Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild scores a goal against Brian Elliott of the St. Louis Blues during the third period in Game Six of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota.
AFP/Minnesota
Minnesota left winger Zach Parise had a pair of goals as his team clinched a playoff series on home ice for the first time in franchise history, beating St Louis 4-1 to win their Western Conference playoff series in six games on Sunday.
Right wingers Justin Fontaine and Nino Niederreiter also scored for Minnesota and goalie Devan Dubnyk had 30 saves as the Wild advanced to a second-round showdown against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The match-up will mark a third consecutive season with a Minnesota-Chicago playoff series.
Center T.J. Oshie scored for the Blues, who failed to advance past the first round for the third straight year.
Jake Allen started the game in goal for the Blues, stopping 11 of the 13 shots he faced. He was lifted in favour of Brian Elliot after Fontaine scored in the second to make it 2-0 for Minnesota. Elliott finished with six saves.
Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens finally closed out the Ottawa Senators 2-0 at the third time of asking.
Backed by a 43-save performance from goalie Carey Price, the Canadiens beat the Senators to take the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series 4-2 and advance to a match-up against either Detroit or Tampa Bay.
The Senators, who charged into the playoffs with a historical 23-4-4 run over the final two months, could not write another amazing comeback story after falling 3-0 behind in the series.
