Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Lightning, Bruins can advance

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily look at the 2018 NHL postseason. Two teams can advance to the second round with victories Saturday.

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On Tap

-- The Lightning can eliminate the Devils and move into the Eastern Conference Second Round with a win at Amalie Arena. To stay alive, New Jersey will have to find a way to shut down Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov, who has nine points (four goals, five assists) in the first four games. The Devils also must improve their penalty-killing; Tampa Bay is 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) with the extra man through four games, including 3-for-4 (75.0 percent) at home.
-- The Capitals will try to become the first team in this series to win a game at home. Columbus won Games 1 and 2 in overtime at Capital One Arena, but Washington got even with two wins at Nationwide Arena, including a dominant 4-1 victory in Game 4 on Thursday. Washington will be without forward Andre Burakovsky (upper-body injury) for the rest of the series.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS) --The Bruins didn't miss center Patrice Bergeron (upper-body injury) in Game 4, a 3-1 victory at Air Canada Centre that put them within one victory of moving into the Eastern Conference Second Round for the first time since 2014. Bergeron skated Friday and might play. Toronto coach Mike Babcock said goaltender Frederik Andersen needs to "have a night" after putting together a 4.12 goals-against average and .880 save percentage through four games and has been outplayed by Boston's Tuukka Rask (2.27 GAA, .926 save percentage).

'First' Night

Friday was a night of firsts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
For the Winnipeg Jets, it meant the first series victory for a franchise that entered the NHL in 1999 as the Atlanta Thrashers. The Jets' 5-0 win in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round against the Minnesota Wild also completed the first playoff series victory by a Winnipeg team since the original Jets (now the Arizona Coyotes) defeated the Calgary Flames in the 1987 Smythe Division Semifinals.

The Jets blew the game open early, scoring four goals in the first period of a playoff game for the first time in franchise history. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his second straight shutout. He joined Matt Murray of the Pittsburgh Penguins (2017 Stanley Cup Final) and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers (2003 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals) as the only goaltenders in the past 13 years to end a series with back-to-back shutouts.
Winnipeg and the Vegas Golden Knights have earned their first playoff series victories this year. It's the sixth time in the expansion era (since 1967-68) that two teams gave won a playoff series for the first time in the same year. The last time was 2003, when the Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning did it.
The Jets won all three of their home games in the series, outscoring the Wild 12-3. They are 3-0 in the playoffs at Bell MTS Place after leading the NHL in home wins during the regular season with 32.
The Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche made some history of their own on the way to extending their first-round series. Each team scored the go-ahead, game-winning goal in the final 90 seconds of the third period, the second time in playoff history that has happened. Philadelphia center Sean Couturier scored with 1:15 remaining to help the Flyers defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2, and forward Sven Andrighetto's goal with 1:28 to play gave the Avalanche a 2-1 win against the Nashville Predators. The only other times that has happened was on April 16, 1985, when forward Mats Naslund of the Montreal Canadiens (19:09) and forward Brent Ashton of the Quebec Nordiques (18:51) did it.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Colorado won a playoff game in regulation after trailing with five minutes remaining for the first time since entering the NHL as the Nordiques in 1979. The Avalanche are the first NHL team to do so since the Chicago Blackhawks scored two goals in 17 seconds during the final 1:16 of the third period to defeat the Boston Bruins in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.
Avalanche goaltender Andrew Hammond, playing in place of injured starter Semyon Varlamov and backup Jonathan Bernier, made 44 saves to become the fourth goaltender in NHL history to win an elimination game in the playoffs after making no more than one regular-season appearance. He joined Earl Robertson (1937 Detroit Red Wings), Bert Gardiner (1939 New York Rangers) and Ed Belfour (1990 Chicago Blackhawks), none of whom played a regular-season game that season.
The Nordiques/Avalanche franchise is now 4-0 in Game 5 when facing elimination; the bad news is that they lost Game 6 in each of the previous three.
Philadelphia is 10-8 in Game 5 when facing elimination; the Flyers' lone series win under that scenario came in 2010, when they overcame a 3-0 deficit in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to defeat the Bruins in seven games.

