Jake Sanderson – the third blueliner to attain an extra time winner in as many days – netted his first profession playoff purpose in entrance of 19,094 followers in Ottawa to pressure a Recreation 5 within the ‘Battle of Ontario’. Sanderson grew to become the eighth-youngest defenseman to attain in extra time, lower than 24 hours after Simon Nemec grew to become the second.
* Gabriel Landeskog scored his first purpose in almost three years to assist the Avalanche develop into the second Western Convention workforce to even their collection Saturday, after the Golden Knights did so because of an Ivan Barbashev extra time winner earlier within the day.
* Jake Guentzel’s three-point night time noticed him rating his fortieth profession playoff purpose en path to Tampa Bay’s first win of the postseason.
* The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs are the fourth postseason underneath the present format (since 2013-14) with no sweeps within the First Spherical (additionally 2023, 2020 & 2016).
* Sunday will mark the second straight day with a assured 11 hours of playoff motion and can function a slate of Recreation 4s in collection which have every seen the house workforce win the earlier contest.
SANDERSON SCORES OVERTIME WINNER TO STAVE OFF ELIMINATION
Regardless of the Maple Leafs erasing 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, the Senators prevailed by means of the extra time heroics of defenseman Jake Sanderson (1-1—2), who scored his first profession playoff purpose to stave off elimination for the Senators and pressure a Recreation 5 within the ‘Battle of Ontario.’ Ottawa’s all-time file in Recreation 5s is 15-9 (.625), together with a 9-7 (.563) mark on the highway.
* Sanderson grew to become the fourth participant in Senators historical past to stave off elimination with an extra time purpose, becoming a member of Matt Carkner (Recreation 5 of 2010 CQF), Mike Fisher (Recreation 6 of the 2004 CQF) and Chris Phillips (Recreation 6 of 2003 CF). He additionally grew to become simply the sixth defenseman in franchise historical past to file an extra time tally and first since Dion Phaneuf in Recreation 2 of the 2017 First Spherical.
* Sanderson grew to become the sixth defenseman up to now 20 years to attain an extra time purpose to stave off elimination. He joined Ivan Provorov (Recreation 6 of 2020 R2 w/ PHI), Ryan McDonagh (Recreation 5 of 2015 R2 w/ NYR), Alec Martinez (Recreation 7 of 2014 CF w/ LAK), Brent Seabrook (Recreation 7 of 2013 CSF w/ CHI) and Matt Carkner (Recreation 5 of 2010 CQF w/ OTT).
* Lower than 24 hours after Simon Nemec (21 years, 69 days) grew to become the second-youngest defenseman in NHL historical past to attain an extra time purpose within the playoffs when he did so for the Devils in Recreation 3, Sanderson (22 years, 292 days) grew to become the eighth youngest to take action. The one different lively defenseman on that listing is Kris Letang.
AVALANCHE AND GOLDEN KNIGHTS BOTH EVEN FIRST ROUND SERIES 2-2
The Avalanche and Golden Knights each picked up essential Recreation 4 victories to even their opening spherical collection at 2-2, with the latter doing so within the additional body. Saturday marked the sixth consecutive day the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs have featured not less than one extra time sport – the longest postseason stretch since a span of seven days from April 21-27, 2019.
* In simply his second sport again since lacking greater than 1,000 days resulting from harm, Gabriel Landeskog (1-1—2) scored his first purpose since June 20, 2022 – Recreation 3 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Remaining – whereas Mackenzie Blackwood (23 saves) posted his first profession postseason shutout because the Avalanche evened the collection earlier than it heads again to Dallas.
* Blackwood grew to become the fifth goaltender in franchise historical past to file his first postseason shutout inside his first 4 playoff video games with the membership. He joined Pavel Francouz (1 GP), Dan Bouchard (3 GP), Craig Anderson (3 GP) and Patrick Roy (3 GP).
* The Golden Knights confronted a one-goal deficit coming into the third interval, however objectives from Nicolas Roy and Tomas Hertl gave Vegas a quick lead earlier than Wild captain Jared Spurgeon netted a tying purpose 54 seconds later to pressure extra time, the place two-time Stanley Cup champion Ivan Barbashev (2019 w/ STL & 2023 w/ VGK) would play the function of hero along with his first profession extra time winner within the postseason.
