These past few weeks held some thrilling NHL games for viewers, leaving many on the edge of their seats. The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a successful start with leading their series 3-1 in a best of 7 game playoff. For the New York Islanders, it has been an unfortunate series after losing the first game 8-2. The second game, while closer in score, still went the way for Tampa as the Lightning’s, Nikita Kucherov, scored with 7 seconds to go. However, the Islanders narrowly escaped another loss in the third game after losing a lead of 3-1 going into the third period as Tampa tied the score.
Thanks to a goal by Brock Nelson and an empty net goal by Jean-Gabriel Pageau, the Islanders were able to put away the game and obtain their first win in the series. Tampa rallied for the fourth game and won 4-1 scoring twice in the second and third period. One more win for Tampa will send them to the Stanley Cup finals. For the Islanders, desperate for a major comeback, it will be a tough turnaround having had to send home forwards, Casey Cizikas and Tom Kuhnhackl, due to injuries.
For the Dallas Stars, it has been a successful series with the Stars having advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals with a series win of 4-1. With the first game win of 1-0 thanks to a goal early in the first period by John Klingberg. The Vegas Golden Knights fought back the second game with a win of 3-0, tying the series at 1-1. However, the Dallas Stars had a thrilling victory in the third game with Alexander Radulov scoring the winning goal 31 seconds into overtime to make the series 2-1. The fourth game went the way of the Stars once again as they beat the Islanders 2-1, with all the goals occurring in the second period.
The big name in this game goes to Dallas goalkeeper, Anton Khudobin, who has been key all series but recorded 32 saves in the fourth game. The fifth game gave Knights fans hope as they went up 2-0 early in the third period. However, the Stars came back even harder after scoring their first goal of the game thanks to Jamie Benn, and the tying goal just 6 minutes later by Joel Kiviranta to send the teams back into overtime. Overtime proved to be a rough go for the Vegas Golden Knights, as Dallas earned a power play and a beautiful one timed shot by Denis Gurianov inside the near post, finished the comeback, sending the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final.