Friday night was rambunctious night in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs as chaos was abound.
The Montréal Canadiens bested the Washington Capitals, 6-3, to force at least a Game 5 in their series with Capitals now leading 2-1 in their best-of-seven matchup.
The offensive outburst for the Habs wasn’t the only outburst that the Bell Centre crowd witnessed as both teams nearly squared off with their entire rosters heading into the second intermission. More on that in just a bit.
The Carolina Hurricanes paid a visit to Prudential Center as the New Jersey Devils hosted Game 3 of their series and if you thought this one would be over in regulation, well, you were wrong. Šimon Nemec was the hero in double overtime for the home team Devils as New Jersey won, 3-2.
Carolina maintains the series lead 2-1, but will host a Game 5 on Tuesday, April 29th regardless of the results of Game 4 on Sunday.
Finally, Friday night’s late game (for the East Coast, anyway) featured 11 goals between the two teams, rapid momentum shifts and one confusing as hell decision by Los Angeles Kings head coach, Jim Hiller.
In the end, the Edmonton Oilers emerged victorious, 7-4, on home ice at Rogers Place to take Game 3 and trail the Kings 2-1 in the series.
Did someone invite the Nordiques?
Won’t somebody please think of the children?
Sure thing Mrs. Lovejoy, right after we get back from watching comparisons between warmups and in-game scrums back when the Québec Nordiques and Montréal Canadiens went at it to present-day Arber Xhekaj shenanigans and Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson’s visit to the Capitals bench.
If you haven’t seen what went down in Game 3 in Montréal: This happened.
So, yeah, Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson ended up being fined $5,000 each– the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement– for unsportsmanlike conduct in Friday’s night game. Turns out you can’t fight on the bench.
In the meantime, Connor McMichael scored first on a tip-in 3:20 into the first period to give Washington a, 1-0, lead on the road. But late in the opening frame, Montréal tied it, 1-1, when Alexandre Carrier wired a wrist shot from the point in the last minute of the period.
Midway through the second period, both teams swapped goals as Nick Suzuki gave the Canadiens a, 2-1, lead off of an offensive zone faceoff thanks to a turnover from Capitals defender, John Carlson, that ended up right on Suzuki’s stick for backhand shot at 8:37.
Jakob Chychrun, however, caught a pass from Andrew Mangiapane in the offensive zone, corralled the puck and rocketed a slap shot past Sam Montembeault to tie things up, 2-2, about two minutes after Suzuki’s goal.
But once again, Washington allowed a goal against in the final minute of a period as Lane Hutson picked off a pass intended for Alex Ovechkin in the Capitals’ own zone and fed Cole Caufield a one-timer through the slot to put the Habs on top, 3-2, heading into the second intermission.
Then chaos erupted at the horn when– after replacing Montembeault due to a lower body injury– Jakub Dobeš exchanged words with some Capitals on their way across the ice to exit the playing surface.
Everyone partnered up to square dance while Wilson and Anderson tried to throw each other out of the saloon in the meantime.
When the dust settled, the officials handed out 28 minutes in penalties between the two teams.
Xhekaj and Lars Eller each had two minutes for roughing each other, while Wilson and Anderson picked up two minutes for roughing and ten-minute misconducts.
Ahead of the final frame, Montréal announced that Montembeault would not return to the night’s action.
Then Ovechkin scored on an early rush and a pass from Dylan Strome to Ovechkin on the far side after Anthony Beauvillier got the play started. The Caps tied the game, 3-3, at 2:39 of the third period, but the Canadiens started to pull away from Washington shortly thereafter.
Christian Dvorak made it, 4-3, on a shot that ricocheted off of Brandon Duhaime’s own stick past his teammate, Logan Thompson, and into the twine, then Juraj Slafkovský played a game catch with Caufield as they entered the zone.
Caufield dished the puck back to Slafkovský as the young Slovak forward crashed the slot and beat Thompson as the Washington netminder struggled to catch up on the play before being trucked by his own teammate in a collision with Strome.
Slafkovský’s goal made it, 5-3, Montréal at 13:23 of the third period, while Thompson was slow to get up, then stumbled as he tried to shake it off and was helped off the ice.
