Mcdavid, Oilers oust Flames in OT
Edmonton makes West final for first time in 16 seasons
CALGARY, Alberta — Connor Mcdavid scored at 5:03 of overtime as Edmonton defeated Calgary 5-4 on Thursday to win the second-round playoff series in five games and advance to the Western Conference finals.
The Oilers’ captain scored his seventh goal of the postseason, beating Jacob Markstrom off a pass from Leon Draisaitl to send Edmonton players spilling over the bench in celebration.
Zach Hyman had a goal and two assists, and Darnell Nurse, Jesse Puljujarvi and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers. Mike Smith made 32 saves as Edmonton claimed the first postseason Battle of Alberta in 31 years.
Draisaitl added four assists — his fifth straight game registering three-plus points to build on the NHL playoff record he set in Game 4.
Mcdavid and Draisaitl each have amassed 26 points to lead the playoffs.
The Oilers will face either Colorado or St. Louis in their first conference final appearance since 2006. Colorado leads that series 3-2, with Game 6 set for Friday in St. Louis.
Mikael Backlund had a goal and an assist, and Johnny Gaudreau, Calle Jarnkrok and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Flames. Blake Coleman added two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves as Calgary fell to 0-10 when trailing a playoff series 3-1.
■ Hurricanes 3, Rangers
1: At Raleigh, N.C., Vincent Trocheck had a short-handed goal, Teuvo Teravainen scored to end Carolina’s 0-for-9 power-play drought in the series, and the Hurricanes took a 3-2 series lead.
Andrei Svechnikov scored on a third-period breakaway for Carolina, which had a 3417 edge in shots and moved to 7-0 at home in the postseason — the longest playoff run since Chicago won its first seven home games in 2014.
The Metropolitan Division champion Hurricanes can advance to the Eastern Conference finals to face reigning two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay by winning Game 6 in New York on Saturday. But they are 0-5 away from PNC Arena this postseason despite tying for the NHL lead in regular-season road wins.
Mika Zibanejad scored a power-play goal for New York, winning a first-period faceoff and then drifting to the left side for the putaway six seconds into the man advantage. Igor Shesterkin, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the league’s top goalie and Hart Trophy for MVP, had 31 saves for the Rangers.
New York also had a second-period goal by Ryan Strome for a 2-1 lead negated by an offsides challenge from Carolina.
The Hurricanes had been 9-for-89 on the power play (10.1 percent) since late March and hadn’t scored a power-play goal in this series until rookie Seth Jarvis zipped a pass to Teravainen, who beat Shesterkin at 9:47 of the second period for a 2-1 lead.