Blues eliminate Jets, advance
Jaden Schwartz scored three times and Jordan Binnington stopped 18 shots to help the host St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in Game 6 of their playoff series Saturday night to advance to the second round.
Bryan Little and Dustin Byfuglien scored for Winnipeg, which tried to rally after falling behind 3-0 early in the third period. Connor Hellebuyck had 33 saves.
The Blues became the first home team to win in the series, and advanced to the second round for the third time in four years.
Schwartz, who had only 11 goals in the regular season, has four in the playoffs — the Blues’ last four, starting the tiebreaking tally with 15 seconds left in the 3-2 win in Game 5.
“Sometimes when pucks aren’t going in, the net doesn’t seem as big,” Schwartz said. “When you get a bounce, or a break, it seems like you can carry that over.” Dallas 5, at Nashville 3: Alexander Radulov scored two goals in the second period and the Stars pushed the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed to the brink of elimination.
Jason Dickinson also scored twice, Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Benn had three assists.
“I think we keep getting better, and we have to keep getting better,” Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said. “The next one’s the hardest one because it’s the potential to end someone’s season. That’s the challenge in front of us now.”
at Washington 6, Carolina 0: Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and two assists, Alex Ovechkin had a goal and two assists, and Braden Holtby stopped all 30 shots he faced to lead the Capitals.
Washington has a 3-2 series lead and can advance with a win at Carolina on Monday.
Carolina goalie Petr Mrazek allowed six goals on 28 shots.