Colorado (with Frenchman Pierre-Edouard Bellemare) and Boston are the first two teams to qualify for the second round of the NHL play-offs.
There will be a Frenchman in the second round of the NHL play-offs! Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, the only French competitor in these 2021 finals, qualified with his Colorado team, to the detriment of St-Louis. First in the Western Division in the regular season, the Avalanche made short work of the Blues, beating them Sunday for the fourth time in four games: 5-2. If St-Louis had opened the scoring in the 25th by Vladimir Tarasenko, Colorado then scored three goals thanks to Brandon Saad (32nd), Gabriel Landeskog (35th) and Mikko Rantanen (45th). Tarasenko closed the gap for the Blues in the 49th but Nathan MacKinnon (current top scorer in the play-offs) then Valeri Nichushkin took advantage of the empty goal to score two goals in the last minute. The Denver players will therefore play the second round for the third season in a row, against Las Vegas or Minnesota (3-1 in the series).
Now that’s OUR Captain ????#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/crnH4WLOqT
— p – Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 24, 2021
Boston concluded without trembling
Boston will also see the second round, after its fourth victory in five games against Washington. The Bruins, though third in the eastern division in the regular season, offered themselves a fourth straight victory against the second-placed Capitals, and they didn’t need overtime this time around. They won 3-1 thanks to David Pastrnak (23rd) and Patrice Bergeron (35th and 53rd), while Conor Sheary had closed the gap for Washington in the 41st. Tuukka Rask made 40 saves for the Bruins who, for their fourth straight second round, will face Pittsburgh or the New York Islanders (2-2 in the series).
Capping it off.#NHLBruins | PB37 pic.twitter.com/Er0SXWe3eM
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 24, 2021
Nashville takes off, Winnipeg takes off
Fourth in the regular season in the Central Division, Nashville gave a hard time to Carolina, who had finished first, with a second victory in four games. The Predators return to 2-2 in the series thanks to their success 4-3 after extra time this Sunday. Each third ended 1-1, with goals from Luke Kunin (1st), Ryan Johansen (25th) and Nick Cousins (44th) for Nashville, and Vincent Trocheck (19th) and Brock McGinn (59th and 61st) for Carolina. And finally, it was Luke Kunin who gave the victory to the Predators after 37 minutes of overtime. We will now have to recover, with a capital Match 5 on Tuesday in Raleigh. There is less suspense, however, in the North Division series between Winnipeg, third, and Edmonton, second. The Jets won 5-4 after extra time on Sunday to now lead 3-0 in the series. The Oilers led 2-0 until the 38th thanks to a brace from Leon Draisaitl, then Nikolaj Ehlers closed the gap for Winnipeg, before Zack Kassian (39th) and Jujhar Khaira (45th) allowed Edmonton to lead. 4-1. It was without counting on a crazy end to the game for the Jets, who snatched overtime by scoring three goals in three minutes, by Mathieu Perreault (52nd), Blake Wheeler (55th) and Josh Morrissey (55th), before winning this match thanks to a goal from Nikolaj Ehlers after nine minutes of extra time! Winnipeg will have the opportunity to conclude this Monday at home.
BUZZZZZIN! pic.twitter.com/X5rsdNuZdA
— x – Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) May 23, 2021
EHLERS FOR THE OT WINNER!!! #WeAreWPG pic.twitter.com/zybLyaMPfq
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) May 24, 2021
NHL / PLAY-OFFS 2021
1st round
Central division
Carolina Hurricanes (1) – Nashville Predators (4) : 2-2
Match 1 – Carolina Hurricanes – Nashville Predators : 5-2
Match 2 – Carolina Hurricanes – Nashville Predators : 3-0
Match 3 – Nashville Predators – Carolina Hurricanes : 5-4 ap
Match 4 – Nashville Predators – Carolina Hurricanes : 4-3 ap
Match 5 : Carolina Hurricanes – Nashville Predators le 25 mai
Match 6 : Nashville Predators – Carolina Hurricanes le 27 mai
Match 7 (if necessary): Carolina Hurricanes – Nashville Predators le 29 mai
East division
Washington Capitals (2) – Boston Bruins (3) : 1-4 >>> BOSTON QUALIFIE
Match 1 – Washington Capitals – Boston Bruins : 3-2 (ap)
Match 2 – Washington Capitals – Boston Bruins : 3-4 (ap)
Match 3 – Boston Bruins – Washington Capitals : 3-2 (ap)
Match 4 – Boston Bruins – Washington Capitals : 4-1
Match 5 – Washington Capitals – Boston Bruins : 1-3
North Division
Edmonton Oilers (2) – Winnipeg Jets (3) : 0-3
Match 1 – Edmonton Oilers – Winnipeg Jets : 1-4
Match 2 – Edmonton Oilers – Winnipeg Jets : 0-1 ap
Match 3 – Winnipeg Jets – Edmonton Oilers : 5-4 ap
Match 4 : Winnipeg Jets – Edmonton Oilers le 24 mai
Match 5 (if necessary): Edmonton Oilers – Winnipeg Jets le 26 mai
Match 6 (if necessary): Winnipeg Jets – Edmonton Oilers le 28 mai
Match 7 (if necessary): Edmonton Oilers – Winnipeg Jets le 30 mai
West Division
Colorado Avalanche (1) – St. Louis Blues (4) : 4-0 >>> COLORADO QUALIFIE
Match 1 – Colorado Avalanche – St. Louis Blues: 4-1
Match 2 – Colorado Avalanche – St. Louis Blues: 6-3
Match 3 – St. Louis Blues – Colorado Avalanche : 1-5
Match 4 – St. Louis Blues – Colorado Avalanche : 2-5
>>> Stats of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (COL): 9’54 of play, 1 shot blocked, 1 puck lost
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