A wild finish looms in West playoff race
Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat (12) celebrates his goal in the third period of Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blackhawks won, 3-1.
Things got wild in a matter of seconds for Western Conference teams still trying to get into the NHL playoffs — for those on the ice and those watching at home.
“Interesting. It’s why you play the full 65 minutes,” Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness said Monday, a day after playoff-contending teams Vegas and Nashville both gave up last-second goals to lose home games after regulation.
Dallas, which didn’t play Sunday, can now clinch one of the two wild-card spots with a win in regulation at home tonight against the Golden Knights, something Bowness said he realized “right away” after those two strange finishes Sunday night.
“It’s obviously what you want as a player and a team is to not rely on somebody else to do your job,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said.
Vegas, which as an expansion team in 2017-18 went to the Stanley Cup Final, is now in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in its brief history. The Golden Knights will be without starting goaltender Robin Lehner after the team said Monday he will have seasonending shoulder surgery.
Vegas blew a 4-2 lead in the final 2:06 Sunday night against San Jose, which forced overtime on Timo Meier’s goal with 0.9 seconds left in regulation. The Sharks won 5-4 in a shootout.
That was after Nashville lost 5-4 at home to Minnesota when Dmitry Kulikov scored with 1.3 seconds remaining in overtime.
“A tough one obviously,” Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro said. “But you have to look at some bright sides. We got one point out of it, kind of just got to wipe the slate clean here and focus on Calgary . ... It was definitely a playoff game out there.”