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Playoff Open Thread: June 4th

The overtime hits just keep comin’!

Recapping all the action last night and having a thread for tonight’s two games!

Last Night’s Games:

Boston Bruins 2, New York Islanders 1 (OT), BOS leads series 2-1

The tight series between the Bruins and the Islanders continued, as it was their second straight overtime game. Casey Cizikias was the hero for New York on Monday, but this time it was Brad Marchand who helped give Boston the 2-1 series lead. He scored just 3:36 into overtime on a seemingly harmless shot from the outside, but it was placed perfectly over Semyon Varlamov’s shoulder.

Craig Smith picked up the first marker in the first period, and it looked like that might’ve been enough to win the game. However, Mat Barzal jammed home a puck at the side of the net with 5:26 left to play, giving the Islanders hope before they were ultimately defeated. The Islanders have kept things close so I don’t expect this series to be over at all.

Carolina Hurricanes 3, Tampa Bay Lightning, 2 (OT), TBL leads series 2-1

This series had the potential to be essentialy finished, but the Hurricanes hung on and all of a sudden it is interesting again. Brett Pesce and Sebastian Aho scored shortly after each other early in the 2nd period to make it 2-0, and it looked like they were in good shape. However, two powerplay goals in the same period from Brayden Point and Alex Killorn put Carolina in an extremely uncomfortable situation.

The game went to overtime, meaning it was the third game in a row in the series decided by one goal. Nikita Kucherov took a holding the stick penalty 4:16 into overtime, and it would end up being the deciding factor. Jordan Staal was the hero for the second time for Carolina, as he tipped home an Aho shot from the slot. The Hurricanes were so close to being down and out despite being outscored by just 1 goal in this series, but now they have a real shot at coming back.