As expected, Tuesday’s games resulted in many playoff seeds being clinched:
In fact, the entire East bracket is now locked in. So what remains to be determined out West? It’s just the shuffle between the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings for the Pacific Division’s No. 3 seed vs. the second West wild card. Whoever gets the No. 3 spot will take on the Edmonton Oilers in Round 1; whoever gets the wild card will square off against the Dallas Stars.
Both clubs are idle tonight (with Vegas pulling one point ahead on Tuesday), and close things out Thursday — the Knights against the Anaheim Ducks and the Kings against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available via NHL Power Play, which is included in an ESPN+ subscription (local blackout restrictions apply).
Points: 104 Regulation wins: 39 Playoff position: P2 Games left: 2 Points pace: 107 Next game: @ ARI (Wednesday) Playoff chances: 100% Tragic number: N/A
Points: 98 Regulation wins: 34 Playoff position: P3 Games left: 1 Points pace: 99 Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday) Playoff chances: 100% Tragic number: N/A
Points: 97 Regulation wins: 37 Playoff position: WC2 Games left: 1 Points pace: 98 Next game: vs. CHI (Thursday) Playoff chances: 100% Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79 Regulation wins: 31 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 1 Points pace: 80 Next game: vs. SJ (Thursday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Points: 79 Regulation wins: 27 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 1 Points pace: 80 Next game: @ MIN (Thursday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Points: 57 Regulation wins: 20 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 1 Points pace: 58 Next game: @ VGK (Thursday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Points: 47 Regulation wins: 14 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 1 Points pace: 48 Next game: @ CGY (Thursday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
p — clinched Presidents’ Trophy y — clinched division x — clinched playoff berth e — eliminated from playoff contention
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Macklin Celebrini, a freshman at Boston University.
Points: 47 Regulation wins: 14
Points: 51 Regulation wins: 17
Points: 57 Regulation wins: 20
Points: 66 Regulation wins: 21
Points: 75 Regulation wins: 27
Points: 76 Regulation wins: 20
Points: 78 Regulation wins: 25
Points: 79 Regulation wins: 27
Points: 79 Regulation wins: 31
Points: 81 Regulation wins: 33
Points: 84 Regulation wins: 33
Points: 87 Regulation wins: 30
Points: 87 Regulation wins: 32
Points: 88 Regulation wins: 32
Points: 91 Regulation wins: 27
Points: 91 Regulation wins: 31
* The Penguins’ first-round pick was traded to the Sharks as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. However, it is top-10 protected.
LAS VEGAS — Zach Hyman scored from just above the right circle with 3:02 left to put his team ahead for good, and the Edmonton Oilers rallied yet again this postseason to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights4-2 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the second-round series.
The Oilers, the defending Western Conference champions who came back from 2-0 down, set an NHL record with their fifth consecutive playoff comeback victory.
“We’re a patient group, we’re a veteran team. The guys here have been playing a lot of playoffs throughout the years,” Edmonton defenseman John Klingberg said. “They know what it takes. Just stick to our game, and take it game by game.”
Vegas, which had just seven shots on goal over the final two periods, lost a playoff game in regulation after leading by at least two goals for the first time. The Golden Knights are 47-4 overall in the postseason with that kind of lead.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, and Corey Perry and Connor Brown scored the other goals. Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid each had two assists. McDavid now has four consecutive postseasons with at least 10 assists for fourth best in league history. Calvin Pickard was barely tested after the first period and finished with 15 shots.
“It gives you a great opportunity,” Hyman said of winning the opener on the road. “You steal one in their rink, and now, you have a chance to take both. We haven’t been in that spot a lot. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way early.”
Mark Stone scored both goals for the Golden Knights to tie Jonathan Marchessault‘s franchise record with 36 for his Vegas career. It also extended his goal-scoring streak to three games. Adin Hill made 24 saves.
Both star-studded top lines delivered in the first period, with Stone scoring twice, the first on a double-minor power play. Edmonton’s top unit cut the deficit in half with 3:34 left when Perry deked Hill for an open net with McDavid and Draisaitl getting assists on the play.
Neither team scored in the second period even though the Oilers outshot Vegas 12-1. The Golden Knights had never been held to fewer than two shots on goal in a regulation playoff period.
