Thursday night was the second night of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and it was just as thrilling as the first including a triple-overtime thriller, an overtime finish and two division rivals going head-to-head. Here is a wrap-up of the second night of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs:
Rangers 4, Flyers 1: Brad Richards notched three points on a power play goal and two assists to lead New York over their heated rival Philadelphia in Game 1 of their series at Madison Square Garden.
Metropolitan Division bracket preview/predictions
After the Flyers took a double high-sticking minor with the game tied at one, Richards notched a goal on the four-minute man-advantage and set up a Derek Stepan power play tally less than a minute later to give New York a 3-1 lead.
Carl Hagelin added a third period goal to help the Rangers run away with a 4-1 win. Mats Zuccarello also scored for the Rangers to nod the game at 1 apiece after Andrew MacDonald opened up the scoring for the Flyers 7:28 into the first period.
Henrik Lundqvist went untested, making just 14 saves for New York and allowing one goal while Ray Emery stopped 32 shots and let up four tallies.
New York leads series 1-0.
Blues 4, Blackhawks 3 (3OT): In the game of the night, Blues forward and leading-scorer in the regular-season Alex Steen was the hero. After two overtimes couldn't decide the game, Steen scored 26 seconds into triple overtime to lift the Blues to a Game 1 victory at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
St. Louis trailed Chicago with less than two minutes remaining in the game when Jaden Schwartz lit the lamp to even things at three and force overtime.
Adam Cracknell opened the scoring for the Blues 4:40 into the game before Johnny Oduya and Brent Seabrook tallied to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 edge. Other goal scorers included Vladimir Tarasenko for the Blues and Patrick Kane for the Blackhawks.
Ryan Miller made 39 saves in net for the Blues and allowed three goals while Corey Crawford stopped 48 shots and let up four tallies.
St. Louis leads series 1-0.
Central Division preview/predictions
Avalanche 5, Wild 4 (OT): Paul Stastny had nerves of steel Thursday night. With the Avalanche on the brink of losing Game 1 at the Pepsi Center in Colorado, Stastny scored with just 14 seconds left in regulation to nod the game at four goals apiece and force overtime. Stastny wasn't done there, as he came through in overtime, netting his second of the night 7:27 into the extra frame to propel Colorado to victory.
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog opened the scoring 13:14 into the first with his first tally of the playoffs. The Wild's Charlie Coyle responded to nod things up to end the first period.
Other Minnesota goal scorers included Ryan Suter, Erik Haula, and Kyle Brodziak while Colorado got contributions from Ryan O'Reilly, and Jamie McGinn.
Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves in net for the Avalanche while allowing four goals and Ilya Bryzgalov turned aside 26 shots and allowed five goals.
Colorado leads series 1-0.
Sharks 6, Kings 3: The Sharks came out strong against their division rival Kings at the SAP Center in San Jose, getting goals from six different players and chasing Kings netminder Jonathan Quick from Game 1 of their best-of-seven series.
Pacific Division preview/predictions
Captain Joe Thornton started the scoring 3:06 into the game and became the first of five straight Sharks to find the twine as rookie Tomas Hertl, Patrick Marleau, Raffi Torres and Marc-Edouard Vlasic each notched tallies to stake San Jose to a 5-0 lead.
Los Angeles did its best to rally in the third period, with Jake Muzzin, Slava Voynov and Trevor Lewis each netting goals to make it 5-3, however Brent Burns iced the game with an empty netter with less than a minute left in the game.
Antti Niemi made 31 saves and allowed three goals for San Jose while Quick turned aside 23 shots but allowed five goals before being pulled.
San Jose leads series 1-0.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs rolled on Thursday night and the excitement continued as teams look to chase the best trophy in sports.
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