Jordan Binnington made 25 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 5-1 on Thursday night in Game 6 to advance to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Bozak and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in a dominant second period during which the Blues outscored the Wild 22-5 and took control of the game.
Nick Leddy also scored, Colton Parayko added a net empty and David Perron had two assists as St. Louis won its first series since defeating the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final in 2019.
The Blues will travel to Colorado to face the Avalanche in Game 1 of the second round. The date and time had not yet been announced.
Matt Dumba scored in the third period for Wild, who hit three posts in the game, including two in the third.
After losing Games 4 and 5 and facing a must-win, Wild’s trainer Dean Evason started Cam Talbot over Marc-Andre Fleury in goal. Talbot, who finished the regular season on a 13-0-3 streak, had 22 saves.
Leddy gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with 5:01 left in the first period. It was the first goal by a Blues defenseman in the series.
Binnington helped the Blues get over a shaky start in the first by erasing several quality wild chances that came from turnovers. He also received help from the publication of him in the Marcus Foligno shot.
O’Reilly’s power play goal gave the Blues a 2–0 lead midway through the second period. Brayden Schenn set up the scoring from the slot with a perfect pass from behind the net.
Bozak cleaned up a rebound off Alexei Toropchenko’s shot to extend St. Louis’ lead later in the second. Toropchenko created the chance by dodging Mats Zuccarello as he drove towards the net.
Tarasenko’s power play goal with 1:24 left in the second made it 4-0. It was his fourth goal in the last two games.
Bruins Force Game 7
Brad Marchand scored a goal and assisted another, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday and send their first-round playoff series to a decisive Game 7.
The home team has won all six games in the series thus far, a lead for Carolina, which will host Game 7 on Saturday. The winner will play either the Penguins or the Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals; Pittsburgh leads that series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Friday night.
Two days after losing 5-1 at Carolina, their third crushing loss on the road, the Bruins returned to the TD Garden for what could be the last home game for future Hall of Famer Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins captain has refused to talk about his future this season.
Andrei Svechnikov scored twice and Antti Raanta made 29 saves for the Hurricanes, who won three games with a combined score of 15-4 and lost three for a total of 14-6.
Charlie Coyle also scored for Boston, and Erik Haula and Derek Forbort added goals in the third period before Curtis Lazar returned the puck to the empty net with 4:17 left.
Marchand broke a scoreless tie 46 seconds into the second period, receiving a long cross from Connor Clifton and skidding into the right circle before passing it over Raanta’s glove.
Coyle gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead in the final two minutes of the period, throwing in the rebound off a shot by David Pastrnak. Svechnikov put together a one-goal game early in the third before Haula and Forbort gave Boston its cushion back.
Svechnikov’s second goal came with 2:30 left during a power play for a minor double off Marchand by harpoon.
Reference-www.cbc.ca