NHL Playoffs: Brad Marchand nets 5 points, Quick blanks Oilers, Blues and Bolts win
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL Playoffs back-and-forth opening round continues after all the action was completed for May 8, 2022.
In Boston, the Bruins used home ice to their advantage and have roared back to even their series with the Carolina Hurricanes. Brad Marchand had quite the Mother’s Day with recording a point on all five B’s goals. Also in the East, the Tampa Bay Lightning took their turn at a blow out win over the Toronto Maple Leafs to even the series.
Jonathan Quick reminded the Edmonton Oilers about his Stanley Cup winning pedigree with a shutout to help the Los Angeles Kings even their best-of-seven series. Finally, the St. Louis Blues got a solid performance from Jordan Binnington to square things with the Minnesota Wild.
NHL Playoffs: Bruins 5 vs Hurricanes 2
Brad Marchand scored a pair of third-period goals and had three assists as the host Boston Bruins earned a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes to even their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at two games each on Sunday.
At the end of the day, if you have 10 points individually, and you lose, it doesn’t matter,” Marchand said. “If you have no points, and you win, you’re just as happy. So it doesn’t matter in our room who scores or who puts up points. It’s a team win or loss.”
Boston began the third period on a 36-second 5-on-3 and capitalized as Sebastian Aho’s double-minor for high-sticking continued. At the 44-second mark, Marchand buried the go-ahead goal from the left circle following Charlie Coyle’s feed.
Patrice Bergeron finished with a goal and two assists. Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak each logged a goal and an assist, and Coyle added two helpers.
Game 5 of the best-of-seven series will be Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C. The Bruins played Sunday without top defensemen Charlie McAvoy (COVID-19 protocol) and Hampus Lindholm (upper-body injury). Coach Bruce Cassidy called Lindholm a “possibility” to play Tuesday.
Blues 5 vs Wild 2
Jordan Binnington made 28 saves and snapped his nine-game postseason losing streak as St. Louis defeated visiting Minnesota to even their first-round playoff series at two games each.
Binnington, who replaced Ville Husso as the starting goaltender, earned his first playoff victory since Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
Jordan Kyrou and David Perron each scored two goals and Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and two assists for the injury-depleted Blues, who were without defensemen Torey Krug, Nick Leddy and Robert Bortuzzo. St. Louis dressed rookie Scott Perunovich and AHL emergency call-up Steven Santini.
“They’re a great team. They’re hard to play against,” Blues coach Craig Berube said of the Wild. “They do a good job, and we’re a good team too, so here we are. We’re tied.”
NHL.com
Kings 4 vs Oilers 0
Jonathan Quick collected his 10th career playoff shutout and host Los Angeles rode a pair of first-period goals by Trevor Moore and Troy Stecher to a win over Edmonton in Game 4 of their Western Conference opening-round series.
“I mean, we played the game that got us to the playoffs,” Quick said via NHL.com. “We got pucks deep, we forechecked, blocked shots, (got) pucks to the net and rebounds. We play that way, we can be successful.”
Carl Grundstrom added a pair of late goals and an assist for the Kings, who evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2. Game 5 will be Tuesday in Edmonton. Quick, who was pulled in the Kings’ Game 3 blowout loss, made 31 saves Sunday.
Goalie Mike Smith stopped 42 shots for the Oilers, who scored a combined 14 goals in a pair of victories in the second and third games of the series.
Lightning 7 vs Maple Leafs 3
Steven Stamkos, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Pat Maroon scored in the first eight minutes for Tampa Bay, which cruised to a win against visiting Toronto in Game 4 of their Stanley Cup first-round playoff series.
“The first goal has been important in this series so far,” Lightning captain Stamkos said. “Other than that, we had a great start. That was one of our keys — to come out and play the right way — and we got rewarded for that.”
Ross Colton netted two goals, Corey Perry and Ondrej Palat also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the two-time defending champion Lightning, who evened the best-of-seven series 2-2. Game 5 is on Tuesday in Toronto.
William Nylander scored two goals, Jake Muzzin also tallied and Jack Campbell made 11 saves on 16 shots before he was replaced by the Maple Leafs, who are trying to win their first playoff series since 2004.
–Field Level Media contributed to this article