Eastern Quarterfinal Nightly Recap

Eastern Quarterfinal

New Jersey Devils - 3 @ Tampa Bay Lightning - 1

• New Jersey wins series 4 -2 

Jacob Markstrom was nearly perfect again and the Devils strong defensive play sees them head into the second round after a win in Game 6.

New Jersey limited Tampa to just 21 shots in the game. Markstrom, who shut out the Lightning in Game 5, turned aside 20 of them in the victory. He finishes the series with a 4-2 record, 1.67 GAA and .939 SP%.

Tyler Motte opened the scoring in the first period, scoring his first of the series. Aleksander Barkov put the Devils up 2-0, wristing one past Thatcher Demko, with just 25 seconds left in the period. That was all the offense New Jersey needed.

New Jersey now waits to see if they'll play Columbus or Philadelphia in the second round.

Columbus Blue Jackets - 2 @ Philadelphia Flyers - 3 (OT)

• Series tied 3-3

Martin Jones is giving a big middle finger to the analytics world.

Jones, who owns a 3.24 GAA and .892 SP% as well as being yanked twice in the series, wasn't great in Game 6. But he stopped the only shot he faced in overtime and that was enough. He finished the game with 17 saves and .895 SP%

Philadelphia looked to be in trouble early in overtime when Clayton Keller was sent to the box for a charging penalty. Columbus wasn't able to take advantage, mustering just the single shot on Jones. Keller stepped out of the box and found the puck on his stick. Skating into the zone he was able to get two shots away that were thwarted by Alex Piertangelo and Quinn Hughes. The puck landed onto the the blade of JT Miller's stick, who was left undefended, who made no mistake and buried the winner.

Although they ended up on the ice for all three goals against, Hughes and Pietrangelo did their part on the back end. Hughes finished with 6 blocked shots while Pietrangelo had 5. Each player finished with 27:11 TOI.

After staring dow the barrel of a 3-1 series deficit, the Flyers have battled their way back into it. The stage is now set for a winner-take-all Game 7 in Columbus. 

THREE STARS

Zach Werenski (NJ): +3, +/-0, 1 hit, 3 shots, 4 shots blocked, 21:33 TOI
Adam Pelech (PHI): 1 assist, +/-0, 1 shot, 3 shots blocked, 3 takeaways, 22:38 TOI
JT Miller (PHI): 1 goal (GWG), +/-0, 3 hits, 3 shots, 1 giveaway, 18:38 TOI