Dubois lifts Blue Jackets in OT thriller
Pierre-Luc Dubois got his third goal of the game 18:24 into overtime, finishing the Blue Jackets’ comeback from three goals down to beat the Maple Leafs 4-3 on Thursday night in Toronto and take a 2-1 lead in their Stanley Cup playoff qualifying series.
Dubois got the winner on a rush after Alexandre Texier stripped the puck from the Maple Leafs’ John Tavares.
The Blue Jackets rallied from a 3-0 deficit midway through the second period, scoring twice in a 3 ½-minute stretch midway through the third to tie it.
Seth Jones also scored for the Blue Jackets. Joonas Korpisalo gave up three goals by the Leafs and made 12 saves before he was chased in the second period. Elvis Merzlikins stopped all 21 shots he faced to put the Blue Jackets one win from advancing to the traditional 16-team first round.
Canucks 3, Wild 0
Brock Boeser and Elias Petterson each had a power-play goal and an assist and goalie Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves for his first postseason shutout as the Canucks took a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five qualifier series in Edmonton, moving them to within one game of advancing to the first round in their first playoff appearance since 2015.
The teams played 33:49 without scoring, until Boeser got the Canucks going late in the second period with a falling-down backhander off the ricochet from Pettersson’s shot.
Flyers 3, Capitals 1
Scott Laughton had two goals and an assist and linemates Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny had three and two assists, respectively, to lead the Flyers to their second win in the Eastern Conference’s round-robin seeding round in Toronto. The Flyers have now won 11 of their last 12 games dating to Feb. 18, with the shutdown in between. They can’t finish any worse than second in the East when they face the Lightning on Saturday.
Golden Knights 6, Blues 4
Mark Stone scored the go-ahead goal on a deflection with under seven minutes left as the Golden Knights outshot the Blues 38-17 and prevailed in Western Conference round-robin action in Edmonton. Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore each scored twice for the Golden Knights, while defenseman Zach Whitecloud and Stone added a goal each.
The Golden Knights would be the West’s No. 1 seed with a win against the Avalanche on Saturday. The Blues can finish no higher than third and need to beat the Stars on Sunday to avoid the No. 4 seed.