St. Louis — Cam Fowler, Brayden Schenn and Nathan Walker scored in a 2:13 span of the second period and the St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Friday night to force a Game 7 in the first-round series.
Philip Broberg had a goal and an assist, Alexey Toropchenko also scored and Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for St. Louis who will return to Winnipeg for the deciding game Sunday night.
Cole Perfetti and Nino Niderreiter scored for Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves before being pulled after the second period for Eric Comrie who made four saves. Hellebuyck is 0-7 while allowed at least four goals in each of his last seven road playoff starts.
Perfetti scored his first goal of the playoffs on a power play 5:43 into the second period to tie the score 1-1.
Walker put St. Louis back ahead with his third of the series with 8:26 remaining in the period, and Schenn got his second of the postseason 53 seconds later to make it 3-1.
Fowler scored his second goal of the playoffs with 6:20 remaining in the second period to give St. Louis a three-goal lead. Fowler has a point in all six games of the series, and his 10 points are the most in a series for a defenseman in franchise history.
Toropchenko capped St. Louis’ four-goal period with 3:03 left in the second.
The home team has won each of the first six games of this series.
Broberg scored his first goal of the playoffs on the Blues’ first shot on goal of the game 6:05 into the first period to put St. Louis ahead 1-0.
Jets coach Scott Arniel called a timeout immediately after the goal but elected not to challenge the play for goaltender interference as Pavel Buchnevich had been pushed into the crease by Dylan Samberg.
Morgan Barron appeared to score the tying goal 29 seconds into the second period. However, the goal was overturned after St. Louis challenged the play when the officials ruled that Mason Appleton had entered the Blues’ zone before Barron carried the puck in.
Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers returned to the lineup after missing Winnipeg’s last two regular season games and first five games of the playoffs with a right foot injury.
The New York Rangers have hired Mike Sullivan as coach, days after he and the Pittsburgh Penguins agreed to part ways.
General manager Chris Drury announced the move Friday, bringing in the organization’s top candidate who was out of work for less than a full business week.
“Mike Sullivan has established himself as one of the premier head coaches in the NHL,” Drury said. “Mike brings a championship-level presence behind the bench. … As we began this process and Mike became an available option for us to speak with, it was immediately clear that he was the best coach to lead our team.”
Sullivan replaces Peter Laviolette, who was fired after the Rangers missed the playoffs following a trip to the Eastern Conference final last year. Sullivan, who coached Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup back to back in 2016 and ’17, is tasked with trying to turn the Rangers back into an immediate contender.
Drury made the move to get Sullivan not long after receiving a multiyear contract extension of his own.
“Mike’s track record and success in the NHL and internationally speaks for itself, and I look forward to seeing him behind the Rangers bench,” owner James Dolan said. “I would like to welcome Mike back to the Rangers organization.”
Sullivan, 57, spent four seasons as a Rangers assistant under then-coach and still close friend and confidant John Tortorella from 2009-13. He coached Drury during that time, and the two have worked together professionally through USA Hockey, most recently at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, and are part of the U.S. contingent for the 2026 Milan Olympics.
Tortorella – who was firedas coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in late March – could be a candidate to join Sullivan on his staff, as he did at the 4 Nations, but no assistant hires were confirmed Friday and the organization is expected to discuss those openings in the coming days.
Sullivan had been with the Penguins since getting hired midseason in December 2015 when Mike Johnston was fired months into his lackluster tenure. This is his third head-coaching job in the NHL after a short stint with the Boston Bruins in 2003-04 and ’05-06 sandwiched around the lockout that wiped out an entire season.
New York getting Sullivan leaves seven teams around the league with vacancies: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Anaheim, Seattle and Vancouver. Multiple teams that initially reached out to Sullivan will now have to pivot to other experienced options, including Rick Tocchet, Joel Quenneville and Laviolette, as well as a couple of college coaches with recent national championships: Denver’s David Carle and Western Michigan’s Pat Ferschweiler.
Edmonton, Alberta — Calvin Pickard, the lone goaltender with a 4-0 record, is among the surprises emerging from the first round of NHL playoffs and Edmonton Oilers fans are likely grateful for it.
The 33-year-old Pickard stepped in for Stuart Skinner when the Oilers were down 2-0 in their series with the Los Angeles Kings. Edmonton won four straight to close out the series Thursday night at home.
“It means a lot,” Pickard said. “Coming in Game 3, you don’t want to chase results. You just want to go out and do your job.”
Next up is a second-round series against Vegas, which is coming off a six-game win over Minnesota. Edmonton and Vegas split their four regular-season meetings. They last met in the postseason in 2023 when the Knights eliminated the Oilers in six games in the second round on the way to winning the Stanley Cup.
“For the series against Vegas, there’s a team that plays quite a bit different style than L.A. with their systems and the type of personnel that they have,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It’s going to give us a whole new challenge.”
