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 Wild 4, Blues 1
Minnesota left winger Zach Parise had a pair of goals as his team
clinched a playoff series on home ice for the first time in
franchise history, beating St Louis 4-1 to win their Western
Conference playoff series in six games.
Right wingers Justin Fontaine and Nino Niederreiter also scored for
Minnesota and goalie Devan Dubnyk had 30 saves as the Wild advanced
to a second-round showdown against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The match-up will mark a third consecutive season with a
Minnesota-Chicago playoff series.
Center T.J. Oshie scored for the Blues, who failed to advance past
the first round for the third straight year.
Jake Allen started the game in goal for the Blues, stopping 11 of
the 13 shots he faced. He was lifted in favour of Brian Elliot after
Fontaine scored in the second to make it 2-0 for Minnesota. Elliott
finished with six saves.
Minnesota led 2-1 early in the third period and was weathering a
Blues momentum swing when Parise capped off a rush to the net,
knocking in the rebound of a shot by right winger Jason Pominville
that Elliott stopped.
Niederreiter scored an empty-net goal for the final margin.
With 22 points in 24 playoff games over three seasons with the Wild,
Parise is now tied atop the franchise's playoff scoring leaders list
alongside Marian Gaborik.
- - -
Canadiens 2, Senators 0
The Montreal Canadiens finally closed out the Ottawa Senators at the
third time of asking.
Backed by a 43-save performance from goalie Carey Price, the
Canadiens beat the Senators to take the first-round Eastern
Conference playoff series 4-2 and advance to a match-up against
either Detroit or Tampa Bay.
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The Senators, who charged into the playoffs with a historical 23-4-4
run over the final two months, could not write another amazing
comeback story after falling 3-0 behind in the series.
Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher scored his first goal of the
playoffs in the opening period and it stood as the only tally until
winger Max Pacioretty sent a shot down ice into an empty net with
less than a second remaining.
Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson made 18 saves in the loss.
The Senators were left to rue a quick whistle in the second period,
when Price failed to control a shot by defenseman Mark Borowiecki
and center Jean-Gabriel Pageau ushered the puck into the net.
However, the goal did not stand because play had already been
halted. (Editing by Gene Cherry and Andrew Both)
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