2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs nightly GIF recap: The sweet escape(s)

Two teams on the brink of elimination lived to GIF another day.

May 11, 2013, 1:00 PM UTC

Greg Fiume

Three teams faced elimination on Friday night. Only one of them actually failed to survive. Who was it? Follow the GIF breadcrumbs to find out.

Game 5 in Toronto came down to a battle of goalies making ridiculous saves.

Exhibit A: When Mikhail Grabovski sees a defender in front of him, he doesn't go through the legs with the puck. He goes over the body.

Exhibit B: James Reimer made 43 (!) saves, and a ton of them were as OMG-worthy as this.

Your winner: James Reimer! His performance earned the Leafs a 2-1 win and a few more days of playoff life. And no eye-rolling Elisha Cuthbert.

In Washington, the Rangers were scoring really quickly and really pissing off fans who really need a haircut.

Once again, this game came down to goaltending. (Sensing a playoff theme here?) Braden Holtby was solid in his own end, but Henrik Lundqvist was on another level. The Caps peppered him all game and he still managed to keep his team alive until overtime. And then he kept being magical.

Unfortunately, the Rangers couldn’t clear their own zone in OT.

Did somebody order some Ribs?

The loss means the Rangers are one more blown game away from elimination. What do you think of that, John Tortorella?

The excitement only got better. In Detroit, Jimmy Howard's defensemen were still scoring on him.

Seriously, that’s like the fifth time this season. I don’t really have any more jokes at this point.

It really is unfortunate that that goal negated what was a beautiful opening salvo from Pavel Datsyuk.

Detroit eventually bounced back, staking a 3-1 lead over the Ducks as the third period was winding down.

And then disaster struck. Twice.

Just like that, the game was all knotted up. The game went to overtime, where the Red Wings' captain saved the day.

So the Red Wings and Leafs both staved off elimination. Would the Blues do the same?

Not if Jonathan Quick had anything to say about it. Quick was his usual ridiculous playoff self, stopping 22 shots while making saves like this look easy.

On the other end of the rink, Brian Elliott was having a nice game as well. But it wouldn't be a Blues playoff game without an unfortunate Brian Elliott goal against, would it?

Yes, the final dagger in the heart of the Blues was 0.2 seconds away from not being a dagger at all. It would've been a harmless stick. A pretzel stick, even. Instead, the Kings advanced to the second round. Hockey hugs, anyone?