Kings, Wild Rally for 1st Wins in Cup Playoffs

The Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild weren’t facing elimination in their Stanley Cup first round playoff series, but losses would put both in a very deep hole, down 3 games to 0 in the best of seven series. Both teams rose to the occasion after trailing early to win their games on April 18th.

In San Jose, the Sharks’ Joe Thornton scored just 30 seconds into the game to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead over Los Angeles. The Kings tied it up with an Anzi Kopitar power play goal at the 8:10 mark. And that was it for the scoring until the Kings’ Tanner Pearson scored in overtime to give the Kings a 2-1 victory.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Patrick Sharp of the Dallas Stars also got his team off to a quick start, scoring 26 seconds into the game. Sharp followed that with a second goal at 4:10 of the first period. But the Wild scored late in the first period, then held the stars scoreless in the second while taking the lead on goals by Erik Haula and Jason Pominville. The Wild didn’t trail again and won 5-3.

The Philadelphia Flyers did not follow the pattern, losing to the Washington Capitals 6-1. The Capitals scored four times in then third period and five power play goals in the game. Washington leads that series 3-0.