Wednesday night featured a lighter schedule with only three games on the docket as Logan Thompson stood on his head– in the third period especially– in Washington, D.C., Gabriel Landeskog played his first National Hockey League game in 1,032 days and everyone’s favorite harmonica group returned for Game 2 in Los Angeles.
The Washington Capitals took a 2-0 series lead over the Montréal Canadiens with a 3-1 victory in Game 2 at Capital One Arena.
Tyler Seguin scored the game-winning goal in Game 3 on the road at Ball Arena as the Dallas Stars won back-to-back games in overtime to take a 2-1 series lead over the Colorado Avalanche.
And Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe each had four points in a, 6-2, blowout victory for the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2 of their series with the Edmonton Oilers to take a 2-0 lead on home ice.
Shots shots shots shots shots (everybody)
Despite outshooting Montréal, 32-26, in Game 2, everyone was talking about Thompson’s performance after Wednesday night’s, 3-1, win for Washington.
Thompson made 25 saves and recorded a .962 save percentage in the victory and now has a 1.47 goals-against average and a .951 SV% thus far in the postseason.
The Capitals held the Canadiens to 12 shots on goal through 40 minutes Wednesday– outshooting the Habs, 9-4, in the first period and, 18-8, in the second period alone for a, 27-12, advantage entering the final frame.
That means Thompson faced a barrage of 14 shots against in the third period itself as Montréal mustered every effort to tie the game and force overtime for a second game in-a-row in the series.
Despite the loss, Sam Montembeault still had 29 saves on 31 shots faced for a .935 SV% in Game 2 for Montréal and has a respectable 2.49 GAA and .921 SV% through two games in the series.
That stat line would be fantastic in just about any other playoff series normally.
The only problem is that the Canadiens have allowed six goals against thus far to their three goals for while Thompson has put up even better numbers than Montembeault as a result.
Christian Dvorak slid a rebound under Thompson’s legs to give the Habs a, 1-0, lead 1:16 into the first period. Despite the fast start for the Canadiens, they weren’t able to get anything else past the Washington netminder.
In fact, Montréal couldn’t hold the lead for long before the Capitals evened things up, 1-1, at 3:47 courtesy of a backhand goal from Connor McMichael.
Then Washington’s leading scorer in the regular season, Dylan Strome, shoveled his own rebound past Montembeault for a, 2-1, lead a minute after McMichael had tied the game.
The shift in momentum rendered a raucous crowd inside Capital One Arena as Strome put the home team ahead.
Both teams settled in thereafter and McMichael wouldn’t add his second goal of the night until he hit the back of an empty net in the final seconds of the action to make it, 3-1, Washington.
The series shifts to Montréal for Games 3 and 4 and the Habs can get back into it by just a few lucky bounces in front of their home crowd.
Gabriel Landeskog returns! (for real this time)
But Dallas ruined the party!
Landeskog’s first game in almost three years featured six hits, one blocked shot, one giveaway and one takeaway to go along with a 50% draw on the faceoff dot.
The first hit in his return? Delivered to former Avs teammate turned current Star by way of the Carolina Hurricanes, Mikko Rantanen.
Almost halfway through the opening frame, the two teams were skating at 4-on-4 and Valeri Nichushkin made Matt Duchene look silly– shaking off the Stars forward with a quick cut and circle in the attacking zone before deking Jake Oettinger out of his mind to give Colorado a, 1-0, lead.
Unfortunately for Avalanche fans in attendance, the 8:09 mark of the first period was also the last time they would experience joy for the rest of the evening as only anguish and dread was afoot.
Posts were ringing, possession was to be had and play spent much of the time in Colorado’s own zone.
Dallas outshot Colorado, 14-5, after one period and held onto an, 18-13, advantage through 40 minutes despite the Avalanche holding an, 8-4, shot advantage in the middle frame alone.
Mackenzie Blackwood was the only reason why the Avs held their lead most of the night and finished with 26 saves on 28 shots against for a .929 SV%.
Through three games this postseason, Blackwood has a 2.07 GAA and a .923 SV% for Colorado. Oettinger has a 2.37 GAA and a .910 SV% for Dallas. The Stars lead the series 2-1, however.
Shortly after killing off a minor infraction, the Avs found themselves shorthanded once again when Nathan MacKinnon took what some experts are calling “a stupid penalty.”
MacKinnon tried to be sneaky as he just happened to plant his stick on the ice while Colin Blackwell’s was heading backwards to defend his own end– catching the Stars forward’s skates in the process and sending Blackwell flying.
The Stars were clicking on the power play opportunity just prior, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
This time, Dallas did not miss.
Jamie Benn tipped a shot from Thomas Harley just under the bar to tie the game, 1-1, nine seconds into the skater advantage at 9:18 of the third period.
Duchene cut a rut to the sin bin and presented the Avalanche with a chance to take momentum and the lead back into their own hands.
No dice.
Instead, Dallas had a tremendous shorthanded opportunity and sent Colorado’s power play units into disarray.
Just as everyone settled in for overtime, Rantanen bounced a lead pass off the boards for Mason Marchment to rush into the attacking zone and drop a pass back to Seguin as No. 91 in his road white jersey with the familiar Dallas green yoke crashed the net.
Seguin wristed a shot past Blackwood to secure the, 2-1, overtime victory and give Rantanen his first point of the series in the process as No. 96 for the Stars had the secondary assist on the game-winning goal.
The Stars improved to 42-49 in overtime all-time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 25-22 record in the extra frame on the road in that span.
