The Colorado Avalanche are now one game away from winning the Stanley Cup after a 3-2 overtime win on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Wednesday's Game 4.
Tampa Bay were riding high after working their way back into the series with a dominant 6-2 showing in Game 3, but they now trail 3-1 in the series in their quest for three consecutive championships, with Game 5 headed back to Denver.
The Lightning were in control early as Anthony Cirelli scored the opening period's only goal, just 36 seconds into the action, dominating the opening period to force Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper into 16 first-period saves. The visitors could only muster four shots on goal in comparison.
The Avalanche fought back into the contest in the second period, restoring parity thanks to Nathan MacKinnon's power-play goal, before Victor Hedman put the Lightning back in front heading into the third.
An early goal from Colorado's Andrew Cogliano put things even again at 2-2, which would hold through regulation and eight minutes of overtime until Nazem Kadri was slipped through by Artturi Lehkonen.
Kadri's shot deflected off Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's stick and nestled into the top of the net in a hard-to-view position, with the Colorado bench eventually exploding into celebrations once they realised it was in the goal.
After the game, Kadri was asked if he knew he had scored with his winning shot.
"Not really," he admitted. "I just tried to make a little move there and go far-side, and I'm assuming that's where it went.
"I don't know if it found a hole, but it was a bit of a delayed reaction. I thought he made the save for a second, and the next thing you know people are sprinting towards me – it's a good feeling."
Playing in his first career Stanley Cup Final game in his return from thumb surgery, Kadri said he was determined to make it count.
"I've been waiting for this my whole life, so I figured I'd stop waiting and just try to join the party," he said.
"I'm just grateful I'm able to be in this position, and with this group of guys – you couldn't have written a better story.
"[Closing out the series] is going to be tough – the last one is the hardest one to win, everybody will tell you that.
"They're a great team over there, so we're expecting a good effort from them."
Avalanche star MacKinnon was complimentary of the efforts of Vasilevskiy – who denied a number of great chances in overtime before eventually conceding – but said he feels the right team won.
"[Vasilevskiy] was awesome – but it just felt like a matter of time, we really tilted the ice," he said.
"It just felt like we deserved it, we really outplayed them in overtime. We had a shaky first period, but other than that we were very solid.
"Obviously thrilled with the win, but short memory, we've got to move on and get ready for Friday night."
Acknowledging the extra fanfare that comes with a potential close-out game at home, MacKinnon said the key would be to not get caught up in the commotion.
"It starts with blocking out all the 'BS' that comes along with it," he said.
"Obviously we've got family and friends in town, we know what's going to be in the building, but have to stick to what's got us to this point.
"That's our great process – we put that before anything and we feel like the result will get done.
"Nothing changes, we have to stick to our game plan that we've been doing all season. I know it's cliche, but it's true.
"We're feeling good, we're going to be coming in attacking and aggressive, and hopefully get that win."
Edmonton Oilers reach Stanley Cup Final
Stuart Skinner made first-period goals from Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman stand up by making 34 saves, and the Edmonton Oilers advanced to their first Stanley Cup Final in 18 years with Sunday's 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars to win the Western Conference.
McDavid added an assist on Hyman's league-leading 14th goal of this year's post-season, while Evan Bouchard assisted on both Edmonton scores to help the Oilers oust Dallas in six games in the best-of-seven series and capture the Clarence Campbell Trophy for the first time since 2006.
Edmonton will meet the Florida Panthers in the Final, with Game 1 to take place Saturday in Florida. The Panthers won their second straight Eastern Conference title with Saturday's 2-1 win over the New York Rangers to also take that series in six games.
The Oilers have not hoisted the Stanley Cup since winning five titles in a seven-year span from 1984-90. The Panthers have never won the Cup since entering the NHL as an expansion franchise in 1993-94.
Dallas, meanwhile, lost in the West Final for the second consecutive year after falling to the eventual Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights in six games last season. The Stars had a decisive 35-10 shot advantage in Game 6, but were kept off the scoreboard until Mason Marchment's goal midway through the third period.
The Stars outshot Edmonton by a 12-3 margin in the first period, but quickly fell behind shortly after defenseman Chris Tanev was called for a tripping penalty 3:35 in.
Edmonton needed just 42 seconds on the resulting power play to move ahead. McDavid skated deep into the Dallas zone, faked out a defender and lifted a backhand over the shoulder of Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger with 4:17 elapsed in the contest.
The Oilers converted another power-play chance awarded to them when Dallas defenseman Ryan Suter was called for slashing with 5:37 left in the first. McDavid found Hyman open in the slot and the standout sniper beat Oettinger stick-side with a wrist shot to extend the lead to 2-0 with 4:18 remaining in the period.
Skinner made nine more saves during a scoreless second period, but was unable to stop Marchment's close-range shot off a behind-the-net feed from Tyler Seguin that gave the Stars renewed life with 10:42 left to play.
Dallas pulled Oettinger with under 2 1/2 minutes left but was only able to get two shots on Skinner with the extra skater.
Oettinger recorded just eight saves and the Stars went 0 for 3 on the power play, while Edmonton converted both of its 5-on-4 attempts.
