Rangers and Flames get OT winners to advance

Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal with 15:14 remaining in overtime and the host New York Rangers outlasted the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 late Sunday night in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

With 17:05 remaining, Pittsburgh’s Brock McGinn was called for holding on K’Andre Miller after losing the puck to the defenseman.

As time wound down on the man advantage, Panarin got a cross-ice pass from defenseman Adam Fox and lifted a wrist shot from the upper part of the left circle past goalie Tristan Jarry’s glove.

Panarin’s second career overtime playoff goal sent the Rangers into the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Rangers won the final three games after being down 3-1, marking their third comeback in team history from such a deficit and second against the Penguins. New York also became the first team in playoff history to record three straight comeback wins in elimination games within the same series.

Mika Zibanejad scored the tying goal with 5:45 in regulation and won a faceoff from Teddy Blueger that ultimately led to Panarin’s game-winner.

New York’s Igor Shesterkin made 42 saves.

Evan Rodrigues scored a shorthanded goal and Jake Guentzel and Danton Heinen scored power-play goals for Pittsburgh, which got Sidney Crosby back from an upper body injury.

The teams traded goals in a span of 65 seconds midway through the second after the Rangers’ Chris Kreider opened the scoring and the Penguins tied the game with 69 seconds left in the first.

After Rodrigues flipped a backhander over Shesterkin with 2:36 remaining in the second, Zibanejad forged a 3-3 tie when his wrist shot from near the right faceoff circle sailed over Jarry’s shoulder.

Jarry made 26 saves in his return from a broken foot.

Flames 3, Stars 2 (OT) Johnny Gaudreau scored the series-winning overtime goal and host Calgary claimed a victory over Dallas in Game 7 of their Western Conference first-round series.

Tyler Toffoli and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for the Flames, while goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves in an exhilarating game.

The Flames will face the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs – the first Battle of Alberta playoff meeting in more than 30 years, since 1991.

Jamie Benn and Vladislav Namestnikov replied for Dallas, but the star of the show was goalie Jake Oettinger, who made 64 saves, the second-most saves in a Game 7 loss in NHL history.

Kelly Hrudey had 73 saves for the New York Islanders against the Washington Capitals in 1987.

The Flames were buzzing all over with one opportunity after another when Gaudreau lifted a sharp-angled top-shelf shot from the left wing for his first playoff overtime goal with 4:51 remaining in the first overtime period.

The Flames twice erased a deficit en route to overtime. Benn converted the game’s first shot 40 seconds into the game, his first goal of the series and first in 13 playoff outings, to open the scoring.

(Reuters)