The Blues held off the Predators in a do-or-die Game 5 and the Ducks broke a 2-2 series tie in double overtime to push the Oilers to the brink thanks to a crazy comeback.
Here are five things we learned from a thrilling night of playoff hockey.
Jaskin saves the day
“Five shots, three hits, two takeaways, a goal, plus-1, and you saw Doug Armstrong thinking, ‘Why wasn’t he in the lineup earlier?’”
That was Sportsnet’s Ron MacLean talking about Blues forward Dmitri Jaskin after two periods of play in a do-or-die Game 5 in St. Louis.
He’s got a point.
Jaskin made his 2016-17 playoff debut Friday night after watching the Blues’ previous nine playoff games from the sidelines, and he certainly made it count.
The 24-year-old went on to add three more shots, one more hit and two blocked shots in the third period to put the exclamation mark on an impressive outing and help the Blues to a crucial 2-1 victory and avoid elimination.
Jaskin suited up in place of Alex Steen, who was a late scratch.
This is becoming a bit of a pattern, and we can look to last year’s post-season for proof, when he was again inserted into the lineup midway through Round 2.
“The connection between this year and last year is, he sat for the first 11 playoff games last year, then scored his first game in,” Elliotte Friedman explained. “Tonight, he sits for the first nine playoff games of this year and scores his first game in.”
Jaskin, who had just one goal and 10 assists in 51 regular season games this year, earned the “difference-maker” seal of approval from head coach Mike Yeo.
As for Jaskin’s post-game comments…
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Ducks rally for incredible comeback
It was 3-0.
With just over three minutes remaining in regulation, an Edmonton Oilers victory looked like a sure thing. But a lot can change in three minutes of playoff hockey.
To put the cherry on top of a wild comeback, the game-tying goal — Rickard Rakell, 19:45 — came while Cam Talbot was down in his crease with a Ducks player on top of him, prompting a goalie interference challenge and bringing back bad Game 4 memories.
Another game, another goalie interference controversy.
When push came to shove, it was ultimately determined that Ryan Kesler was knocked down and into Talbot. Verdict: Good goal. Tie game. Overtime.
See our full breakdown of the controversial goal and have your say on the final decision here.
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Close calls on the blue line
Before the Oilers’ lead, before the comeback, and before the stress of double overtime, the Oilers had some close calls of another kind.
Edmonton got into potentially dangerous territory early in Game 5 against the Ducks, as a string in injuries on defence threatened to derail the game before it really got underway.
First, Matt Benning was crunched into the boards by Nate Thompson. He was shaken up and appeared to be injured, but would return to the game after a brief stay in the locker-room.
Not long after, Andrej Sekera took a big hit from Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf and left the game. He did not return.
Then it was Oscar Klefbom who was in visible pain after blocking a shot up high. He left the game for a short period of time, but would later return.
It was touch-and-go for a little while, with all eyes on the Oilers’ rotating bench and a lopsided ice time tally by the end of the first period.
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Ritchie could be getting a phone call
Things looked bad for the Oilers’ blue line, but they looked downright scary for a few minutes after Kris Russell was slammed into the boards with a high hit from Ducks forward Nick Ritchie.
Ritchie was issued a two-minute charging penalty, and Russell was slow to get up but would remain on the bench, playing out the rest of the game like the shot-blocking machine that he is.
Kassian later fought back in defence of his teammate, dropping the gloves with Ritchie which resulted in a pair of matching fighting penalties and a couple of misconducts.
Ritchie clearly hits Russell’s head, and it’s got us wondering if he’ll be be getting a phone call from the NHL’s player safety department.
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Getzlaf continues to dominate
Getzlaf has had a monstrous impact all post-season, and Game 5 was no exception.
Just like in Game 4, the Ducks captain kickstarted his team’s comeback and was basically a one-man wrecking crew.
Getzlaf now has eight goals and six assists in nine playoff games so far this year.
Friedman summed it up best during Sportsnet’s panel discussion:
“You know that scene in Billy Madison, when Adam Sandler plays dodgeball against the kindergarten kids? That’s what Getzlaf’s like in this series right now.”
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Bonus thing: If this whole hockey thing doesn’t pan out, Connor McDavid could always try his hand at baseball.