The Oilers’ special teams, so crucial in last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, picked up against the Kings. Edmonton held the Kings to two goals on nine power-play chances and went 6-for-9 in the four victories. Getting some skaters back in the regular mix following injuries was key.
“There were a lot of guys that came in that weren’t in the picture going into the playoffs,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “You could see some of the chemistry with the lines and guys playing together. That came as the series went on.”
The return of Evander Kane and defenseman John Klingberg in Game 2 was pivotal. Kane had two goals and an assist in the series, but also gives Knoblauch more freedom to deploy Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on a line together.
“It certainly helps our team the way Evander is playing, and it gives us a lot more options,” Knoblauch said.
McDavid and Draisaitl still had their fingerprints all over the series as the captain contributed two goals and nine assists, and Draisaitl’s three goals and seven assists included an overtime winner in Game 4.
“You need everybody feeling good about themselves, and everybody should,” McDavid said. “We had different guys step up at different times throughout the series, and everybody should feel good and proud of that, and ready to carry that into another tough opponent.”
Pickard will be ready to start if that’s the decision.
“My evaluation is we’ve got two really good goalies that we have confidence in,” said Knoblauch. “Either one of them can go in the nets and we’ll see how they’re playing. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Picks right now because of what he has done. He’s won four games in a row, but if we need to change, we’ve got a great second option.”
Pickard’s career was on a downward trajectory after playing 50 games for the Colorado Avalanche in 2016-17. He started just 19 games over the next six seasons for Toronto, Philadelphia, Arizona and Detroit, but spent the majority of those years in the minors.
When he signed with the Oilers in 2022, he spent that season with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
“I never stopped believing in myself,” Pickard said. “If you’re not believing in yourself, you’re not going to be successful. I played some good hockey in those years since I played 50 games in Colorado. I was always building that game and that confidence to get back to this level.”
Pickard went 1-1 in the first playoff starts of his career. He replaced Skinner for a pair of games in last year’s second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.
“I was never doubtful to throw him in because we kind of ripped the Band-Aid off last year,” Knoblauch said. “Put him in a very stressful, almost a must-win game against Vancouver and he responded tremendously and gave us a lot of confidence. This year, it was a lot easier to give him the net.”
Pickard’s 31 starts this season were the most since his last season with Colorado. His record was 22-10-1 with a .900 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.71. He started eight of Edmonton’s final 11 games of the regular season after Skinner was injured March 26.
“It was good to get into a rhythm towards the end of the season there with Skins’s injury. I was playing really good hockey. It was probably my best hockey of the year heading into playoffs,” he said. “I was ready if called upon and I was called upon pretty early. I just want to keep it going.”
(Florida wins 4-1)
▶ Game 1: Florida 6-2
▶ Game 2: Florida 2-0
▶ Game 3: Tampa Bay 5-1
▶ Game 4: Florida 4-2
▶ Game 5: Florida 6-3
(Washington wins 4-1)
▶ Game 1: Washington 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 2: Washington 3-1
▶ Game 3: Monteral 6-3
▶ Game 4: Washington 5-2
▶ Game 5: Washington 4-1
(Carolina wins 4-1)
▶ Game 1: Carolina 4-1
▶ Game 2: Carolina 3-1
▶ Game 3: New Jersey 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Carolina 5-2
▶ Game 5: Carolina 5-4 (2OT)
(Toronto wins 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Toronto 6-2
▶ Game 2: Toronto 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 3: Toronto 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Ottawa 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Ottawa 4-0
▶ Game 6: Toronto 4-2
(Tied 3-3)
▶ Game 1: Colorado 5-1
▶ Game 2: Dallas 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 3: Dallas 2-1 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Colorado 4-0
▶ Game 5: Dallas 6-2
▶ Game 6: Colorado 7-4
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Dallas, 8 p.m.
(Edmonton wins 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Los Angeles 6-5
▶ Game 2: Los Angeles 6-2
▶ Game 3: Edmonton 7-4
▶ Game 4: Edmonton 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Edmonton 3-1
▶ Game 6: Edmonton 6-4
(Vegas wins 4-2)
▶ Game 1: Vegas 4-2
▶ Game 2: Minnesota 5-2
▶ Game 3: Minnesota 5-2
▶ Game 4: Vegas 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Vegas 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 6: Vegas 3-2
(Series tied 3-3)
▶ Game 1: Winnipeg 5-3
▶ Game 2: Winnipeg 2-1
▶ Game 3: St. Louis 7-2
▶ Game 4: St. Louis 5-1
▶ Game 5: Winnipeg 5-3
▶ Game 6: St. Louis 5-2
▶ Game 7: Sunday, May 4 at Winnipeg, TBA
x-If necessary
