Bruins beat Blue Jackets 3-0, advance to conference final
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Tuukka Rask made 39 saves and recorded his sixth career playoff shutout as the Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 Monday night to clinch their second-round series and advance to the Eastern Conference final.
Rask was supported by great defensive play in front of the net in the Bruins’ third straight victory for a 4-2 win in the best-of-seven series, which came despite being outshot 39-29 in Game 6.
Boston advances to face the Carolina Hurricanes, who swept the New York Islanders in four games. The Bruins advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the first time since the 2012-13 season, when they lost in the Stanley Cup finals.
David Krejci scored in the first period, and Marcus Johansson and David Backes had third-period goals for the Bruins, who gave up four power plays to the Blue Jackets but stonewalled Columbus on a number of chances.
Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had an outstanding postseason but allowed two quick goals in the third period that sealed another hard, tight-checking game and the series for Boston.
DENVER (AP) —Gabriel Landeskog scored 2:32 into overtime after Colorado squandered a late lead in regulation and the Avalanche beat San Jose to force a decisive Game 7 in their Western Conference semifinal series.
Landeskog dumped the puck into the zone, turned in a big hit along the boards, got up in time to take a pass from rookie Cale Makar and knock in the goal past Martin Jones to help the Avalanche escape elimination. J.T. Compher had two goals and an assist, while Tyson Jost added another.
Game 7 is Wednesday in San Jose. The winner will play either Dallas or St. Louis in the conference final.
Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves, including a pad save on Tomas Hertl early in OT.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored twice, including the tying goal off the skate of an Avalanche defenseman with 2:28 remaining, and Brent Burns added another for the Sharks, who fell to 22-19 when opponents are facing elimination.
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