Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 11: Bruins, Oilers stay alive; Wild outshine Stars

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop action as we witness 16 teams get whittled down to the one that will be crowned as the 2026 Stanley Cup champions. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop on everything that happens in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

We had two elimination games on Tuesday night, with the two-time defending Western Conference champions looking to stay alive, along with a pivotal game in Texas.

Pastrnak’s heroics down Buffalo

The crowd inside KeyBank Center was hoping to hold a celebration. Instead, they left with their heads hanging low, as David Pastrnak’s goal in overtime gave the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres, sending their Atlantic Division Semifinal to a sixth game.

Things were looking good early for the home team, as the Sabres finally scored not only their first power-play goal of the postseason, but the team’s goal on the man advantage in the entire month of April. It came just a few minutes into the contest as Jason Zucker made a great feed to find captain Rasmus Dahlin for his first of the playoffs.

The chances started to slow down a little as the first period carried on, though the Bruins were asserting their authority, physically. Boston led the hit counter 43-27 in the game, trying to get the Sabres a different way.

It seemed to have worked, as the Bruins controlled the play for most of the second period, and tied the game a little before the halfway mark of the contest thanks to Elias Lindholm’s second of the series.

The Sabres had a couple of chances late in the middle stanza to bring some life into the building, seeking the go-ahead. However, they were unsuccessful. In fact, both teams failed to score for the final 30-plus minutes of regulation, thanks to big saves by both Alex Lyon and Jeremy Swayman, with overtime needed to determine a victor.

Both Buffalo and Boston came close to finding the winner early in the extra frame, but after a huge save by Swayman on Alex Tuch, Hampus Lindholm sent Pastrnak on a breakaway, with the Czech sniper making a great move to beat Lyon, giving the Bruins a big win to avoid elimination.

It was the second playoff overtime winner of Pastrnak’s career. It sends the series back to Boston, where the Bruins will try to come out on top for the first time in these playoffs. The Sabres will have to wait a couple more days to try and clinch their first playoff series since 2007.

Swayman made several clutch saves in the game, making 24 stops in the win, while Lyon turned away 27 shots in the loss.

The Sabres went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Bruins failed to score on three chances with the man advantage.

Wild hold off Stars, move within a win of Round 2

It was a pivotal Game 5 in the Big D, as the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars continued their Central Division Semifinal. The Wild might’ve been in enemy territory, but they looked pretty comfortable in a 4-2 win, pushing the Stars to the brink of elimination.

The Wild were on the Stars from the opening puck drop, and quickly took the home crowd out of the game, as Mats Zuccarello tapped home a rebound for his first goal of the playoffs, in just his second appearance of the series, less than four minutes into the contest.

Despite the sluggish start, the Stars managed to even the score a few minutes later on the power play as a one-timer from Miro Heiskanen found its way by Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt. In the dying seconds of the first, it seemed that Matt Boldy had scored to restore the Wild’s lead. However, a review determined Boldy made enough contact with Stars netminder Jake Oettinger to inhibit him from making a save, negating the goal.

Yet, Minnesota continued to carry the play, heavily outchancing its opponent through the first two periods of the game. In outshooting the home side 15-6 in the middle stanza, the Wild were rewarded, and Boldy got some redemption with a power-play goal in the final minute of the frame, putting his team in the lead.

Dallas’ offense finally started to come alive in the third, but the visitors gave themselves some breathing room just before the eight-minute mark of the frame, as Michael McCarron snuck a shot through Oettinger for his second of the playoffs.

The Wild were battening down the hatches as the third wore on, but the Stars cut the deficit to one with just a few minutes to go in regulation thanks to a goal from Jason Robertson, his fifth of the series. Yet, Minnesota hung on, as an empty-netter from Kirill Kaprizov sealed the win, giving the Wild a 3-2 series lead.

On Thursday night, on home ice for Game 6, the Wild have a chance to clinch their first playoff series since 2015.

There were a couple of casualties in the game. The Stars lost center Arttu Hyry early in the second period with a lower-body injury, while Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin exited the game after blocking a shot.

Wallstedt only had to make 20 saves in the game. He had some help from the team in front of him, as the Wild posted a season-high 26 blocked shots. Oettinger made 24 stops in the losing effort. Kaprizov led the Wild with three points, while Boldy had a multi-point night as well. Robertson and Heiskanen each had a goal and an assist for the Stars.

Each team scored on the man advantage, with Minnesota going 1-for-3 on the power play, with Dallas finishing the game 1-for-4.

Oilers use hot start to snap skid against Ducks

The Edmonton Oilers knew they needed a strong opening few minutes of Game 5 of the Pacific Division Semifinal against the Anaheim Ducks. Facing elimination, the Oilers came out swinging, setting the stage for a 4-1 win.

There was some concern for Oilers fans heading into the game, as captain Connor McDavid was listed as a game-time decision leading up to puck drop. Yet, No. 97 was in the lineup and made a significant impact in the contest.

Just over two minutes into the game, Edmonton drew first blood, as Vasily Podkolzin, on the team’s first shot of the game, gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead with his second of the series.

With the energy of the home crowd behind them, Edmonton continued to push. Not long before the halfway mark of the first period, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins intercepted a clearing attempt by Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal and threw the puck toward the net, where Zach Hyman tipped it in to put the Oilers up two.

Less than two minutes later, Leon Draisaitl got in on the action, deflecting an Evan Bouchard shot into the back of the net, chasing Dostal after the Czech netminder gave up three goals on just eight shots.

Things settled down for the remainder of the first, as the Ducks finally started to find their bearings. Anaheim played with a little more pep in its step in the middle frame, with Alex Killorn helping put the team on the board with a power play goal a little over eight minutes into the second. However, while a Ducks comeback looked possible, Edmonton took advantage of a power play not two minutes later, as McDavid set up Drasaitl for his second of the game, restoring the three-goal lead.

The Oilers seemed comfortable playing with the lead, though the Ducks refused to give up. They outshot Edmonton 9-2 in the final 20 minutes, forcing Connor Ingram to make some quality saves. The Oilers cruised the rest of the way, forcing a Game 6 in Anaheim on Thursday.

McDavid ended up with two assists in the win, as did Nugent-Hopkins. Bouchard generated three helpers on Tuesday night.

The Ducks actually outshot the Oilers 30-20, with Ingram having a much-needed bounce-back effort after struggling in Games 2 and 3. The veteran turned away 29 shots in his second win of the series. Ville Husso made 10 saves on 11 shots in relief. Edmonton went 1-for-4 on the power play, while Anaheim was 1-for-2.