Perry scores in 2OT to top Oilers, Blues beat Predators
Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf have been preparing for these moments for their entire adult lives. Nearly 14 years after the Anaheim Ducks drafted them together, they’ve built a mental connection that remains indelible through any playoff pressure or defensive determination. So when Getzlaf found the puck and a sliver of space on the boards in the second overtime of a crucial playoff game Friday night, Perry’s feet moved before his thoughts.
“Right to the net,” Perry said. “He had eyes up, and he had time, and I was yelling for that puck the whole way.” After the unprecedented comeback required just to get back into Game 5, the Ducks finished it off with one more moment of hard-earned grace from their dynamic duo. Perry scored 6:57 into the second OT after the Ducks rallied from a three-goal deficit in the final minutes of regulation, completing a spectacular 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers and seizing a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Anaheim became the first team in Stanley Cup playoff history to force overtime or win a playoff game after trailing by three goals with less than four minutes left in regulation, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. While the Oilers cried foul over a no-call of goalie interference on Rickard Rakell’s tying score with 15 seconds left in regulation, the Ducks celebrated their third straight win - and the first home victory for either team in the series.
Perry, who finished with a goal and two assists, collected that pass from Getzlaf and waited out a sprawling Cam Talbot, who made 60 saves. “That’s will,” said Getzlaf, who has scored 15 points in a spectacular postseason. “We willed it through, and did whatever we had to do. We scratched and clawed at the end and found a way to get ourselves back in that game and give ourselves an opportunity.” Game 6 is Sunday in Edmonton.
Getzlaf got the first goal of the comeback with 3:16 left in regulation, and Cam Fowler scored 35 seconds later before Rakell put the tying goal through a crowd of prone players to cap a stunning sequence - all with goalie John Gibson pulled for an extra attacker. On his 24th birthday, Rakell slipped a puck under a crowd that included a horizontal Ryan Kesler making some contact with Talbot. Video review found no goalie interference because Kesler had been shoved into Talbot by Darnell Nurse, and the Ducks celebrated madly.
BLUES 2, PREDATORS 1
The St Louis Blues needed a spark. Dmitrij Jaskin gave it to them. Jaskin scored in his first playoff game this season, Jaden Schwartz got the game-winner and the Blues topped the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Friday night to stay alive in their second-round series. Jaskin found out moments before the game he was in the lineup in place of Alexander Steen, who was sidelined by a lower-body injury. Jaskin had just one goal in 51 games this season.
“Steener, even though he didn’t play, he supported us,” he said. “He actually called that I’m going to score.” Schwartz scored 25 seconds into the third, knocking in a rebound from right in front for a 2-1 St. Louis lead. Schwartz has a team-high four postseason goals, including three game-winners. “You’d like to score earlier, but you don’t really think about that,” he said. “You just go play and obviously when it’s a tie game or a close game, you want to step up for your team.” Jake Allen made 21 saves for the Blues, who had dropped two in a row. James Neal scored for the Predators, and Pekka Rinne made 30 saves. “Both of those goals came out of leaving a guy in front of me,” Rinne said. “Both times, two rebounds, two goals.” Game 6 is in Nashville on Sunday.
Jaskin put the Blues in front at 5:43 of the second period, banging home a rebound off an Alex Pietrangelo shot. It was Jaskin’s second career playoff goal. “We felt confident that he would go in and play a really good game,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “I thought he was a force along the walls on both ends and a difference maker.” Jaskin had a career-high eight shots on goal. He also tied for the team lead with four hits and had two takeaways and two blocked shots in 15:46 of playing time. “We had to do it tonight and we did it and everybody’s happy,” Jaskin said. “We’re going to enjoy it now for a few minutes and forget it and go get another one.” — AP