TORONTO — Artturi Lehkonen flipped a shot past Tristan Jarry with 4:11 remaining to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a stunning 2-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, clinching their first playoff berth in three years.
Paul Byron took advantage of a Pittsburgh turnover, darted behind the Penguins net and then slipped a pass to Lehkonen in front. Lehkonen found enough space between four Pittsburgh players to slip the puck into the open net.
The Penguins mustered little down the stretch and Shea Weber added an empty-net goal in the final seconds as the 12th-seeded Canadiens captured the best-of-five qualifying round over fifth-seeded Pittsburgh in four games.
Carey Price stopped 22 shots to collect the shutout. Montreal will advance to the first round of the playoffs against either Tampa Bay or Philadelphia.
BLACKHAWKS 3, OILERS 2: Brandon Saad, Matthew Highmore and Dominik Kubalik scored and Chicago, the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference, knocked out No. 5 seed Edmonton.
The Blackhawks won the best-of-five qualifying series 3-1.
ISLANDERS 5, PANTHERS 1: Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, and New York ended its best-of-five preliminary round series in four games.
Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal each had a goal and assist. Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored an empty-netter, and the Eastern Conference’s seventh-seeded bounced back from a 3-2 loss in Game 3 on Wednesday.
New York will open the best-of-seven first-round series against the winner of Sunday’s game between the Bruins and Capitals.
COYOTES 4, PREDATORS 3: Brad Richardson scored on a rebound in overtime, Darcy Kuemper stopped 49 shots and Arizona won in overtime to clinch its series in four games.
The Coyotes, the Western Conference’s No. 11 seed, took a 2-0 lead early in the second period. But they allowed Nashville to tie it before going ahead 3-2 on Jordan Oesterle’s goal early in the third. Nashville pulled goalie Juuse Saros late in the third, and Filip Forsberg tied it with 32 seconds left.
Richardson won it when he redirected Vinnie Hinostroz’s shot and punched in the rebound.
Michael Grabner and Phil Kessel also scored for Arizona, which faces Colorado or Vegas in the first round.
Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson scored for the third straight game before taking a shot to the ribs and leaving late in the second period.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3: Auston Matthews scored on a power play 13:10 into overtime and Toronto rallied from a three-goal deficit in the third period to tie the best-of-five qualifying series at two wins apiece.
The Leafs got goals from William Nylander, John Tavares and Zach Hyman in a span of 3:34 to force a Game 5 on Sunday.
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