April 30, 2025

[SharksGM]

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Two upsets and two overtime games, but not one and the same.

NJ starts off the night with a bang as Kristians Rubins opens scoring in the first minute of the game (and with the second playoff goal of his career)... but that's about it for the Devils, as Cody Hodgson follows up with a natural hatty, and the Sens put up another 3 unanswered to take the first game 6-1. Shot totals were not as uneven as goals.

In TB, Simon Nemec gets his very first playoff goal in his first game just 75 seconds in. Evgeny Kuznetsov ties it up midway through the first, but then Sean Monahan retakes the lead and the Isles never look back, eventually winning 4-2. Blame Carey Price, one might say.

The other New York series starts more slowly, with the Rangers' Casey Mittelstadt scoring the only goal of the first period. Lead changes abound as the Rangers blow that lead, then give up two more leads to the Pens before tying it up at 53:51. Overtime, shockingly, ends with the first shot as Val Nichushkin is the hero. Also, Jack Eichel and Tyler Boucher ended 11 and 18-game goal droughts, respectively.

Lastly but not l(east)ly, the O6 battle of the orient (relatively speaking) starts with Patrik Laine opening the scoring and then completing an unnatural hat trick just before the midpoint of the game. Unfortunately for the Leafs, that was it as Magnus Hellberg shut the door the rest of the way and the Habs completed the comeback in the second overtime period of the evening. Shockingly, it took 6 whole shots to decide the game, as the Leafs killed a penalty but then allowed Maxim Kitsyn to end the game in the Habs' favour not even 30 seconds later.

Oh, and apparently the USA and Canada both lost their semifinal games somehow (CAN started MAF for some reason), but Canada at least picked up the bronze medal. Sweden plays Switzerland (???) in the final tomorrow.

[NYRNYRNYR]