* The Golden Knights have captured 10 third-period comeback wins within the Stanley Cup Playoffs since their inaugural season in 2017-18 – the second most amongst all groups throughout that span behind simply the Avalanche (11).
GUENTZEL, KUCHEROV PROPEL LIGHTNING TO FIRST WIN OF SERIES
Jake Guentzel (1-2—3) and Nikita Kucherov (0-3—3) every recorded three-point outings to assist the Lightning rating 5 on the highway in a playoff sport for the primary time since 2023 and earn their first victory in a collection that has seen the highway workforce win every of the primary three contests.
* Kucherov recorded his eleventh profession three-assist sport to surpass Connor McDavid (10) and transfer right into a tie for third most all-time. Solely Wayne Gretzky (28) and Mark Messier (12) have extra three-assist playoff performances than Kucherov. Kucherov now has 118 profession playoff assists, which moved him forward of Larry Robinson (116) for thirteenth in NHL historical past.
* Guentzel, who scored a career-high 41 regular-season objectives in his first season with the Lightning, improved his profession playoff totals to 40-31—71 (72 GP) and ranks third amongst lively U.S.-born skaters in playoff objectives and fourth in that class in postseason factors.
QUICK CLICKS
* #NHLStats: Stay Updates for April 26, 2025
* Cam Fowler turns into stabilizing pressure for Blues heading into Recreation 4 in opposition to Jets
* Phil Pritchard lookalike topped at Stanley Cup KeeperCon in Toronto
* Josh Anderson (MTL) and Tom Wilson (WSH) fined for unsportsmanlike conduct
* Jeff Gorton discusses progress of Canadiens on ice and off in Q&A with NHL.com
HOME ICE IS NICE, BUT WILL A ROAD TEAM BREAK THROUGH?
All 4 video games scheduled throughout a full 11 hours of playoff motion on Sunday will probably be Recreation 4s in a collection which have seen the house workforce win every contest. Stars comparable to Jordan Binnington in St. Louis, Nico Hischier in New Jersey, Cole Caufield in Montreal and Connor McDavid in Edmonton will look to guide their groups to a different residence win and even their respective collection 2-2.
* The Jets (26-15-0, 52 factors) had extra highway wins than any workforce within the 2024-25 common season, and might want to faucet into that success at Enterprise Heart in opposition to the Blues, who final misplaced a sport on residence ice in February and have 13 consecutive residence wins general courting to the common season. Binnington closed the 2024-25 common season on a franchise-record 11-game residence win streak and made 17 saves in Recreation 3 to backstop the Blues to their first win of the collection.
* A detailed Hurricanes–Devils collection will contest Recreation 4 with New Jersey seeking to safe back-to-back residence victories to tie the collection after withstanding a Carolina comeback try with a double-overtime victory in Recreation 3. Via the primary three video games of the collection, 81% of taking part in time has seen the 2 groups tied or inside a purpose (163:43 of 202:36).
* Cole Caufield (37 common season & 2 playoffs) has 39 whole objectives this 12 months and sits one away from turning into the primary Canadiens participant in a decade to attain 40, final achieved by Max Pacioretty in 2014-15 (37 common season & 5 playoffs). On the different finish of the ice, 39-year-old Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has three objectives by means of the primary three video games of this collection, and his subsequent playoff tally will tie Mario Lemieux (76) for twelfth in NHL historical past.
* The Kings and Oilers have mixed to common 10 objectives per sport by means of the primary three contests of the collection, together with 4 game-tying objectives, three of which got here in Recreation 3. The groups are led in factors by Adrian Kempe (4-5—9 in 3 GP) and Connor McDavid (2-5—7 in 3 GP). With a degree in Recreation 4, Kempe would develop into the quickest Kings participant to 10 factors in a postseason, a mark at the moment held by Wayne Gretzky (5 GP in 1991) and Daryl Evans (5 GP in 1982). McDavid’s subsequent three-point sport (he already has two in 2025) will tie Denis Savard for the fifth most in Stanley Cup Playoffs historical past on a listing loaded with Oilers greats.
