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The Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets were the second teams to start and the first to finish on Tuesday, as the Jets pulled ahead to a 3-1 lead in the series after a 2-0 win. A controversial no-call was capitalized upon by the Jets shortly after, and Connor Hellebuyck had a 30-save shutout for Winnipeg. They would need every one, as it was 1-0 until an empty-netter towards the end of regulation for the Jets made it 2-0 and made the lead insurmountable for Minnesota.
Were you bold enough to still believe in the Washington Capitals? If so, congratulations! After blowing leads and ending up on the losing end of the first two games of their series against the Blue Jackets, the Capitals finally got one on Tuesday with a road win in Columbus. Washington got some puck luck in double overtime and were able to avoid falling into a 3-0 series hole against the Blue Jackets. Now, we might have a series on our hands.
Finally, the Vegas Golden Knights complete a sweep of the Kings in Los Angeles in their first-ever playoff series, in their first-ever season.
If you missed any of Monday's games, you can find a recap of the big wins from the Leafs, Devils, Avalanche and Sharks by checking our updates here.
Tuesday's full schedule
- Washington Capitals 3, Columbus Blue Jacket 2 (2OT) (Blue Jackets lead 2-1)
- Winnipeg Jets 2, Minnesota Wild 0 (Jets lead 2-1)
- Vegas Golden Knights 1, Los Angeles Kings 0 (Knights win 4-0)
Golden Knights sweep Kings
Well, the Vegas Golden Knights' first-ever playoff series went pretty well.
The Knights completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night, shutting out the Kings with a 1-0 win. It's just the third time in North American pro sports history that a team has swept the first playoff series they were involved in. For Vegas, it came in their inaugural season. Pretty amazing.
The story of the Kings' demise was their inability to get anything going offensively in the series. They scored just three goals in four games and were shut out twice. Despite that incredible lack of production, Los Angeles lost every game by just a single goal.
As some extra salt in the wound, Brayden McNabb, who Vegas poached from the Kings in June's expansion draft, scored the lone goal of the game.
Marc-Andre Fleury continued to be spectacular in net for Vegas in Game 4, stopping all 31 shots. Some of them weren't easy.
In total, Fleury stopped 127 of 130 shots in the series -- a .977 save-percentage. Absolutely insane.
Of course, Jonathan Quick was pretty damn good in net himself on the other end of the ice, but the lack of support in front of him means his playoff run ends after just four games.
As for the Knights, they should have plenty of time to rest up before next round, where they'll play either the Sharks or the Ducks. (The Sharks. They're going to play the Sharks.)
Tyler Toffoli = Hockey guy
Los Angeles Kings forward Tyler Toffoli is having a rough series against the Golden Knights so far. Not only has he been held without a point through the first three games, he also got his face split open in Game 4.
Toffoli was hit in the face with a deflected puck during the second period of Tuesday's game in Los Angeles and he immediately headed to the locker room for repairs. Those repairs required a lot of stitches to sew up the winger's face, but he was able to return to the game about 10 minutes later.
That wound will probably hurt a lot less on Wednesday morning if Toffoli can get on the board and help his team stave off a sweep at the hands of Vegas.
Caps avoid another heartbreak with some luck in 2OT
After a scoreless first half of regulation, the Capitals finally managed to beat Sergei Bobrovsky and open the scoring in Columbus. They got on the board thanks to this deflection from Tom Wilson in front of the Blue Jackets' net.
The Caps appeared to pick up a second goal very quickly after Wilson's tally, but the Jackets challenged for an offside and the goal was overturned following review. That likely made plenty of stomachs turn in Capitals land, as Washington is desperate and hasn't been great at holding leads in this series so far.
And, wouldn't you know it, Columbus netted the equalizer just a few minutes later.
That's the first career playoff goal for rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois, and it's a beauty.
The Capitals were able to reclaim that lead after Columbus gifted Washington a 5-on-3 opportunity with just over five minutes remaining in the second. Nicklas Backstrom found John Carlson at the point, and the Capitals defenseman ripped a blast that made it 2-1.
That lead held until early in the third period, when Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson tortured the Washington defense with this disgusting sequence.
Panarin's goal is his second of the playoffs, and -- with his assist to Dubois earlier in the night --his seventh point in three games.
As great of a goal as that was, it's also another case of the Caps suffering from breakdowns at very inopportune times. Dmitry Orlov's turnover in the offensive zone sprung that odd man rush, and Carlson had a fit trying to defend that passing on the break.
The game finished regulation at 2-2 and needed two overtimes to determine a winner. Ultimately, the Capitals were finally able to finish the job...with the help of some luck. A Bobrovsky rebound pinballed off of Washington's Lars Eller, then Columbus' Zach Werenski, then back off of Eller and in.
It's the kind of heartbreaking finish you'd expect to go against the Capitals, not in their favor.
Pretty? No, but the Capitals have to take 'em any way they can get 'em at this point, and that's a huge win to help get them back in the series. For now.
Jets win 2-0 after benefiting from missed call to go up 3-1 in series
Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey got away with an egregious cross-check to the head of Eric Staal during Game 4 in Minnesota on Tuesday. However, Morrissey might want to keep his phone nearby after the game because there's a chance the league's Department of Player Safety could be calling. That's a bad, dirty check that may land him a suspension.
The Jets would capitalize on that no-call, taking a 1-0 lead off a goal from Mark Scheifele on a slick pass from Kyle Connor. Wild goalie Devin Dubnyk never saw the shot coming due to a ruckus in front of the net. Despite desperate pleas from the Wild faithful for Bruce Boudreau to challenge the goal, as they believed the Jets were offside, Boudreau let it ride and kept the challenge in his pocket.
After the game, Boudreau may have slightly overreacted to the no-call. While it was egregiously bad, to say that it cost the game for a Wild team that couldn't put one of its 30 shots in might be a bit of an overstatement. Yet that's exactly what Boudreau said, via TSN's Darren Dreger.
The Jets preserved the lead on a gorgeous save from Connor Hellebuyck, after the Wild's Mikael Granlund landed a cross to Mathew Dumba. It's been the Wild's best chance to score in this game, but they weren't quite able to capitalize due to Hellebuyck's quick glove.
The 1-0 score would hold up until the end of the game, until Scheifele put the puck in an empty net for his second goal of the game, giving the Jets a 2-0 win. Hellebuyck picked up a stellar 30-save shutout. His first career postseason shutout comes just one game after he was pulled in Game 3, when he gave up six goals in 40 minutes of play. So to bounce back is a massive confidence booster for the 24-year-old goalie.
This game was huge for the Jets, who now take a commanding 3-1 lead on the series. They may find themselves without Morrissey for a few games after his antics early on, but the defensive show-out is huge for a team that had a difficult go in Game 3, and will now have an opportunity to close out this series at home in Game 5.
Minnesota loses Zach Parise to fractured sternum
The Minnesota Wild lineup took a big hit on Tuesday with the news that veteran forward Zach Parise would miss the next several weeks with a fractured sternum. Parise suffered the injury during the Wild's 6-2 win over the Jets on Saturday. That's tough news for Minnesota, as the 33-year-old old has been a key offensive contributor thus far, scoring in each of the first three games of the series. They Wild already had their work cut out for them trying to keep pace with Winnipeg's high-powered offense, and now that task becomes even tougher with Parise out of action.
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