NHL roundup: Rangers, Oilers, Blues advance

[April 24, 2017]  The Sports Xchange

NEW YORK -- Mats Zuccarello scored two goals and Henrik Lundqvist capped a brilliant first-round series with 27 saves as the New York Rangers eliminated the Montreal Canadiens with a 3-1 victory in Game 6 on Saturday night.

The Rangers won the Eastern Conference best-of-seven series 4-2 and face Ottawa or Boston in the next round. Zuccarello scored both goals in the second period after the Rangers fell behind 1-0 after the first.

Derek Stepan capped the win with an empty-net goal with 17.8 seconds remaining. Lundqvist stopped 195 of 206 shots in six games and made a stretching left pad save to deny Tomas Plekanec and preserve the win in the final minutes.

Alexei Emelin scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price made 20 saves in a losing effort.

Oilers 3, Sharks 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Leon Draisaitl and Anton Slepyshev scored breakaway goals 56 seconds apart early in the second period as Edmonton won their Western Conference first-round playoff series with San Jose 4-2.

Cam Talbot stopped 27 shots as the defending West champion Sharks couldn't muster the tying goal despite a late third-period rally. Patrick Marleau's third goal of the series -- and 68th of his 177-game postseason career -- at 12:12 of the third period pulled San Jose to within a goal and brought the SAP Center sellout crowd to life.

The Oilers were guilty of a too-many-men penalty at 15:03 to give the Sharks a third power play, but San Jose could not convert despite captain Joe Pavelski ringing a turn-around backhand effort off the crossbar and goalpost 1:15 into the advantage.

Blues 4, Wild 3 (OT)

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Magnus Paajarvi scored at 9:42 of overtime and Jake Allen made 35 saves as St. Louis defeated Minnesota to win their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen and Paul Stastny scored first-period goals for St. Louis, which got its third road victory of the playoffs to win the series 4-1. The Blues open the Western Conference semifinals at home versus Nashville.

Ryan Suter, Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker scored for the Wild, who had their best regular season in franchise history, but managed only eight goals in five playoff games.

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