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The Playoff Buzzer: Working overtime; Kadri over the line

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The Capitals take a 2-0 series lead after Brooks Orpik scores the game-winner in overtime.

  • The Scrappy Hurricanes forced overtime, but the defending champs persisted (with a Brooks Orpik OT game-winner[!]), as the Capitals came up clutch.
  • In a grinding affair where every goal mattered, the Predators tied things up with the Avalanche via Craig Smith’s OT heroics.
  • The only Saturday game that didn’t go to OT, and wasn’t really competitive, involved the Bruins dominated the Maple Leafs. The violence was as much the story as anything else.
  • Calgary couldn’t steal one from the Avalanche, thanks to Nathan MacKinnon and Philipp Grubauer.

Capitals 4, Hurricanes 3 [OT] (Washington leads 2-0)

The Capitals are up two games, and in each case raced off to leads, but the Hurricanes have shown that they aren’t going down without a fight. Actually, without fights. They pushed this one to OT, but a broken stick and a broken play opened the door for Brooks Orpik to be an unlikely hero. Can the Hurricanes “storm surge” back into this series? Maybe, but Washington held serve ... at worst.

Predators 2, Stars 1 [OT] (Series tied 1-1)

Nashville is a defensive-minded team, but compared to the Stars, they’re basically pushing the pedal to the metal. The Predators dominated the game from a shots on goal standpoint, yet it seemed like Ben Bishop might just steal a 2-0 series lead for Dallas. The Preds found a way to beat Bishop twice, and that was enough in a tight-checking, testy Game 2.

Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 1 (Series tied 1-1)

The final score was accurate, if not generous to a Toronto team that wasn’t often overmatched in Game 2. The Bruins stormed off to an early lead, and rarely looked back. It’s possible that both teams won’t be the same for a while after this one. Nazem Kadri could receive a significant suspension for his misdeeds. Other players might be injured thanks to the assorted violence, particularly Torey Krug and Connor Clifton. It was just a nasty, nasty affair.

Avalanche 3, Flames 2 [OT] (Series tied 1-1)

Mike Smith was brilliant once again, but so was Grubauer. It seemed like Calgary would gain a 2-0 lead, as the Flames went up 2-1 with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation. J.T. Compher’s tying goal came in the closing minutes of the third, and then MacKinnon turned on the jets to win it for Colorado in Game 2. An impressive outing by the Avs, although there’s concern on defense if Samuel Girard is injured. MacKinnon’s up there when it comes to Avs stars producing early in their playoff careers.

Three Stars

1. Evgeny Kuznetsov/top Caps

It’s difficult to put together a consensus top three because a) no one scored more than two points and b) the best goalie performances probably came from Mike Smith and Ben Bishop, who were in net for losing teams. So let’s go with players who made the biggest difference in winning games, particularly the three of four Saturday Game 2 matchups that went to overtime.

You could make arguments for multiple Capitals; both Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie managed a goal and an assist apiece, while Alex Ovechkin and Kuznetsov managed two-point games. I’m giving Kuznetsov the nod because he set the table for Brooks Orpik’s overtime game-winner by recognizing that the Hurricanes were borderline-shorthanded with a broken stick, and making a great pass to land the primary assist.

I mean, just look at Orpik’s face.

2. Mikko Rantanen/MacKinnon

MacKinnon nabbed the highlight reel OT-winner, and that shot really was a work of art. Like Predators OT hero Craig Smith, MacKinnon also felt “due,” as he generated seven SOG. if it weren’t for Smith’s strong performance, MacKinnon likely would have finished with more points than that one goal.

Rantanen got an extra point, though. He had two assists in Game 2, helping to set up MacKinnon’s breakaway tally, and was also involved in the late third-period goal that sent the contest to overtime in the first place.

If Rantanen is close to 100 percent along with Gabriel Landeskog (who were both hurt and missed key games late in the regular season), then he can help open things up for MacKinnon, which means Colorado’s elite top line could be “back.” Not a ton of lines are better than Johnny Gaudreau’s top line, but at times, that Mac-Rant trio can be just tat. And that could really swing things if Philipp Grubauer keeps up his outstanding play.

3. Brad Marchand

OK, Marchand’s assist - the second of his two points - basically came during the playoff equivalent of “garbage time.” And the Bruins didn’t quite need Marchand’s points like the players above were needed. You could probably argue that Calle Jarnkrok deserves this, or maybe Marchand’s goalie pal Tuukka Rask (30 out of 31 stops).

But Marchand had a goal and an assist with six SOG, and he didn’t do something reckless when a lot of reckless things were happening. He didn’t even get a penalty. Maybe Marchand truly has this whole reformed thing ... licked.
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

Highlight of the Night

MacKinnon’s OT goal is just a delight to watch, and Sam Bennett’s first of two assists was a no-look looker. So let’s just enjoy the highlights from the Avs’ 3-2 OT win, in general.

Lowlight of the Night

There were some questionable hits on Saturday, but Nazem Kadri’s was the most blatant, and might draw a significant suspension from the Department of Player Safety.

Fact of the Night

At 38 years and 199 days old, Brooks Orpik became the oldest defenseman in NHL history to score an overtime goal in the playoffs.

Sunday’s schedule

Game 3: Islanders at Penguins, 12 p.m. ET (Islanders lead 2-0) [NBC; Live stream]
Game 3: Jets at Blues, 7:30 p.m. ET (Blues lead 2-0) [CNBC; Live stream]
Game 3: Sharks at Golden Knights, 10 p.m. ET (Series tied 1-1): [NBCSN; Live stream]

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.