Round-Robins Take Center Stage

With just one best-of-5 series heading for Game 5 (Toronto Maple Leafs v Columbus Blue Jackets), Saturday saw two round-robin showdowns.

Saturday’s action wasn’t as exciting as Friday’s but we were treated to 12 goals and an overtime.


Eastern Conference

Philadelphia Flyers v Tampa Bay Lightning
4-1

Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored twice to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lighting, securing the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference in the process.

Joel Farabee had one goal and one assist, Tyler Pitlick scored, and Carter Hart made 23 saves for Philly (3-0-0), who will play the Montreal Canadiens, the No.8 seed, in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Andrei Vasilevsky made 26 saves and Tyler Johnson scored for the Bolts (2-1-0), who will be the No.2 seed and face the winner of the best-of-5 series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets. Game 5 of that series is on Sunday (Aug.9) at 8pm ET (NBCSN, SN, TVAS, FS-O).

Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman left at 9:28 of the first period after he stumbled in open ice.

Up Next:

Canadiens v Flyers – Eastern Conference First Round (TBD)

CBJ/Leafs v Lightning – Eastern Conference First Round (TBD)

Western Conference

Vegas Golden Knights v Colorado Avalanche
4-3 (OT)

Alex Tuch scored with 16 seconds left in overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche to become the No.1 seed in the Western Conference.

Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals – including a penalty shot, Nicolas Roy also scored, and Robin Lehner made 32 saves for Vegas (3-0-0), who will play the Chicago Blackhawks (Lehner‘s former team), the No.8 seed, in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Nathan MacKinnon, Joonas Donskoi and J.T. Compher scored, Mikko Rantanen and Nazem Kadri recorded two assists, and Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for the Avs (2-0-1), who will be the No.2 seed and face the Arizona Coyotes, the No.7 seed, in the Western Conference First Round.

With Grubauer pulled for the extra attacker, Compher scored at 18:58 of the third to send the game, which saw Colorado comeback three times, in to overtime.

Up Next:

Blackhawks v Knights – Western Conference First Round (TBD)

Coyotes v Avalanche – Western Conference First Round (TBD)

KEY