NHL: Surging Lightning take down Atlantic Division-leading Bruins
Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 23 shots and Nikita Kucherov scored to take over the NHL scoring lead as the surging Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins, 3-1, on Wednesday.
Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point also had goals for the Lightning, who improved to 7-0-1 in their last eight games to move within two points of Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Point, who has six goals and two assists in the last four games, and defenseman Victor Hedman both returned after missing one game with lower-body injuries.
Danton Heinen had the lone goal for Boston, which lost its third in four games and missed an opportunity to jump over the Rangers and take over the league lead in points.
Kucherov’s empty-net goal capped the scoring and gave him a league-leading 124 points, one more than Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.
Senators score 5 in 1st in win over Sabres
Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 34 shots as the Ottawa Senators rolled to a 6-2 rout of the Buffalo Sabres.
The Senators scored five times in the first period to chase starter Ukko-Pekka Luukonen, who allowed the first four goals on nine shots. Devon Levi stopped 31 of 32 shots the rest of the way.
Artem Zub, Boris Katchouk, Drake Batherson, Jakob Chychrun and Brady Tkachuk all scored in the opening period to help Ottawa win its third straight.
JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton had second-period goals for the Sabres, who have lost three of four and remained eight points behind the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
NHL: Avalanche, Capitals stay hot
Jonathan Drouin's goal 54 seconds into overtime capped an improbable rally for the red-hot Colorado Avalanche, who increased their winning streak to nine games with Sunday's 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Avalanche trailed 4-0 late in the second period before erupting for five unanswered goals, the last coming when Drouin skated by Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang up the right side before slipping a shot past goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic less than a minute into extra time.
Drouin finished with two goals and an assist, while Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists to extend his streak of consecutive home games with at least one point to 34, the second-longest run in NHL history.
While the Avalanche remained tied with the Dallas Stars atop the Central Division, the Penguins were dealt another blow to their fading play-off hopes with a third consecutive defeat. Pittsburgh currently stands in 13th place in the Eastern Conference and is now nine points behind in the race for the final wild-card spot.
Sean Walker and Yakov Trenin began Colorado's comeback with goals in the final four minutes of the second period, and Drouin cut Pittsburgh's lead to 4-3 when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from MacKinnon into the Penguins' net 3:32 into the third.
MacKinnon's 44th goal of the season later tied the contest with 4:38 remaining in regulation.
The Penguins dominated the first period, outshooting Colorado by a 15-4 margin and building a 2-0 lead on goals by Jesse Puljujarvi and Bryan Rust. They extended the margin to 4-0 when Sidney Crosby and Pierre-Olivier Joseph scored less than two minutes apart in the second.
Crosby finished with three assists in addition to his 34th goal of the season.
Nedeljkovic stopped 21 of 25 shots and briefly left the game in the third period after colliding with Colorado's Casey Mittelstadt. Tristan Jarry came on in relief and turned back 4 of 5 chances while surrendering MacKinnon's tying goal.
Alexandar Georgiev finished with 30 saves for Colorado.
Oveckhin, Capitals continue surge with shutout of Jets
Alex Ovechkin extended his hot stretch with two more goals to back Charlie Lindgren's 27 saves as the Washington Capitals continued their climb in the Eastern Conference standings with a 3-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
John Carlson added a goal and T.J. Oshie contributed two assists to Washington's fifth victory in six games, a result that pushed the Capitals one point ahead of Detroit for the East's final wild-card spot. Washington hosts the Red Wings on Tuesday in an important late-season clash.
Both Lindgren and Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck were perfect through two periods, but the Capitals finally broke the scoreless stalemate when Carlson one-timed a feed from Oshie past the Jets' star netminder on a power play 1:21 into the third.
Ovechkin put Washington up 2-0 just over two minutes afterward, then beat Hellebuyck on a backhand attempt with eight minutes to go as the legendary forward increased his goal streak to five games. Oveckhin has eight goals during the run.
Lindgren had seven third-period saves to polish off his fifth shutout of the season and hand the scuffling Jets a third consecutive loss.
Hellebuyck ended with 16 saves.
Andersen sharp again as Hurricanes top Maple Leafs
Frederik Andersen made 32 saves to remain unbeaten since returning from injury as the Carolina Hurricanes held on for an important 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Andersen made first-period goals from Brady Skjei and Sebastian Aho stand up to win his sixth consecutive start since coming back from a blood-clotting issue that had sidelined him for four months.
The victory was the ninth in 11 games (9-1-1) for Carolina, which trails the New York Rangers by just one point for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto had a two-game winning streak snapped despite 41 saves from Joseph Woll, who also turned back Jake Guentzel on a penalty shot in the first period.
Woll was beaten early, however, as Skjei scored on the Hurricanes' first shot of the game with just 1:06 elapsed into the contest.
Aho converted a power-play chance later in the first period to extend the margin, and Andersen made 20 saves through the first two periods before Toronto's Nicholas Robertson ended the shutout bid 8:51 into the third.
The Maple Leafs had an opportunity to tie it later on after Carolina defenseman Brent Burns was called for a tripping penalty with 3:15 remaining, but the Hurricanes were able to kill off the resulting power play.
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