Nhl Playoffs | featured news

Marc Staal scored a power-play goal 1:35 into overtime after Brad Richards tied it in the dying seconds of regulation to lift the New York Rangers to a stunning 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night.

Dustin Brown scored two goals, Jonathan Quick made 23 saves, and the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings finished an improbable four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 3-1 victory Sunday, advancing to the conference finals for just the second time in club history.

Washington defenseman Mike Green scored on a power play with 5 minutes 48 seconds in the game, giving the Capitals a victory and a 2-2 series tie with the Rangers.

Alexei Ponikarovsky scored on his own rebound with 2:39 left in overtime and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in this Eastern Conference semifinal series.

In a game the Washington Capitals could ill afford to lose, it seemed counterintuitive that Alex Ovechkin would record a new career low for ice time in a single postseason contest. But when the Capitals needed someone to step up and break a tie in the third period of Game 2, it was Ovechkin who came through against the New York Rangers. Ovechkin’s tally on a booming point shot with 7 minutes and 27 seconds remaining stood as the game-winner in a 3-2 victory, sending this Eastern Conference semifinal series back to Washington with the teams tied at one game apiece.

Goals from unexpected sources put the Los Angeles Kings in position for another road triumph. Jonathan Quick - no surprise there - made those scores stand up. Matt Greene scored his first career playoff goal short-handed late in the second period and rookie Slava Voynov also got his first of the playoffs as the Kings beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 in the opener of a Western Conference semifinal series on Saturday night.

Jakub Voracek beat Marc-Andre Fleury from in close 2:23 into overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 comeback victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves to tie the Pittsburgh franchise record for wins and the Penguins clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night. Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which will be the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference for the fourth consecutive season. The Penguins will play the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round.

The Boston Bruins earned a berth in the Stanley Cup finals with a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Tim Thomas stopped 33 shots after allowing another early goal, and Brad Marchand scored the game-winner to lead Boston to a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night and put the Bruins one win away from the Stanley Cup finals....