But the Toronto Maple Leafs might have pulled off the biggest stunner of all by staying alive in the championship quest with a 4-3 overtime victory over Columbus.
Chicago’s Dominik Kubalik scored the game-winning goal 8:30 into the third period to give the 12th-seeded Blackhawks a 3-2 victory over Western Conference fifth-seeded bubble host Edmonton and a 3-1 victory in their best-of-five play-in series.
“We’re going to keep getting better as we go along,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews warned.
Other rink upsets saw East 12th seed Montreal down Pittsburgh 2-0 to claim that series 3-1 and West 11th seed Arizona edge Nashville 4-3 in overtime, the Coyotes winning their first post-season series since 2012 by 3-1 as well.
East bubble host Toronto made a fightback for the ages to defeat the Blue Jackets on an Auston Matthews power-play goal 13:10 into overtime, leveling their play-in matchup at 2-2 to force a decider Sunday.
Columbus led 3-0 before Toronto’s William Nylander scored with 3:57 to play, John Tavares followed 51 seconds later and Zach Hyman netted the equalizer with 23 seconds remaining in regulation — each score coming with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker.
“This group has to be unbelievably proud. What a comeback,” Matthews said. “We just tried to flip the script, stay with it. We just kept plugging away and forced a game five.”
The NHL return from its Covid-19 shutdown saw 12 teams each enter quarantine bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton — four top teams from earlier games deciding playoff seedings and eight others playing a qualifying round for playoff spots.
Toews cleared the puck from behind the goal to set up Kubalik’s decisive slap shot.
The Blackhawks will face the West top seed, either the Colorado Avalanche or Vegas Golden Knights, in the first best-of-seven round of the playoffs, which open Tuesday.
Montreal’s Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring with 4:11 remaining in the third period and the Canadiens, who had the worst record of the 24 returning NHL teams, spoiled the 33rd birthday of Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, a three-time NHL champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist.
“It was an important goal for sure,” Lehkonen said. “We showed up to the camp ready to play and knew we would have a chance. Now we’ve just got to move on to the next one.”
Carey Price made 22 saves for Montreal for his sixth post-season shutout, his first since 2015, the last year the Canadiens had won a post-season series.
Shea Weber scored an empty-net goal with 32 seconds to create the final victory margin for Montreal, which faces a first-round playoff series against the East top seed, either Tampa Bay or Philadelphia.
Brad Richardson scored on a backhand shot 5:27 into overtime to give the Coyotes their first playoff berth in eight years.
“It hit off my shin pad and kind of hung around,” said Richardson, who was camped out on the edge of the goal crease. “Luckily I got the rebound and put it in.”
The Coyotes, who moved from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996, won their only prior post-season matchups in 2012 and hadn’t reached the playoffs since.
Nashville’s Filip Forsberg scored with 31.9 seconds remaining in the third period to pull the Predators level and force overtime, but Arizona advanced to face the West second seed.
Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals and Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves to spark the New York Islanders over Florida 5-1 to complete a 3-1 victory in their East qualifying series.
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