Both starting goaltenders were replaced by their backups due to injury and their statuses entering Game 4 are questionable.
Alex Newhook added the final goal of the night with 2:25 remaining in the action on Charlie Lindgren’s glove side to secure the, 6-3, win for the Habs.
Washington needs to tighten up their play if they want to take a commanding 3-1 series lead back home for Game 5. The Canadiens are skating stride-for-stride with the Capitals and haven’t really been out of a game yet this series by any means. It’s too close for comfort if you’re a longtime Caps fan.
Meanwhile, Montréal just wants to keep riding the momentum they’ve generated. They’re only down 2-1 in the series and they have another home game before having to go back to Washington.
The Bell Centre crowd lives and breathes the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They expect to be in the building through May every year, whether the Canadiens are rebuilding or not. It’s a religion and they won’t take “maybe next year” for an answer.
They also won’t take lightly to Wilson and his new meme that he generated as a result of his “crybaby” gestures.
The torch and LED flames may be a symbol held near and dear to the organization from John McCrae’s famous poem “In Flanders Fields”, but to opponents the flames that are shown across all LED signage before the Canadiens are introduced might as well represent Hell.
Habs fans are praying to the Hockey Gods and they hope their opponents are smote off the face of the Earth.
It’s different in Montréal this time of year.
Nemec gives Devils life in 2OT
Hey, speaking of Hell, the New Jersey Devils!
They’re right back in their series with the Carolina Hurricanes after Šimon Nemec scored his first career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal early in double overtime to lift New Jersey over the Canes, 3-2.
The Hurricanes now have a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 on Sunday in New Jersey and will host a Game 5 Tuesday, April 29th back at Lenovo Center.
Late in the first period Friday, however, Timo Meier dished a pass to Nico Hischier while the Devils’ captain crashed the net while being chased by Carolina defender, Sean Walker.
Hischier sold an intentionally mishandled puck and watched as it strolled past Frederik Andersen on the far side as the Hurricanes netminder dropped into a hybrid stance.
New Jersey held the, 1-0, lead entering the first intermission and neither team managed to score until the third period.
Jesper Bratt skated down the boards and cut from the corner to the front of the net mimicking a wraparound without even having to go through the trapezoid and out the other side around the goal frame.
Andersen fell forward to snag the puck, but Bratt bested the Carolina goaltender as the puck slid to the side of the net.
Andersen’s momentum carried the Hurricanes goalie out of the familiar blue paint of the crease while Dawson Mercer scooped and curled the loose puck– guiding the rubber biscuit over the goal line for a, 2-0, lead 1:18 into the final frame of regulation.
About five minutes later, though, Carolina started to swing momentum in their direction while on the power play. Shayne Gostisbehere worked the puck to Seth Jarvis through the neutral zone as Jarvis gave the puck to Sebastian Aho before receiving the give-and-go in return and wiring a shot past Jacob Markström.
Jarvis cut the lead in half with the power-play goal, while Aho later tied the game, 2-2, with a power-play goal of his own– snapping a shot from the bumper at 12:20 of the third period.
Nobody else could score thereafter and one overtime wasn’t enough, so a second overtime period was in order.
This time it didn’t take long for Nemec to retrieve a puck from the neutral zone and skate into the attacking zone before releasing a shot from the faceoff circle that deflected off of the Carolina goaltender and in to give Nemec his first career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal and the game-winner in the process.
The Devils won, 3-2, as Nemec became the youngest overtime goal scorer in franchise history– beating Adam Henrique’s 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal game-winner in the process. Nemec is only 21, whereas Henrique was 22 at the time.
Friday night was a huge moment for New Jersey’s 2nd overall pick in 2022, as the defender has had stints in the American Hockey League while coming into his own game between NHL appearances.
New Jersey can even the series Sunday afternoon and make things really interesting heading back to Carolina for Game 5 afterwards.
Then again, the Hurricanes can shake off their Game 3 loss– that’s been a trend in recent years for them in every playoff series it seems– and get right back to dominating possession and the scoreboard for a commanding 3-1 series lead with a Game 4 victory.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN VIDEO?”
It’s a question everyone in a remote production truck has heard at one point or another, but in this case it applies to the Los Angeles Kings’ coaching staff and their decision to challenge Evander Kane’s goal for goaltender interference after an already lengthy officials’ review.
