Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 5: Stars win tough OT battle, Flyers push Penguins to the brink

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.

Only three games were on the docket on Wednesday night, but that didn’t mean there was a shortage of action in some rivalry matchups.

Philly flies to emotional win

The Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 on Wednesday, marking the former’s first true home playoff game in eight years. The home team rose to the occasion, coming up with a big 5-2 win in a rather wild affair, taking a 3-0 lead in the series.

There was no shortage of chances in the opening frame between the two teams, as they combined for 20 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes. Yet, only the Penguins were able to find the back of the net, as Evgeni Malkin scored his second of the series, after a nice feed from Bryan Rust on the power play, just a few minutes into the game.

Tensions had been brewing throughout the first period, but things boiled just a few minutes into the middle stanza. A simple shoving match turned into a full-scale melee in the Penguins’ zone, which saw all 10 skaters on the ice sent to the sin bin. Yet, it was the Flyers who came away with a power play, which, much to the delight of the home fans, they converted thanks to a goal from Trevor Zegras.

Philadelphia started to pour it on. A few minutes after tying the game, the Flyers took the lead with Rasmus Ristolainen’s first-ever playoff goal.

Just two minutes after that, a seeing-eye shot from Nick Seeler put Philly up 3-1.

The game continued to be chippy even after the Flyers’ outburst, with neither team wanting to give the other the mental or physical edge. Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar had some issues in the third period. First, a Yegor Chinakhov shot took the steel off of his skate, with the Czech netminder receiving medical attention after potentially straining himself on a save attempt. Then, a few minutes later, Rust drove hard to the net, making contact with Vladar’s right arm, once again leaving the netminder in discomfort.

Yet, he continued on, but the Penguins didn’t seem to care about the opposing goalie’s condition, as Erik Karlsson scored his first of the series to cut the deficit to one.

Yet, that was as close as the Penguins would get. Moments after a huge save from Stuart Skinner, Noah Cates found the back of the net a little bit past the halfway mark of the period. Owen Tippett sealed the deal with an empty-net goal.

It was the Flyers’ first postseason win on home ice since April 20, 2016, against the Washington Capitals. Zegras, Cates, Noah Juulsen and captain Sean Couturier all had two points in the game.

The Penguins ended up outshooting the Flyers, 30-29, but Vladar was solid once again, making 28 saves in the victory. Skinner made 24 stops in his third loss of the series. Philadelphia went 2-for-3 on the power play, while Pittsburgh was 2-for-5.

Johnston plays the hero in double overtime

The game that seemed like it would never end on Wednesday was in St. Paul. The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild went long into the night, and Wyatt Johnston’s hands ended things in the wee hours of the morning, giving the Stars a 4-3 victory in double overtime and 2-1 lead in the series.

The Stars wasted little time in taking the home crowd out of the game. Less than 90 seconds into the contest, Mikko Rantanen tipped in a pass from Jason Robertson, on the power play, putting the visitors out in front.

The Stars kept the pedal down, as Robertson scored a goal himself later in the frame to put the visitors up by two.

However, the Wild reinstilled some life in the arena, as Marcus Johansson cut the deficit in half with his first of the series.

The goal drove some inspiration to the rest of the Minnesota lineup. The team came out swinging in period two, with Matt Boldy, who briefly left the game after taking a high hit from Jamie Benn in the first period, making a fantastic play to set up Joel Eriksson Ek, leveling the score at two.

The Wild took the lead in the waning minutes of the frame, as Michael McCarron scored his first NHL postseason goal.

The third period was tense, as Minnesota tried to bunker down defensively while protecting the lead. However, Dallas managed to tie things up just past the halfway mark of the frame. On the power play, the patience of Mikko Rantanen led to Matt Duchene scoring his second of the series.

The remainder of regulation solved nothing, so overtime was needed. Despite a few chances by the Wild late in the extra period, they couldn’t score in the first overtime.

The only reason the game lasted as long as it did was due to the Stars’ penalty kill. Minnesota scored on just one of its seven chances on the power play, failing to score on its five opportunities from the start of the third period onward.

It was Dallas’ power play that ended up being the difference. Just past the halfway mark of the second overtime, a Miro Heiskanen shot was deflected by Johnston, floating over the glove of Jesper Wallstedt to give the Stars the win.

After Dallas gave up home-ice advantage earlier in the series, the team managed to take it back with the victory. Johnston ended up with two points, while Duchene and Robertson had three-point nights. Goaltender Jake Oettinger was exceptional in his second win in a row, stopping 28 shots. The Stars went 3-for-8 on the power play.

Wallstedt made 32 saves in the losing effort.

Ducks avoid collapse, even series against Oilers

Just two nights removed from squandering a lead late in regulation, the Anaheim Ducks proved their effort in Game 1 of the Pacific Division Semifinals wasn’t a fluke, as they came away with a big 6-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, evening the series at a game apiece.

The Ducks had a few good chances early on, but it was the home team that struck first. When trying to feed a pass to Vasily Podkolzin, Leon Draisaitl received a fortunate bounce that led to his first goal of the playoffs just before the nine-minute mark of the first.

Yet, as the team did in the first game of the series on Monday, Anaheim didn’t let an early deficit deflate them, as Cutter Gauthier beat Oilers goaltender Connor Ingram with a seeing-eye shot to tie the game.

The Ducks continued to press early in period two. Similar to Gauthier’s goal (just from the other side), Jacob Trouba sifted a wrist shot by Ingram to give his team the lead. A couple of minutes later, on the man advantage, Alex Killorn followed up his own rebound to extend Anaheim’s lead to two.

Oilers fans experienced a brief scare in the frame, as captain Connor McDavid seemed to have tweaked his ankle in a weird collision with teammate Mattias Ekholm and Ducks defender Ian Moore.

It led McDavid to hobble down the tunnel, but he would return a few minutes later.

Things got a little crazy after that. First, Oilers defenseman Connor Murphy scored to cut the Ducks’ lead in half. However, a few minutes later, McDavid had an egregious giveaway on the power play, leading to Killorn setting up Ryan Poehling for his first of the playoffs to restore the two-goal lead.

Less than two minutes after that, Ekholm ripped a shot from the point that was tipped in by Zach Hyman, making it a 4-3 game heading into the third. As the final frame ticked down, the Oilers started to ramp up the chances, looking for the equalizer. It came with a little over six minutes to go, as Josh Samanski, playing in his first playoff game, scored to tie the game.

However, the good vibes inside Rogers Place didn’t last long, as Gauthier scored his second of the game just 76 seconds later, giving Anaheim its second lead of the night. While Edmonton pushed hard again for the tying goal, an empty-netter from Poehling secured the Ducks’ first playoff win since the 2017 Western Conference Final.

Not only was the win important for Anaheim to get back into the series and take home-ice advantage away from the Oilers, but it also gives the young core the belief that it can thrive against one of the top teams in the NHL when it matters most.

Gauthier ended the game with three points, while Jackson LaCombe posted three assists for Anaheim. Lukas Dostal might’ve given up four goals, but he made a number of big stops, totaling 33 saves in his first playoff victory.

Ingram was credited with 22 saves in the loss. Edmonton failed to score on any of its four power plays, while Anaheim went 2-for-3.