Flyers, Canucks avoid elimination
TORONTO — Ivan Provorov scored at 15:03 of the second overtime as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the New York Islanders 5-4 on Thursday night to force a deciding Game 7.
Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk, Michael Raffl and Scott Laughton also scored for Philadelphia, and Carter Hart made a career-high 49 saves.
Philadelphia won a third overtime game in a postseason series for the first time.
Mathew Barzal and Derick Brassard each had a goal and an assist, and Anders Lee and Matt Martin also scored for New York, which trailed 2-0 midway through the first period before taking leads of 3-2 and 4-3. Semyon Varlamov stopped 26 shots.
Game 7 is Saturday, with the winner advancing to face Tampa Bay in the conference finals.
Philadelphia had a chance on a flurry in front of the Islanders’ net early in the second overtime, but Varlamov stopped the puck and defenseman Adam Pelech dove at the loose puck to keep it out with his stick and glove.
After Pelech lost the puck on a shot attempt when his stick broke, the Flyers pushed it up the ice and Provorov got a pass from Hayes and beat Varlamov.
Hart had 38 saves in regulation. He made several nice stops in the first extra period, including a save on Jordan Eberle’s backhand midway through.
Laughton, who had the overtime winner in Game 5 on Tuesday night, tied it at 4. He brought the puck up the left side on a rush, went forehand-backhandforehand and beat Varlamov at 9:53 of the third.
CANUCKS 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 0: In Edmonton, Alberta, Thatcher Demko stopped 48 shots, and Quinn Hughes had a goal and an assist as Vancouver staved off elimination for the second straight game with a win over Vegas.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, Jake Virtanen also scored and Bo Horvat added an empty-net goal with 4½ minutes left.
Hughes has 16 points this postseason, one more than the record for rookie a defenseman.
Demko did the rest in his second playoff start, forcing a Game 7 Friday in the Edmonton bubble.
Demko has stopped 90 of 91 shots in two starts, leaving the Golden Knights frustrated in their attempt to reach the Western Conference finals.