NHL playoff scores 2017: Alex Ovechkin, Erik Karlsson lead their teams to round 2

The Washington Capitals wouldn’t let the Toronto Maple Leafs pass them in the Eastern Conference hierarchy that easily. Marcus Johansson scored twice late in Game 6, including the overtime winner, to lead the Capitals to a series-clinching 2-1 win on Sunday night.

The Leafs gave the Capitals all they could handle in a close series that included a record-tying five overtime games. The six games were extremely close in just about every way, including 5-on-5 possession, where Washington narrowly held the advantage at 52 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. If you look to possession in all situations, the Leafs held the slight advantage.

Both teams scored their goals in the third period off fortunate bounces. The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead when an odd bounce off the boards turned into a mini breakaway for Auston Matthews, who made a gorgeous move to hit the upper corner for his fourth goal of the postseason.

Minutes later, the Capitals were aggressively attacking when Johansson fired a puck on goal that bounced off Frederik Andersen and slid in behind him. The puck didn’t go more than a few inches past the goal line, but there was no doubt that it did. Johansson was awarded the goal with assists to Lars Eller and Brooks Orpik.

In overtime, Johansson got another tough goal by getting his stick on a rebound before the goalie could pop the puck away. The Capitals dominated the overtime period in shots on goal, 5-1, before finally getting one past Andersen for the winner, but the final shot total was 38-36 in Toronto’s direction.

So these were two closely matched teams battling down to the wire in a series that could’ve gone either way. It’s a surprising development after the Capitals won the Presidents’ Trophy this month and the Leafs won the draft lottery less than a year ago, but that’s the reality.

Washington had the advantage in experience, though, and ultimately it hung on in those close situations where it’s fallen short many times in the past.

Senators 3, Bruins 2 (OT)
Capitals 2, Maple Leafs 1 (OT)

1. Erik Karlsson helped eliminate the Bruins on one good foot

The Senators didn’t have Karlsson for the final five games of the regular season as he recovered from a foot injury after blocking a shot on March 28. It turns out that injury never fully healed, as Karlsson revealed after the Game 6 OT win over the Bruins that he played the first-round series with two hairline fractures in his left foot. Ouch!

That’s an incredible showing of toughness by the star defenseman, but it does leave a question mark for the Senators entering their next matchup against the Rangers, who now know their opponent’s No. 1 defenseman may not be 100 percent. Will New York try to go after Karlsson in the second round? As Boston discovered, that may not work, even if he’s only got one good foot.

This is what the NHL’s best players do: elevate their games at the biggest times, nagging injuries be damned. Showing some love in the postgame handshake line to Boston’s Charlie McAvoy, who was making his NHL debut at age 19 this postseason, was a nice cherry on top of the series:

Go rest that foot, Erik.

2. Boston couldn’t stop making dumb penalties

When the Bruins look back at how the series got away from them, a number of unnecessary penalties will be high up on the list. They got busted for three delay of game penalties in the first period of Game 6, which didn’t cost them as they took a 1-0 lead, but it continued an unfortunate pattern.

The Bruins finished their six games against the Senators with six penalties for delay of game and two for too many men. With injuries taking a toll, Boston could ill-afford to regularly hurt its situation with sloppy mistakes. Even with a strong penalty kill preventing the Senators from pulling away with those opportunities, they provided long stretches where the pressure was on the Bruins just to stay alive.

3. The second-round matchups look fantastic

First, you have the Penguins-Capitals rematch that we’ve all been waiting for. Pittsburgh got the best of that matchup last year once again, but Washington looks as strong as ever from top to bottom.

The other matchups look good, as well. The Predators will look to prove their sweep of the Blackhawks wasn’t a fluke against the Blues, who will be trying to do something similar after Jake Allen singlehandedly led them past the Wild in the first round. The Ducks trying to stop Connor McDavid and the Oilers should be thrilling after the Sharks failed. And in the East, Karlsson and the Senators will try to solve Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers.

It’s a solid group of semifinal series, and should set the stage for an even better pair of conference finals. After a record-breaking 18 overtime games in the first round, the Stanley Cup Playoffs should remain as thrilling as ever.

When you get two overtime game-winning elimination goals in one night, they both get the impact moment treatment. First, here’s Johansson’s greasy score to beat the Maple Leafs:

And here’s Clarke MacArthur of the Senators with his second goal of the series (and just his third goal since April 2015) to eliminate the Bruins in Game 6:

Karlsson averaged a point per game in the six-game ouster of Boston, then revealed afterwards he’s playing with a lingering injury. That’s the kind of juicy narrative writers love to latch onto when deciding who should be the playoff MVP, so if the Senators can keep it up, expect Karlsson to be a prime candidate.