OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Logan Stankoven scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated Ottawa 4-2 to sweep the first-round series.
Taylor Hall added a goal and an assist before Sebastian Aho buried two pucks into the empty net. Frederik Andersen made 25 saves. Seth Jarvis chipped in two assists.
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Drake Batherson, with a goal and an assist, and Dylan Cozens replied for the Senators, who put up just five goals in four games and never led against the Hurricanes. Linus Ullmark stopped 26 shots. Rookie defenseman Carter Yakemchuk added two assists in his playoff debut.
Of the 213 NHL teams to fall behind 3-0 in a seven-game series, just four have come all the way back to win — the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1980 New York Islanders, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings.
Ottawa also trailed last spring’s first-round matchup with Toronto 3-0 after seven years outside the postseason tournament before eventually falling in six games.
Stankoven scored his fourth goal in as many games at 9:10 of the final period on a power play off a rebound from the end boards.
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Batherson came close to equalizing again with six minutes to go before Carolina was whistled for too many men. But Ottawa’s anemic power play again couldn’t generate any quality looks against a high-pressure penalty kill.
Aho scored into the empty net before Cozens made it 3-2 with 1:49 left on the clock. Aho then sealed the series for good with another empty netter.
Carolina opened the scoring in a physical, nasty second period when Hall beat Ullmark five-hole at 15:15 after Mark Jankowski made a big shot block at the other end.
Ottawa’s power play — 0-for-12 in the series entering play and without much going Saturday — finally broke through when Batherson tipped a Tim Stutzle one-timer.
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WILD 3, STARS 2, OT
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Matt Boldy scored on a deflection with 28.9 seconds left in the first overtime and Minnesota beat Dallas in Game 4 to tie the first-round NHL playoff series.
Jared Spurgeon took a shot that Boldy, unmarked in front of the net, tipped with his stick shaft to guide the puck past goalie Jake Oettinger after the Wild lost Game 3 in double overtime.
Boldy, who had a goal waved off in regulation when teammate Joel Eriksson Ek pushed Miro Heiskanen into Oettinger and another discounted in overtime because he made a kicking motion at the puck, has three goals in the series.
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Game 5 is in Dallas on Tuesday night.
Marcus Foligno tied it for the Wild on a second-effort tip-in with 5:20 left in the third period, and Jesper Wallstedt made 43 saves.
Jason Robertson and Heiskanen scored on the only two regulation power plays for the Stars, who continued their special teams mastery of the Wild and are 8 for 19 in the series.
Oettinger stopped 40 shots in another steely performance in his home state.
PENGUINS 4, FLYERS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang each scored goals and the three-time Stanley Cup champion teammates are headed back to Pittsburgh after they helped the Penguins avoid a first-round series sweep with a win over Philadelphia.
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Game 5 is Monday in Pittsburgh.
Rickard Rakell also scored, and Connor Dewar sealed the win with a late empty-netter for the Penguins. Penguins coach Dan Muse made the right call with the season on the line to bench starting goalie Stuart Skinner in favor of Arturs Silovs.
The 38-year-old Crosby, a career-long foil for the Flyers, not only scored his first goal of the series, but he also set a savvy screen in the third period on defenseman Travis Sanheim that allowed Letang to have a clean look when he ripped his first goal of the series past Dan Vladar for a 3-1 lead.
The goal was crucial after Travis Konecny scored to make it 3-2 and ignite the “Let’s go Flyers!” chants that had largely been dormant with the Flyers down early.
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