NEW YORK (AP) John Tavares tied the game in the final minute of regulation then scored the winner in the second period of overtime to lead the New York Islanders past the Florida Panthers 2-1 Sunday night and into the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
Tavares skated in and fired an initial shot that Roberto Luongo saved but the New York captain got the rebound, wrapped around the net and stuffed the puck in to end the longest home game in Islanders history. The Islanders will next face Tampa Bay.
”I don’t think we tried to put too much pressure on ourselves knowing we weren’t here for all of that,” Tavares said of New York’s playoff series drought. ”But certainly a lot us have been here for a while and it was time for us.”
Thomas Greiss finished with 41 saves in the teams’ second straight two-overtime game and third in the series to go past regulation. The Islanders won Game 3 here 4-3 in the first extra period, and took Game 5 in Florida 2-1 at 16 minutes of the second OT.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored late in the first period for Florida while Luongo stopped 49 shots for the Panthers.
Nicklas Backstrom scored and Braden Holtby had 26 saves as the Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Capitals, who won the series in six games, will play the Pittsburgh Penguins, setting up a marquee matchup of Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby.
”It’s going to be a hard series,” said Ovechkin, who had an assist on Backstrom’s second-period goal that was easily enough against the Flyers.
Riding the momentum of Michal Neuvirth in net, the Flyers won two straight to force an unlikely trip home. Neuvirth was sensational again but the Flyers were ultimately doomed by a power play they could not cash in against Holtby. The Flyers wasted nearly 2 minutes of a 5-on-3 power play in the second period that made a critical difference.
”We sacrificed our body 5-on-3,” Ovechkin said. ”We paid the price and we won.”
Jason Spezza scored his fourth goal of the series and added three assists as goalie Kari Lehtonen and the Dallas Stars needed every last one of them to hold off the Minnesota Wild 5-4 to wrap up the first-round series in six games.
Jared Spurgeon scored two of Minnesota’s four third-period goals as the Wild came within a fraction of an inch of tying it with 34 seconds remaining when Nino Niederreiter whacked at a loose puck in the crease. Freeze-frame replays showed it in the net, but not quite fully across the goal line as it connected with Lehtonen’s right pad, a close call that was upheld by review.
John Klingberg, Patrick Sharp, Jamie Benn and Alex Goligoski also scored for the Stars, who moved on to face the winner of the Chicago-St. Louis series, which is level at 3-3. The Blues host the Blackhawks in their decisive Game 7 on Monday night.
”It was a tough series, but we’re happy about moving on,” said Sharp.
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