game 5 to this series with both teams having won twice in the previous four games. The trend going in was success for the team with home ice as Ottawa had won the first two games of the series and New York won Games 3 and 4 to even the series.

The Rangers were riding the momentum of back-to-back wins and scored two quick goals by Jesper Fast and Nick Holden to go ahead 2-0 just 5:13 into the game.

The 2-0 lead was short-lived. Less than a minute later, Mark Stone got the Senators on the board.

Ottawa scored twice more in the second period, with goals from Mike Hoffman and Tom Pyatt. Ryan McDonagh added a late goal in the second to tie the game with 20 minutes remaining in regulation.

A goal by Jimmy Vesey at 12:48 put the Rangers in front again. The Senators pulled the goalie with less than two minutes to play and got the game-tying goal from Derick Brassard with 1:26 to play in regulation, forcing overtime.

At 6:28 of overtime, Kyle Turris scored the game-winning goal, completing the comeback for the Senators in a 5-4 win, giving Ottawa a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 set for Tuesday.