NHL roundup: Neuvirth, Flyers stun Capitals

[April 23, 2016]  The Sports Xchange

WASHINGTON -- Michal Neuvirth made a playoff career-high 44 saves and Ryan White scored a second-period goal that deflected off the skate of a defenseman as the Philadelphia Flyers stayed alive in their first-round series against the Washington Capitals with a 2-0 victory Friday.

Despite being outshot 44-11, the Flyers closed the margin in the best-of-7 series to 3-2 with Game 6 on Sunday in Philadelphia. It was the Flyers second straight win after falling behind in the series 3-0.

Neuvirth had one of the most outstanding playoff performances in recent memory, holding the fort with the Capitals outshooting the Flyers 30-5 over the last 40 minutes before Chris Vandevelde put the icing on the victory with an empty-net goal with 30.8 seconds left.

Washington goalie Braden Holtby took the loss while making just nine saves on the night as the Capitals lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season.

Sharks 6, Kings 3

LOS ANGELES -- Joonas Donskoi scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the third period, and San Jose eliminated Los Angeles from the Stanley Cup playoffs with a victory at Staples Center.

Joe Pavelski added a goal -- his fifth of the series -- at 12:24 of the third as the Sharks advanced to the second round, where they meets Anaheim or Nashville. That series is tied 2-2.

Melker Karlsson, Chris Tierney and Matt Nieto also scored for the Sharks, and Logan Couture and Brent Burns each had three assists. The Kings got second-period goals by Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Kris Versteeg.

Islanders 2, Panthers 1 (2 OT)

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Alan Quine scored the game-winning goal 16 minutes into the second overtime as New York defeated Florida at the BB&T Center to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

Frans Nielsen also scored for New York and Thomas Greiss made 47 saves.

Aleksander Barkov was awarded a penalty shot in the first overtime, but his backhand move was stopped by Greiss. Barkov did score the regulation goal for the Panthers.

Wild 5, Stars 4 (OT)

DALLAS -- Mikko Koivu scored the game-tying goal late in regulation and also scored the game-winner 4:55 into overtime for Minnesota, which remains alive with an overtime win against Dallas in Game 5 of their first round series at American Airlines Center.

Mikael Granlund, Jordan Schroeder and Nino Niederreiter also had regulation goals for the Wild and Devan Dubnyk stopped 20 of 24 shots.

Johnny Oduya, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza and Alex Goligoski scored for the Stars in regulation and John Klingberg had two assists.

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