The Avs fell to 47-37 in postseason overtimes and are now 20-21 on home ice in that span.
In all, Dallas has led for just 72 seconds three games into the series. The Stars have a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 on the road Saturday night.
Martin Nečas is not living up to his full potential.
The regular season doesn’t have the same kind of pressure the postseason has. Whereas the expectations of the ebbs and flows of the regular season are predicated upon playing the right game to peak at the right time (now through June), you cannot have an “off” night in the playoffs.
Nečas is clearly a talented player in his own right and now receives the benefit of playing on a line alongside MacKinnon– picking up additional points he could have only previously dreamed of in Carolina.
But there’s an element of his game that he brought with him from the Hurricanes to the Avalanche that he hasn’t been able to shake off just yet.
His failure to elevate his game from that regular season routine to the postseason grind.
The Stars are doing enough to quell MacKinnon and Nečas. They’ve clearly done something to get under MacKinnon’s skin– just enough to annoy him and throw him off of his game.
Remember after Game 1 when I said:
“The bad news? Game 1 isn’t Dallas’ thing.
The good news? History is on their side.
The Stars dropped Game 1 against the Avalanche, 4-3, in overtime last year on home ice in their 2024 Second Round matchup. They went on to win the next three games before losing Game 5, but won Game 6, 2-1, in double overtime on the road in Denver– courtesy of former Colorado forward, Matt Duchene’s game-winner.
Dallas also holds the 4-2 series advantage against the Avalanche in their lifetime….”
Yeah, about that. The Stars still have history on their side– and not only that, they have a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4. They are trying to go from being 4-2 to being 5-2 against Colorado in all-time playoff series matchups.
Last year, when these two teams met I wasn’t enthused about the Avs’ odds. This year, that doubt has only grown further and further.
It’s always the Stars or the Minnesota Wild when you think you “deserve” it more than the other team. They’re inevitable.
Kopitar still has it, but Kempe has arrived too
Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe each had four points on Tuesday night and that’s awesome and all, but you know what’s pretty cool too? Quinton Byfield keeps scoring.
While Los Angeles’ certified stars in Kopitar and Kempe are doing their thing (as they should), Byfield has quietly been having a breakout of his own this series.
Two games into it and Byfield has two goals and one assist– good enough for three points while centering the second line for the Kings.
Kempe, meanwhile, has seven points (three goals, four assists) in two games. He’s already one point away from matching his previous postseason-high of eight points in six games in 2023.
And Kopitar? Well, he’s having a better playoff run through two games this year than he did in five games last year against the Oilers.
Kopitar has 1-4–5 totals in 2025, compared to his 1-2–3 totals in 2024 (five games played).
And the Kings have a 2-0 series lead heading up to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4. Los Angeles has the Oilers right where they want them.
All they have to do is win at least one of the next two games.
That might be pretty easy to do if Stuart Skinner is still in net for Game 3.
The Kings chased Skinner after he allowed five goals, but it’s not like the Oilers were completely out of the game– until they were really out of it.
See, Los Angeles’ power play is cooking and, well, L.A. only had a, 3-0, lead by the midpoint of the middle frame. We saw in Game 1 how Edmonton isn’t out of a game by any means until the final horn sometimes.
So Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers on the scoreboard. Then Viktor Arvidsson scored against his most recent former team on a tip-in early in the third period to bring Edmonton within one, 3-2.
The Kings watched as their three-goal lead was suddenly back down to a one-goal lead.
But a little over two and a half minutes after Arvidsson scored, Kempe answered. There would not be a weird (almost) comeback in Game 2.
Kopitar notched his first goal of the postseason on the power play at 9:07 of the third period to extend Los Angeles’ lead to three goals once more, 5-2.
Naturally, after Skinner was replaced by Calvin Pickard after a media timeout, Kempe scored on the first shot that Pickard faced to make it, 6-2, Los Angeles.
If Kris Knoblauch decides to give Skinner another start in Game 3, there’s a very real chance we end up seeing Skinner join the revolving door of goaltenders in Edmonton’s recent history (yes, even before and after Ken Holland insisted that Mike Smith was the one, then tried to convince Jimmy Howard to come out of retirement).
It’s insane, right?
Skinner and the Oilers were just in the Stanley Cup Final last year because of, well, Skinner– oh, and some guy named “Connor McDavid” (plus Draisaitl– can’t forget him too).
Yet, here we are.
Through two games this postseason, Skinner has an 0-2 record with a 6.11 GAA and an .810 SV%. Sure, that save percentage might be half decent in, like, the 1980s (fitting for the greatest team of the 1980s, to be fair), but yikes. That’s no bueno.
In his Stanley Cup Playoffs career (37 games played), Skinner has a 3.00 GAA and an .889 SV%.
Now hear this– Pickard has a 2.48 GAA and a .903 SV% in four career Stanley Cup Playoff games (all with the Oilers and including his relief appearance on Wednesday).
In Pickard’s two starts last spring, he went 1-1 with a 2.21 GAA and a .915 SV%.
The Oilers clearly rallied around their goaltender when faced with the realization that Pickard of all people would be thrust into a position he once was expected to live up to when he was drafted 49th overall by Colorado in 2010, but hadn’t yet.
So, riddle me this, why not see if the magic can work itself out again?
Goaltenders are weird in more ways than one– personality, style and sometimes postseason runs.
Is it time to consider Pickard the unlikely savior and turn to him when you need him most?
By the way, Los Angeles has not won a playoff series since they won the Cup back in 2014. In case Edmonton needed more fuel for their manifestations or whatever.
Down the Frozen River 
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