NHL playoffs daily: Devils win OT thriller, Canadiens emerge from brawling Game 3 victorious

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Friday night’s NHL playoff action was packed to the rafters with fights, overtimes and blown leads.

In the end, the tally for all three series sits at 2-1. Wins by the Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils injected season-saving juice into each of their first-round series.

For the Los Angeles Kings, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals, Friday’s losses were hopefully just a blip on their paths to the second round. But the sting of having a 3-0 series lead skid off the ice will only amplify if they don’t come out refocused in their Game 4s.

Here’s how Friday’s Game 3 action went down across the league:

(Washington leads series 2-1)

Major brawl spills into bench

The most memorable moment in a game full of memorable moments might’ve been the second-period brawl.

Washington’s Tom Wilson and Montreal’s Josh Anderson were the principal characters, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed their careers or this series specifically. They’d been circling each other for days. The same goes for other players on both teams. This was bound to happen, though maybe not in such dramatic fashion. The rest of the series just got even more interesting.

Wilson was also late returning to the bench to serve his 10-minute misconduct, perhaps to get his forehead sewn up in the dressing room. — Sean Gentile

Bell Centre crowd lives up to the hype

For a variety of reasons, eight years passed between playoff games at the Bell Centre. The NHL was worse for it — Montreal’s atmosphere truly is unlike any in the sport. Friday night was a welcome return to form.

Fans were engaged from the jump. In pregame, a quarter-full arena watching players idly shoot pucks sounded more like a regular-season crowd celebrating a goal. The Canadiens also brought back the “pass the torch” pregame ceremony, which features “fire” projected onto the ice. For that, the decibel level in the press box hit 110 — roughly the level of a jackhammer. After Suzuki’s second-period goal, which put the Canadiens up 2-1, fans dialed it up to 113.

Of course, there was plenty more to cheer (and boo) throughout the evening. It’s nice to know we’ll get at least one more of these. — Arpon Basu

(Carolina leads series 2-1)

Jonas Siegenthaler returns, but Devils’ defensive injuries add up

Jonas Siegenthaler (lower-body injury) played his first game since Feb. 4, logging 27:09 of ice time and committing two penalties. Coach Sheldon Keefe said before the game that Siegenthaler has not fully built up his conditioning, but the Devils need him in the lineup. Because of the overtime periods and the Devils’ short-handed blue line, he ended up playing over his season average.

As soon as New Jersey got Siegenthaler back, though, it lost another defenseman. Johnathan Kovacevic did not play after the first period with an apparent injury. It’s a blow to an already depleted group. Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon both got hurt in Game 1, and Brett Pesce is playing at less than 100 percent, Keefe said Friday morning. Pesce took Thursday’s practice and Friday’s morning skate off for maintenance.

With the defensive group undermanned, trade deadline acquisition Dumoulin logged 36:29 in the game. It was the second most he’s ever played in a game, playoffs or regular season, just shy of the 36:35 he played in Game 1 of the 2022 first-round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers. — Peter Baugh

Canes retain special teams edge

New Jersey has yet to score a power-play goal this series despite finishing the regular season with the league’s third-best conversion rate. The Devils had three chances in regulation against the league-best Hurricanes penalty kill but failed to score and logged only four shots in their six minutes up a man before overtime. New Jersey got two more power-play chances in the first overtime but couldn’t capitalize on either. Orlov’s shot block on Mercer might have been the difference there.

In total, the unit went 0-for-5. That’s far from ideal for a team that relies so heavily on its power play.

Meanwhile, the Devils’ penalty kill could not match the Hurricanes’ short-handed success. After strong kills the first two periods, the unit faltered. Siegenthaler took his second penalty of the game, an interference minor, and Seth Jarvis scored after a give-and-go with Sebastian Aho.

Pesce put a puck over the glass 12 minutes into the third, and Aho struck again to tie the game. Nico Hischier remained down on the ice for a few moments after the goal in frustration. — Baugh

(Los Angeles leads series 2-1)

Oilers’ goalie change pays off — barely

In search of “big saves at key times,” the Oilers swapped out Stuart Skinner for Calvin Pickard in net for the pivotal contest. The move just panned out.

Pickard’s performance on Friday was similar to Skinner’s over the first two games. You can’t argue he didn’t let in a bad goal, yet one or two of them perhaps could have been stopped. He let four pucks by him, but it never got to five or six.

Pickard was the victim of another Adrian Kempe rocket in the first period. Kempe, who scored on Pickard in his relief appearance in Game 2, ripped a shot high glove side at four-on-four.

Kevin Fiala’s power-play goal maybe could have been stopped, but he was allowed to walk right in and the puck appeared to hit Mattias Janmark’s stick as the shot was being released.

Drew Doughty’s blast from the point, also on the power play, came through a maze of bodies.

Moore powered around Oilers defenseman Jake Walman and tucked a puck through Pickard’s legs.

Overall, Pickard allowed four goals on 28 shots. His biggest stop came six minutes into the third when he blockered away a shot from Quinton Byfield to keep it a one-goal game. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman

Doughty still making presence felt on power play

The Kings have been wildly successful going with a five-forward option for the first unit on the power play. That also means Drew Doughty no longer has a place on it.

After quarterbacking their power play throughout his long career, Doughty has been relegated to the second unit given how Andrei Kuzmenko injected life into the top group since the trade deadline. But in Game 3, Doughty fired a wrist shot through a screen in front of Pickard to cash in a Walman interference penalty.

Kings coach Jim Hiller said it was difficult to tell Doughty to take a back seat when it came to an assignment he had long been accustomed to manning.

“Drew’s a good soldier,” Hiller said. “He’s a team-first guy, so for now, he’s just grabbed the reins of that second group.”

“Drew is probably one of the most competitive people I know, and he loves winning more than anything,” Kings forward Trevor Moore said. “He’ll play wherever they need him to as long as our team is successful. He’s been fine.

“He just wants to win. He wants a third Cup. That’s where the focus is.”

The Kings are 7 for 12 on the power play in the series. It is a 180-degree turn from a year ago when they went 0 for 12 in a five-game loss to the Oilers. — Eric Stephens

(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)

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