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PHT Morning Skate: Hawks, Ducks need one more win

St. Louis Blues v Chicago Blackhawks Game 5

St. Louis Blues v Chicago Blackhawks Game 5

AP

The Boston Bruins became the second team to advance to the Conference Semifinals on Saturday, but once again the San Jose Sharks couldn’t seal the deal. Meanwhile, 18-year-old forward Nathan MacKinnon scored in overtime to give the Avalanche a 3-2 series lead over Minnesota.

This should be another eventful day of playoff hockey. We got three games and two of them are potential elimination contests.

Game 5: Philadelphia Flyers vs. New York Rangers [Series tied 2-2] (12:00 p.m. ET -- NBC)

Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Steve Mason missed the beginning of the series due to an upper-body injury, but he got his first start of the playoffs on Friday and stopped 37 of 38 shots en route to a 2-1 victory.

Mason gave the Rangers problems in the regular season too, holding them to six goals on 95 shots over three games. With this matchup now a best-of-three, the question is if New York can figure out Mason before its too late.

Listening to the Rangers after the game, it’s clear that they think they could have made life harder for Mason in Game 4. Rick Nash argued that they needed to put more traffic in front of Mason to generate juicier scoring chances.

Nash, by the way, hasn’t found the back of the net in the playoffs and now has just two goals in 20 career postseason games. For a guy that’s known as a sniper, now is the time for him to elevate his game.

Game 6: St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks [Blackhawks lead 3-2] (3:00 p.m. ET -- NBC)

St. Louis won the first two games of the series, but the defending Stanley Cup champions aren’t ones to crumble when faced with adversity.

Both teams have had to fight for every inch as four of the five games have gone to overtime, but at the end of the day, Chicago has pushed St. Louis to the brink. The Blackhawks’ elite have once again excelled in clutch situations as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews scored the game-winning goal in overtime in back-to-back contests.

“Everybody is a little discouraged, a little down,” Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock admitted, “but (Sunday) we’ll get ourselves ready.”

St. Louis is still a team with plenty of offensive depth, a topnotch defensive core, and one of the best goaltenders in the game. Just as the Blackhawks couldn’t be dismissed when they were down, the Blues shouldn’t be written off now.

Game 6: Anaheim Ducks vs. Dallas Stars [Ducks lead 3-2] (8:00 p.m. ET - NBCSN)

Dallas rallied back from a 2-0 series deficit, but after finally tying the series, the Stars collapsed in the third period of Game 5. Anaheim netted three unanswered goals to earn a 6-2 victory.

Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry have frustrated Dallas, combining for five goals and 12 points. Getzlaf and Perry ranked second and fifth in the NHL scoring race during the regular season, but the Stars have a duo that did nearly as well in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Unfortunately for the Stars, Seguin hasn’t managed to contribute much offensively in the first round.

Dallas needs more out of him to stay alive, but the team also has to hope that goalie Kari Lehtonen shrugs off his rough start. He was pulled in the third period after stopping just 16 of 21 shots. He now has a 2.97 GAA and .896 save percentage in the first round despite the fact that he posted a shutout in Game 3.

It’s worth adding that Anaheim has lost its last three playoff series. The Ducks had a 3-2 lead against Detroit in the first round last year, but lost its final two games, including Game 7 at home.

Follow @RyanDadoun