Here are the scores from Friday

Eastern Conference
Philadelphia Flyers 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 2
Western Conference
Winnipeg Jets 5, Minnesota Wild 0
Colorado Avalanche 2, Nashville Predators 1

What we learned

There were three games Friday, with one team moving into the second round. Here are some things we learned on Day 10 of the playoffs:

Lack of experience didn't deter Jets

The Winnipeg Jets entered the Western Conference First Round with far fewer games of Stanley Cup Playoff experience on their roster than the Minnesota Wild (748 to 264). But the Jets showed no signs of stage fright. Winnipeg used 10 players (Connor Hellebuyck, Tucker Poolman, Andrew Copp, Brandon Tanev, Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine, Joel Armia, Josh Morrissey, Jack Roslovic and Kyle Connor) in the series who had never been in the postseason before. Apart from Game 3, Winnipeg played a consistent-pressure game and was able to limit Minnesota's chances. The Wild scored six times in Game 3 but managed all of three goals in the other four games of the series and none in the last two.

Wild attack was neutralized

Without injured forward Zach Parise (fractured sternum) for Games 4 and 5, the Minnesota Wild were unable to sustain any bite to their attack and didn't score in either game against the Jets. Parise isn't a one-man show, but his drive, edge and will are elite and Minnesota was unable to replace any of those qualities. Already without injured defenseman Ryan Suter (ankle), the absence of two key leaders was simply too much for the Wild to overcome against a fast, talented opponent.

Neuvirth steps up for Flyers

Hindsight being what it is, maybe Philadelphia Flyers coach Dave Hakstol should have started goalie Michal Neuvirth in Game 4 as well. Neuvirth, who was nursing a lower-body injury and didn't dress for the first three games of the series, started Game 5 after dressing as the backup and relieving starter Brian Elliott midway through Game 4. He made 30 saves on Friday, including 13 in the third period, to help the Flyers push their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins to a sixth game on Sunday. Neuvirth hadn't played a full game since Feb. 18 because of injuries, but delivered another playoff gem for the Flyers, similar to the three he gave them in the 2016 Eastern Conference First Round against the Washington Capitals, when he went 2-1 with a .981 save percentage and almost helped Philadelphia force Game 7 after it lost the first three games. He's clearly the Flyers' big-game playoff goalie.

Power-play outage sinks Penguins

Pittsburgh went 4-for-11 on the power play in Games 3 and 4. But the Penguins were 0-for-5 in Game 5 and allowed Philadelphia's Valtteri Filppula to score the game-tying shorthanded goal at 18:15 of the second period, 90 seconds after Jake Guentzel had scored to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. The Flyers did a good job of penalty-killing, but the Penguins were also guilty of overpassing, often appeared to be out of position and committed numerous turnovers -- most notably one by Phil Kessel that led to Filppula's shorthanded goal. It's unusual that the Penguins' power play, which was a League-best 26.2 percent during the regular season, would fail to score when given five opportunities in a game. But it happened, and so there will be a Game 6 on Sunday.

Predators pay price for missed opportunities

The Nashville Predators entered Game 5 in the Western Conference First Round against the Colorado Avalanche having won 11 of their past 13 Stanley Cup Playoff games at Bridgestone Arena. They had plenty of chances to win this one but couldn't close out the game and the series. The Predators went 0-for-3 on the power play and were unable to hold a 1-0 lead after forward Nick Bonino scored midway through the third period.

Hammond comes through for Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche needed a big performance from goaltender Andrew Hammond, and he delivered. Hammond made an NHL career-high 44 saves against Nashville for his first Stanley Cup Playoff win, giving the Avalanche a chance to come back late. Hammond, acquired from the Ottawa Senators in a trade on Nov. 5, played one regular-season game for the Avalanche, allowing two goals on 33 shots in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 28. The layoff apparently didn't affect him.

About Last Night

There were three Game 5s on Friday; all were elimination games
Philadelphia Flyers 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 2-- Sean Couturier scored the game-winning goal with 1:15 left in the third period, and Michael Neuvirth, who didn't dress in the first three games of the series for the Flyers, made 30 saves to keep Philadelphia alive. Game 6 is Sunday at Wells Fargo Center.
Winnipeg Jets 5, Minnesota Wild 0 -- The Jets won a playoff series for the first time since the franchise entered the NHL as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999 and gave the city of Winnipeg its first series win in 31 years. Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his second consecutive shutout. The Wild failed to score in the final seven periods of the series.
Colorado Avalanche 2, Nashville Predators 1 -- Sven Andrighetto scored with 1:28 remaining in the third period to break a tie and help the Avalanche avoid elimination. Andrew Hammond, playing because Jonathan Bernier and Semyon Varlamov are out with injuries, made 44 saves in his first start of the series for Colorado for his first NHL playoff win. Game 6 is Sunday in Denver.