Morning Snapshots: Leafs, Wings Avoid Elimination, Kings Move On + More

Via: espn.com

• If you want to know why the Leafs were able to extend their series against the Bruins, it's a very simple answer: James Reimer. Toronto's young starting goalie was brilliant, making 43 saves, several of the spectacular variety, in a 2-1 win over Boston last night as the Leafs cut the series deficiet to 3-2. Down 2-0 in the third period, the Bruins managed a goal by Zdeno Chara with 8 minutes to go to cut the lead in half, but that's as close as they would get to completing the comeback. Boston will have another chance to close out the series during game six in front of what is likely to be an electric crowd in Toronto on Sunday.
• Mike Ribeiro was the hero for Washington last night, scoring his first career game winning goal in the playoffs, as the Caps downed the Rangers 2-1 in OT. It was a frantic overtime period with chances back and forth, forcing both Henrik Lundqvist and Braden Holtby to make some huge stops. Washington now leads the series 3-2 and will head back to New York for game six. 
• Remember yesterday who I was critical of the big guns in Detroit? They proved me wrong last night, as Henrik Zetterberg  and Pavel Datsyuk both picked up three points in a 4-3 overtime win. Zetterberg scored two, and his second of the night was the winner, as the Wings have now pushed this series to a full seven games. All three of Detroit's wins in the series have come in overtime, and if not for some timely scoring, this one could be over already. Game seven goes tomorrow in Anaheim.
• Dustin Penner scored the winner for the Kings with 0.2 seconds left in the 2nd period, as the Kings eliminated the Blues and move on to the second round. It's the fifth straight series win for the defending Cup champs. Give the Blues credit, they made this series incredibly close as each game was decided by only one goal. But goaltender Brian Elliot, who had been spectacular for the Blues, only stopped 14 of 16 shots in game six. 
• Yesterday Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and John Tavares were named the finalists for the Hart Memorial trophy as league MVP. You can read my take on the nominees here.
• Jason Spezza was back on the ice, skating and preparing for his return to the lineup for the Ottawa Senators. As the Sens now sit and wait for the second round to begin, it appears highly possible that Spezza could suit up for them sometime during during that series. That would be a huge boost for Ottawa's playoff chances, even though Spezza only played 5 games early this season.
• It looks as though another article I wrote recently turned out as prophetic, as Joe Sakic took over the hockey operations department of the Colorado Avalanche. His official title will be Executive Vice-President of Hockey Operations. Greg Sherman will remain as general manager, however he will now have to answer to Sakic in all hockey related decisions. Now we'll have to see who Sakic chooses to replace Joe Sacco behind the bench (everybody pray for Patrick Roy!).
• According to NHL Deputy Comissioner Bill Daly, the NHL has made some progress towards sending it's players to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Olympics. There are still some issues to address for all sides, but Daly said that the NHL is operating under the assumption that they will go. 
• Here's your scores from yesterday at the IIHF World Hockey Championships: Austria beat Slovakia 2-1, the Czechs doubled their rival Slovakia 4-2, Finland beat a frustrated Russian squad 3-2 and Canada got past Belarus 4-1.
• The Swiss continue to be the surprise of the tournament, leading Group Stockhom ahead of teams like Canada, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
• However, Canuck's defenseman Dan Hamhuis was added to the Canadian roster yesterday, and with the first round of the NHL playoffs ending within the next couple of days, it seems likely that many of the traditionally power-house teams will be getting an influx of talent before the elimination rounds begin.

That's all for today everyone, I'll be back later with a look at what went wrong this season for the St. Louis Blues, as well as your usual nightly playoff preview. Don't forget to check out my header contest, it's still going! You can find details here. And, as always, please comment and share if you like the content here at WAAP. Today's gif: the Wings must also give some of the credit for winning last night to their goaltender. Check out this incredible save by Jimmy Howard on Teemu Selanne.