In the meantime, now we’ve got a series.
The Edmonton Oilers beat the Kings, 7-4, after Jim Hiller’s questionable decision to challenge what everyone but someone in Los Angeles’ coaching staff saw, apparently.
Here’s a little secret for those of you that don’t already know how writing works in the world of game recaps and more: You start writing a lede where one team wins and another lede where the other team wins. Prior to Kane’s goal I started setting the scene for a Los Angeles 3-0 series lead.
The Connor McDaivd-Leon Draisaitl era Edmonton Oilers have been here before. They trailed 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final just last year to the Florida Panthers before generating momentum with a blowout win in Game 4, another win in Game 5 and a third-consecutive win in Game 6.
They were looking to become the first team since the Los Angeles Kings came back from a 3-0 series deficit to eliminate the San Jose Sharks in seven games in the 2014 First Round.
Then Edmonton lost in another Game 7 on the road in the Stanley Cup Final. Just like they did in 2006, in Carolina– only this time it was after nearly pulling off the highly improbable. There was no reverse sweep for McDavid’s postseason MVP-winning glory.
Instead, only the inevitable. Just delayed by a few.
Think about how great that would’ve looked here, Mr. Hiller.
Instead, only the inevitable. Edmonton forces their way back into the series and upsets Los Angeles for the fourth-straight year.
Now, I’m getting ahead of myself, but that’s what we could end up looking at here, folks.
No matter how hot Adrian Kempe is right now– McDavid and Draisaitl are worth at least five of him. And with Evan Bouchard warming up? There’s circles to be skated ’round and ’round.
You were already playing “catch-up hockey” all night, then you go and do that. How the hell are any of the Kings players supposed to keep their poise and confidence going into Game 4 while still in Edmonton?
The Kings had a good story going in Game 3 as it was after trailing, 2-0. Kempe made it a one-goal game before heading into the first intermission.
Kevin Fiala tied it early in the middle frame with a power-play goal and Drew Doughty added another about ten minutes later to give Los Angeles their first lead of the night.
Then Connor Brown continued a bonkers run of goals– tying the game, 3-3, on a redirection at 17:19 of the second period before Trevor Moore one-handed an accident through Calvin Pickard’s legs to make it, 4-3, on the ensuing faceoff from Brown’s goal. The game had been tied for nine seconds.
Oh, yeah, Pickard got the start for the Oilers, by the way, over Stuart Skinner.
And then a few minutes past the midpoint of the third period, Kane and the Oilers thought they scored, but the call on the ice was initially “no goal” due to a perceived distinct kicking motion from Kane.
An official review determined that Kane had, in fact, kicked the puck from his skate to his stick in a wise move to ensure no issues with the kick in the first place and to corral possession and just tap it in over the goal line with the blade.
It was a good goal and Kane’s first in his second game back from an injury that somehow kept him out all season (the NHL isn’t thrilled about some of the long-term injured reserve use this year, apparently).
Then Hiller used his coach’s challenge and, predictably, lost. If Kane had made contact with the blade of his stick touching Darcy Kuemper’s pads, it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.
The call on the ice– which, by now, was a “good goal”– stood. Los Angeles was assessed a bench minor for delay of game.
Bouchard scored his second power-play goal of the game off the ensuing faceoff– 10 seconds after Kane’s goal, to be exact. The tally also rendered Bouchard as the first Oilers defender in franchise history to
Now Edmonton was ahead, 5-4, and the Kings were forced to pull Kuemper for an extra attacker with all of the momentum fully swung in the Oilers’ favor.
Doughty got crushed on a hit, lost the puck and McDavid ended up with possession on a short pass to go end-to-end from Zach Hyman to Edmonton’s captain for an empty-net goal to make it, 6-4, with 1:40 remaining in the action.
Brown beat what would have otherwise been an icing about 90 seconds later and collected his second goal of the game– Edmonton’s second empty netter– to secure the, 7-4, victory.
The Kings now lead the series 2-1, but the Oilers have home ice for Game 4 Sunday. It’s going to be a tough mountain to climb for Los Angeles to head back home with a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Down the Frozen River 
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