The two most beautiful words in sports? Game 7. It was lucky for hockey fans, Saturday was full of a lot of excitement like 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs The first round saw three 7s matches on the same day.
Boston and Carolina opened Saturday at the PNC Arena, and like the first six games of the series, the home team won. The Hurricanes sealed their tickets to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 3-2 victory over the Bruins. Max Dome led the way for Carolina with three points, including two goals in the second half. The Hurricanes have now won six consecutive games in Game 7 and will then play the winner of the Rangers-Penguins series, which will conclude on Sunday in another Game 7.
Lightning’s dream of winning the Stanley Cup with three peats is still alive and well. Left winger Nicholas Ball scored twice for the Bolts in the first and second half – not a bad way to score his first two goals in the post-season. The third half was goalless but there was a lot of excitement. Toronto left the net empty about two minutes before the end of the match, but their attempt to come back was unsuccessful. Brayden Point has not seen any minutes in the last period due to a lower body injury. And the Maple Leafs hit 31 shots on goal, but he struggled in scoring due to the strong performance of goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky. Morgan Riley scored their only goal in the 13:25 minute in the second half.
“La Bamba” rang out over the speakers as Edmonton was pulled off a stunning performance by Los Angeles goalkeeper Jonathan Quick, who was previously 4-0 in Game Seven. After a first goal-free period, Oilers went on to score 24 shots on target in the second set of 20 minutes. Their first goal came from Cody Cisse – his first ever during the post-season – at 13:15 of the second half assisted by Conor McDavid. McDavid continued to score unaided during the last period at the 16:07 mark. The Kings tried to come back but Mike Smith was also tough to break in and didn’t allow many second chances. Edmonton wrapped up the night with a 41-29 shot on goal advantage.