The Wraparound is your daily look at the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. We’ll break down Saturday’s NHL playoff game with the all-important television and live streaming information included.
• Check out the NHL Bubble Wrap for details on Friday’s playoff games.
• The Western Conference Final is set. It will be the Stars vs. the Golden Knights beginning Sunday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC) from Edmonton.
SATURDAY’S NHL PLAYOFF GAME
Game 7: Flyers vs. Islanders (Series tied 3-3) - 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC following Kentucky Derby coverage (livestream): Philly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Game 6 before New York scored three straight goals to go up by one. After trailing 4-3 in the third, Scott Laughton, who played OT hero in Game 5, scored on a breakaway to tie things up at 4-4 midway through the final frame. After a scoreless overtime period, Ivan Provorov scored in double OT to send this series to a Game 7 on Saturday night.
“We’ve had two other games where we’ve won in overtime, so that was the message in locker room: Don’t change anything, just play our game,” said Flyers goaltender Carter Hart. “That’s what we did. We just needed to funnel pucks to the net, crash hard, and that’s how you score goals, just grinding it out. That’s what it was there at the end.”
The Flyers have won all three games in this series in OT, while the Islanders have won all three games in regulation. If Philadelphia wins Game 7 in overtime they would be the second team in NHL history to win four overtime games in a single playoff series.
[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]
After warming up prior to Games 4 and 5, Oskar Lindblom played 17:30 for Philly in Game 6. It was his first game since December, when he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. Selke Trophy finalist Sean Couturier did not play. His status for Game 7 is TBD.
Semyon Varlamov has started 14 of 15 playoff games for the Islanders, but suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this postseason after picking up the “L” in Game 6. The 32-year-old also tied his playoff career high by allowing five goals on 31 shots in the loss.
“We’ve just got to fight through a little adversity,” said Islanders head coach Barry Trotz. “The one thing that you do as a team is when you fight through adversity, you grow, you grow as a group. This is part of our process... This is a very good hockey team that we’re playing, they’re the No. 1 seed. We’re pretty evenly matched. It’s probably fitting that it is a Game 7.”
The winner will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
SUNDAY’S NHL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Western Conference Final - Game 1: Stars vs. Golden Knights - 8 p.m. ET, NBC