Edmonton didn’t waste a chance early in the third, tying the score 57 seconds in when Draisaitl backhanded a shot off the boards and off Hill.
Hyman, who earlier in the shift took a stick to the face from Kaedan Korczak, broke the tie in the closing minutes, and Brown sealed the win 1:16 later.
“We were kind of all over the place in the first 10 minutes,” Perry said in speaking with Sportsnet after the win. “But we found our footing, found our game. We started moving the puck, and making plays. And then, we played well defensively, and kept the puck out of our net.”
Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo did not play because of an illness, allowing Korczak to make his first career postseason start. Vegas also was without Pavel Dorofeyev, who led the team with 35 goals this season, for the second game in a row because of an undisclosed injury. Coach Bruce Cassidy has described him as day to day.
Logan Stankoven started the comeback with his goal midway through the third period off a turnover, beating Logan Thompson after Aliaksei Protas‘ errant pass off Washington teammate Alex Alexeyev‘s right skate put the puck on Jesperi Kotkaniemi‘s stick. After failing to score on a power play late in regulation, Slavin scored 3:06 into OT from just inside the blue line to give Carolina the series lead.
The result capped a dominant effort by the road team, despite the fact that it trailed for most of the game. Carolina finished with 33 shots on net, compared with just 14 for Washington. All told, six Hurricanes had at least three shots on net, including Slavin, who finished with five.
“We were all over it, and we knew we had to just throw everything at the net,” Slavin said. “That mentality paid off there at the end.”
Andersen, who wasn’t tested much, allowed only an early second-period goal to Protas in improving to 4-1 this postseason. Andersen was back after getting knocked out of Game 4 and missing Game 5 of the first round against the New Jersey Devils with an apparent head injury.
“Just trying to take what comes my way and be in that moment all the time and just stay with it,” Andersen said. “You don’t know when that next big save’s going to happen.”
Just a week ago, Andersen had to sit and watch as his teammates defeated the Devils in double overtime of Game 5 to secure the series. A week later, he was back, delivering the kind of quality goaltending Carolina has gotten from him whenever he has been healthy.
“Just really been looking forward to this for a while,” Andersen said. “Happy we could start off on the right foot.”
Carolina remained the only team perfect on the penalty kill this postseason, keeping Washington’s power play off the board twice to improve to 17-of-17. That, along with Kotkaniemi and Stankoven taking advantage of Protas’ mistake and Slavin scoring with Seth Jarvis screening Thompson, was the difference.
“I thought our guys played hard every shift. Right from the start of the game, I liked how we were playing,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, we were down, but yeah, there’s a certain game plan. And I thought we were on it tonight.”
Bailey drove in Christian Koss with a liner to center against Ryan Pressly (2-2). Jung Hoo Lee had a run-scoring single, and Matt Chapman singled home two more runs in San Francisco’s highest-scoring inning of the season.
The nine runs are the most in an extra inning since the Angels scored nine in the 13th inning on Aug. 16, 2009. It is also the highest-scoring extra inning at Wrigley Field, surpassing the seven-run 10th by the New York Giants on June 18, 1921.
Lee also hit a two-run homer as San Francisco bounced back from an ugly 9-2 loss to Chicago on Monday night. Chapman, who committed two of the Giants’ four errors in the series opener, had three hits and scored twice.
The Cubs trailed 5-3 before rallying in the ninth, handing Justin Verlander another no-decision after he was in position for his first win with the Giants.
Justin Turner bounced a pinch-hit RBI single into right field against Ryan Walker. After Ian Happ struck out swinging for the second out, Kyle Tucker greeted Erik Miller (2-0) with a hard grounder back up the middle, bringing home the tying run.
Verlander pitched five innings of three-run ball. The three-time AL Cy Young Award winner signed a $15 million, one-year contract with the Giants in January.
Verlander, 42, is winless in eight consecutive starts for the first time in his 20 major league seasons.
Miguel Amaya hit a two-run homer for NL Central-leading Chicago, which had won four of five. Dansby Swanson had two hits and scored twice while extending his hitting streak to eight games.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong robbed Mike Yastrzemski of extra bases with a leaping grab at the wall in the third. Crow-Armstrong also took a hit away from Lee with a sliding catch in the fifth.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.