DALLAS -- John Klingberg scored from the left circle 17:02 into overtime and the Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Monday night to wrap up their first-round Western Conference playoff series in six games.
Klingberg's first goal of the playoffs came on a cross-ice pass from Alexander Radulov.
The win by the Stars came 11 years after the previous time they clinched a playoff series on home ice. They needed overtime for a 2-1 win in that Game 6 as well -- four overtimes to beat San Jose in the second round of the 2008 playoffs.
The Stars will play St. Louis in the second round of these playoffs, just as they did in their previous postseason appearance three years ago. The Blues, who have home-ice advantage this time, won that 2016 series with a Game 7 win in Dallas.
Ben Bishop, Vezina Trophy finalist, had a playoff career-high 47 saves for the Stars.
Pekka Rinne, who won the Vezina Trophy last year as the NHL's top goalie, also set a playoff career best by stopping 49 shots. That included an impressive pad save on Jamie Benn's shot just more than five minutes into the overtime period, when the Stars had a 14-8 advantage on shots.
Blake Comeau scored his first playoff goal for the Stars, tying the game at 1-1 in the second period. But he also had a tripping penalty with 1:53 left in regulation that put Nashville on the power play.
The Predators stuck to the series script and didn't score a goal. They didn't even get a shot on goal before the third period ended, or when finishing the final seconds with a man advantage to start overtime.
They were 0-for-4 on the power play in Game 6, and finished 0-for-15 in the series. They were the only one of the 16 teams that made the playoffs that didn't have a power-play goal in the postseason.
Nashville had only one shot in the last nine minutes of regulation, and that doesn't count Calle Jarnkrok's shot at an angle over Bishop that ricocheted off the crossbar.
Colton Sissons had a breakaway for Nashville with about 11 minutes left that was denied by Bishop, just before Comeau and Andrew Cogliano had swipes against Rinne.
Austin Watson scored a goal for Nashville in the first period.
Hurricanes 5, Capitals 2
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jordan Staal scored the go-ahead goal and added an assist in the third period, and Carolina beat Washington to force Game 7 in the first-round playoff series.
Justin Williams scored an insurance goal seconds after the Capitals had the tying goal disallowed, Warren Foegele and Teuvo Teravainen also scored, Dougie Hamilton added an empty-netter and Petr Mrazek made 23 saves.
The Hurricanes scored three third-period goals in bouncing back from a 6-0 beatdown in Game 5 and prolonging their first playoff appearance in a decade by one game at least.
Game 7 is tonight in Washington. The winner will play the New York Islanders in the second round.
Alex Ovechkin scored for the third straight game, Brett Connolly also scored and Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots.
Washington -- which won 10 road games a year ago on its run to the first Stanley Cup title in club history -- went 0-3 on the road in this series after winning both regular-season meetings in Raleigh.
Staal gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the game at 3:51 of the third period, following a scramble in front of Holtby. Justin Faulk uncorked a shot from the point and Brock McGinn and Staal both poked at it, with Staal ultimately slipping it past the Capitals goalie to make it 3-2.
Then came the key momentum swing of this one -- the waved-off goal that Washington thought should have counted.
As Evgeny Kuznetsov tried to tuck the puck under Mrazek's pads with 9:26 remaining, Ovechkin crashed into the goalie. The officials waved it off, ruling that the Capitals' captain interfered with Mrazek by pushing his pad.
Williams then put Carolina up by two goals 84 seconds later by tipping Brett Pesce's shot past Holtby and Hamilton extended the lead with his empty-netter with 3:06 left.
By that point, the Capitals' frustrations hit their breaking point, with Ovechkin receiving a slashing penalty and a game misconduct with 1:08 remaining.
And Ovechkin's fourth goal of the series -- and his third in three games -- put the Capitals up 2-1 with 4:48 left in the first when he waited for Jaccob Slavin to slide past him, then beat Mrazek from a tough stick-side angle.
But they didn't score again -- and the Hurricanes kept pushing back.
First, Foegele made it 1-all when he beat Holtby with a spinning shot from the slot with 9:25 left in the first, giving him four goals in three home games in the series. He's the second player in club history with four home goals in a series, joining Mark Hunter -- who did it with the Whalers against Boston in 1991.
And Teravainen pulled Carolina to 2-2 at 1:56 of the second. Sebastian Aho swiped the puck from Jonas Siegenthaler behind the net and passed to Teravainen in the slot.
Sports on 04/24/2019