NHL Playoff Highlights: Senators’ Clarke MacArthur Scores In OT For 4-2 Series Win Vs Bruins

Ottawa winger Clarke MacArthur scored in overtime on Sunday at TD Garden to lift the Senators to a 3-2 Game 6 victory over Boston, thus ending the Bruins’ season early.

NHL Playoffs: Senators Eliminate Bruins With 3-2 OT Game 6 Win, Face Rangers In Round 2

The Senators thus won the Eastern Conference first-round best-of-seven series 4-2, and next host the New York Rangers for Game 1 of Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday at 7 pm EST.

MacArthur’s game-winning goal came on the power play, 36 seconds after David Pastrnak took him down to the ice to set up a fifth Ottawa man-advantage. After Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask initially made a save on a centering pass, MacArthur took the rebound and shot it past Rask 6:30 into overtime to make it 3-2 and propel the Senators to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

FOX Sports’ Pete Blackburn shared the moment:

Ottawa scored five times on the power play in the first-round series.

Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris also scored, and Craig Anderson made 28 saves for the Senators, who have reached the second round of the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2013.

Drew Stafford and Patrice Bergeron scored, and Rask made 26 saves for the Bruins, who were missing four key players due to injuries: center David Krejci, who suffered a lower-body injury in Game 5, and regular defensemen Torey Krug, Brandon Carlo, and Adam McQuaid.

Four games in the Ottawa-Boston series went to overtime, and all six were decided by one goal. On Sunday, the Bruins found themselves on the opposite end of where they were on Friday, when they won Game 5 3-2 in overtime.

The Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night to win their own first-round series 4-2.

New York came from behind 1-0 and won thanks to two second-period goals from Mats Zuccarello — a small winger whom Rangers coach Alain Vigneault endearingly described as “a competitive little bugger” — and an empty-net goal from Derek Stepan with 18 seconds remaining in the game. One of Zuccarello’s goals came on a power play at 2:26 of the second, the first time in the series the Rangers scored on the man-advantage. With Jordie Benn in the penalty box for holding, Zuccarello fired a shot from the right circle that sneaked past Price.

Alexei Emelin scored the lone goal for Montreal, who lost the last three games of the series, at 6:19 of the first period. Carey Price made 20 saves for the Canadiens, while Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots for the Rangers. Lundqvist allowed 11 goals in total in the six-game set.

The Washington Capitals also eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime with a 2-1 Game 6 victory at Air Canada Centre on Sunday.

After two scoreless periods, Auston Matthews netted a goal for the Leafs for a 1-0 lead at 7:45 of the third, but the Capitals rallied to win thanks to two goals from Marcus Johansson, one at 12:51 of the third and one 6:31 into overtime.

Braden Holtby made 37 saves for Washington, which won the first-round, best-of-seven Eastern Conference series 4-2 and next hosts the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. Game 1 of that semifinal series is Thursday night.

The Capitals won the game without defenseman Karl Alzner, who missed his fourth straight contest with an upper-body injury.

Frederik Andersen stopped 34 shots for Toronto.

Meanwhile, the Nashville Predators will visit the St. Louis Blues for Game 1 of Round 2 on Wednesday night at 8 pm EST. Later that night, at 10:30 pm EST, the Edmonton Oilers will visit the Anaheim Ducks for their own second-round Game 1 matchup.

The Predators swept the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 in the first-round series, the Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 in Round 1 thanks to a 3-1 Game 6 road win on Saturday, and the Blues eliminated the Minnesota Wild in five games (4-1) with a 4-3 overtime road victory, also on Saturday.

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 23: Clarke MacArthur #16 of the Ottawa Senators and Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins battle for control of the puck during the second period of Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 23, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena