NHL, PWHL playoffs reach transcendent heights with OT heroics, highlight-reel goals

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Good morning, hockey folks! So, the Ducks got cooked, the Habs are one “W” from rounding out our 2026 NHL final four, and the PWHL finals opened with some OT heroics. The 100th edition of Red Light 🚨 is here.

Let’s go.

Conference Finals Loom

We’re getting awfully close to knowing what Round 3 will look like now, so much so that the schedule has already been released. Let’s get you caught up on what you might have missed last night.

Golden Knights 5, Ducks 1

Vegas wins series 4-2

My goodness, Mitch Marner. I know the plucky young Ducks have been playing with some newfound swagger all season, but did you really need to end their fun while stealing their soul, Shang Tsung style, with a move this crushing?

Marner was dancing around the Honda Center ice all night, putting up a goal and an assist early in what unfortunately became a bit of a laugher. The former Maple Leaf extended his NHL postseason scoring lead to three points with 18 in 12 games, and he’s now through to the conference final for the first time in his career. But the champions of the Pacific Division Pillow Fight will have their hands full with the powerhouse Avalanche.

Hey, full marks to the Golden Marners for making it look relatively easy so far, but forgive the rest of the hockey world for some skepticism that they can give Colorado a real push after the unevenness of 13th-place Vegas’ season. (Counterpoint: All three meetings between them were very tight during the regular season, with two going to overtime. So … maybe?)

That series begins Wednesday in Denver. It could be the first game of Round 3, depending on what happens in Game 6 over in the East.

More:

The Golden Knights have reached the NHL’s final four for the fifth time in nine seasons, the most of any team since 2017.

Vegas’ “swagger” is definitely back.

Despite the loss, the Ducks made remarkable progress this season.

Canadiens 6, Sabres 3

Montreal leads series 3-2

We need at least one Game 7 in this round, don’t we? This feels like the series to deliver it. (Especially given how, you know, all the other series are already over. Plus, we already had series end in a sweep, five games and six games, so seven completes the set.)

Buffalo jumped to a 3-2 lead 10 minutes into Game 5, getting the Sabres’ home crowd and its beer sabres, uh, jumping. But the Habs responded with four unanswered goals, including rookie Ivan “The Demigod” Demidov’s first-ever playoff tally to close the scoring on the power play.

Now, all the pressure is on the Sabres, who will have to find a way to win in the Bell Centre madhouse in a do-or-die Game 6 tomorrow. They’ve got a big question in net, too, after a rough night for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was pulled for Alex Lyon.

That said, the Sabres have proven people wrong all year; now’s the time to show what they’re made of after a special season.

So much to learn from this one:

Habs coach Martin St. Louis was rewarded for sticking with Jakub Dobeš, who allowed goals on three straight shots but stopped all 32 after that.

Electric young talents Lane Hutson and Demidov are the center of Canadiens’ present (and future) success.

St. Louis and Sabres coach Lindy Ruff have differing approaches to NHL playoff mind games. Fascinating.

Alex Tuch and Buffalo’s other top players let the Sabres down.

PWHL Finals

Victoire 3, Charge 2 (OT)

Montreal leads series 1-0

Montreal hockey fans certainly have a lot to cheer about right now.

Their Abby Roque was the hero in Game 1 of the Walter Cup Finals, scoring her second of the night in overtime to cap a dramatic comeback after the Victoire tied the score with 2.1 seconds left in regulation.

Poor Ottawa needs to memory-wipe this one as quickly as it can — this series is only best-of-five.

Hailey Salvian was in Laval last night with the scoop as Game 2 goes tomorrow. The good news is that it’s an afternoon game, so fans can make it a PWHL-NHL doubleheader.

Newsplosion

Firings, hirings, endings

As more teams are eliminated, the headlines only grow outside the playoffs.

Yesterday, there was the second bloodletting for a Canadian team in two days, with the reeling Oilers firing coach Kris Knoblauch. (ICYMI: The Maple Leafs fired Craig Berube on Wednesday.)

Awkwardly, the Knoblauch news came after it was reported the Oilers had inquired about the availability of former Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy, which sources say is never a great sign for someone’s job security. But who should they hire?

Elsewhere, the last-place and third-pick-owning Canucks unveiled their new brain trust: Club legends and twin brothers Henrik and Daniel Sedin as, I’m guessing, the first-ever co-presidents of hockey ops (which I’m told the kids are calling CoPoHos), and Ryan Johnson as GM.

The vibes seemed remarkably good coming out of that presser — even the Sad Club Commish was impressed — so we’ll allow Vancouver a rare win to celebrate, even if that’s a crew fairly low on front-office experience.

Meanwhile, the postmortems keep rolling in for teams that have been wiped out of the playoffs … and one that didn’t even make them.

Mike Russo and Joe Smith break down what will be a tough summer for the Wild as they try to join the ranks of true contenders after a five-game humbling at the hands of the Avs. I often feel like one of the hardest things to do in the NHL is to go from good to great; that’s the real challenge facing GM Bill Guerin with his club because good doesn’t win Cups.

Speaking of which: Do the Flyers need to make a big swing now to take the next step? Or should Danny Brière keep preaching patience?

In other tough calls in Pennsylvania news: Penguins GM Kyle Dubas likely has to make a few and break some old-guy hearts.

Reading this, I’m not sure any fanbase is angrier than the Rangers’ right now. Can you blame them?

💡 MirTrivia Question

What a run for Jakub Dobeš this postseason. After last night, the Habs netminder is now up to seven wins, tied for fifth-most for a rookie goalie in a single playoffs in the salary-cap era.

Can you name the four rookie goalies ahead of him?

(Hint: Three won the Stanley Cup. And the fourth was eliminated in the conference finals by one of those rookies who won it all.)

Answers at the bottom.

Coast to Coast

🏒 Nineteen-year-old Macklin Celebrini, who has played just two NHL seasons, will remain captain of Team Canada at the worlds, even with 38-year-old Sidney Crosby, who has played 21 NHL seasons, on hand. I wonder if he’ll make Crosby pick up pucks.

👏 Good stuff here from other NHL legends on Calder Trophy winner Matthew Schaefer’s historic season. What a lovely story he was all year; check out his appearance on “GMA” earlier this week to see what I’m talking about. Here’s hoping he gets to show what he can do in the playoffs next season.

💸 The Blackhawks signed the KHL’s leading goal scorer to an entry-level deal. Can Roman Kantserov, the first 21-year-old to lead the league in goals since Kirill Kaprizov in 2018-19, make an immediate impact in the NHL?

✅ Our latest Stanley Cup contender checklist focuses on the Flames, who need just about everything except a goalie right now.

😱 I wrote a thingy that includes this shocking stat: Just one goalie in the top 19 in salary this season started a game in Round 2. So, is this success of cheaper, tandem goalies a trend or a blip?

📰 Missing Sean McIndoe’s whimsy? Read this.

🎤 In the latest “The Athletic Hockey Show,” our crew was joined by Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky, who hasn’t had anything to do for a while as his team awaits an opponent. Plus, the Oilers coaching carousel, PWHL final talk and the inevitable Avs. Watch/listen here.

MirTrivia Answer

So, who are the four rookies with more than Dobeš’ seven wins in a cap-era postseason? The three goalies who won the Cup as freshmen are:

Cam Ward, Carolina, 2005-06: 15 wins

Matt Murray, Pittsburgh, 2015-16: 15 wins

Jordan Binnington, St. Louis, 2018-19: 16 wins

(Yes, somehow Binnington was a rookie seven years ago. Now he’s old. NHL timelines are unforgiving.)

The fourth goalie, who lost to one of the above? It was Ryan Miller with the Sabres, who faced Ward in a very memorable matchup. At the time, it was the first conference final between rookie goalies since 1981.

Miller ended his run with 11 wins, the most he would ever get in a postseason.

How are we doing? We’d love to hear from you. Email your feedback, questions or comments to redlight@theathletic.com.

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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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