Carter Verhaeghe’s goal 2:46 into overtime gave the Florida Panthers a series-clinching 4-3 victory over the host Washington Capitals in Game 6 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

Coming off a franchise-record and NHL-high 122 points in the regular season, Florida won its first postseason series since the 1996 Eastern Conference finals, the longest playoff drought of any team in the NHL. The Panthers are headed to the second round to face the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Verhaeghe also scored the overtime winner in Game 4, adding to a spectacular series for the Panthers forward. With a goal and an assist in Game 6, Verhaeghe led all players with 12 points (six goals, six assists) in the series. Verhaeghe was a game-time decision to even take the ice in Game 6, after missing the morning skate with an undisclosed injury.

Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists, fueling the Panthers’ third consecutive comeback win. With the Capitals leading 2-1 through 48 minutes of play, Giroux equalized at 8:18 of the third period, then recorded helpers on both Aleksander Barkov’s go-ahead goal and Verhaeghe’s overtime winner.

Nic Dowd, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie all scored for Washington, with all three players coming close to hero status. Dowd hit two posts in the third period, Backstrom’s third-period goal gave the Capitals the lead, and Oshie forced overtime with a power-play marker with 63 seconds left in regulation.

Rangers 5, Penguins 3

Chris Kreider’s second goal of the night was the tiebreaker with 1:28 left in the third period as visiting New York topped Pittsburgh to set up a Game 7 in the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Kreider’s slapshot from the left point popped off of and over Louis Domingue to break a 3-3 tie. Andrew Copp added an empty-netter with 26.4 seconds left, completing New York’s rally from a 2-0 deficit. Mika Zibanejad had two goals and two assists while Adam Fox had four assists for the Rangers, who have won two straight to even the series.

Jeff Carter, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins, and Domingue made 33 saves. Pittsburgh played without captain Sidney Crosby, who left Game 5 after a high hit by New York’s Jacob Trouba. Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday in New York.

Stars 4, Flames 2

Miro Heiskanen scored the winning goal and host Dallas forced Game 7 in its Western Conference first-round series against Calgary.

Roope Hintz and Michael Raffl each had a goal and an assist and Tyler Seguin added an empty-net tally for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 36 saves for the win.

Michael Stone collected one goal and one assist, and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames. Jacob Markstrom stopped 36 shots.

–Field Level Media

Miro Heiskanen scored the winning goal and the host Dallas Stars forced Game 7 in their Western Conference first-round series against the Calgary Flames with a 4-2 home-ice victory on Friday.

Roope Hintz and Michael Raffl each had a goal and an assist and Tyler Seguin added an empty-net tally for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 36 saves for the win.

Michael Stone collected one goal and one assist, and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames. Jacob Markstrom stopped 36 shots.

Game 7 will be Sunday in Calgary.

After watching their 2-0 lead disappear, the Stars regrouped and regained the edge with 2:28 left in the second period. Heiskanen’s shot from the high slot found its way through the maze of players for his first of the series and made it a 3-2 game.

Seguin sealed the victory with 42 seconds remaining in the third period.

Hintz opened the scoring 14:52 into the first period. Seconds after Oettinger denied Johnny Gaudreau on a golden chance, the Stars took the puck the other way. Joe Pavelski left a drop-pass for Hintz, who buried a shot from the left faceoff dot for his second goal of the series.

Raffl doubled the lead at 6:04 of the second period. Joel Kiviranta outbattled Oliver Kylington for the puck at the Calgary blue line, only to be denied by Markstrom. However, Raffl shoveled home the loose puck for his second goal of the playoffs.

Stone provided the Flames a much needed jolt two minutes later. Gaudreau led a three-on-one rush and fed a pass to Stone to convert for his first goal of the playoffs.

Backlund’s third tally in as many games tied the clash at 11:59 of the second period. Just as a power play ended, Backlund sent a one-timer from the right circle that Oettinger stopped, but it bounced off a defender and into the net.

The Flames also took a huge roster hit. Defenseman Christopher Tanev left the game before the midway point after going down awkwardly in a collision when Raffl scored.

–Field Level Media

Carter Verhaeghe’s goal 2:46 into overtime gave the Florida Panthers a series-clinching 4-3 victory over the host Washington Capitals in Game 6 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

Coming off a franchise-record and NHL-high 122 points in the regular season, Florida won its first postseason series since the 1996 Eastern Conference finals, the longest playoff drought of any team in the NHL.

After losing their last seven postseason series, the Panthers are headed to the second round to face the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Verhaeghe also scored the overtime winner in Game 4, adding to a spectacular series for the Panthers forward. With a goal and an assist in Game 6, Verhaeghe led all players with 12 points (six goals, six assists) in the series.

Verhaeghe was a game-time decision to even take the ice in Game 6, after missing the morning skate with an undisclosed injury.

Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists, fueling the Panthers’ third consecutive comeback win. With the Capitals leading 2-1 through 48 minutes of play, Giroux equalized at 8:18 of the third period, then recorded helpers on both Aleksander Barkov’s go-ahead goal and Verhaeghe’s overtime winner.

Ryan Lomberg scored the Panthers’ other goal. Lomberg was making his first appearance in the lineup since Game 1.

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 34 of 37 shots for his 17th career playoff victory.

Nic Dowd, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie all scored for Washington, with all three players coming close to hero status. Dowd hit two posts in the third period, Backstrom’s third-period goal gave the Capitals the lead, and Oshie forced overtime with a power-play marker with 63 seconds left in regulation.

The Panthers won the series despite Washington’s domination of the special teams battle. Florida was 0-for-18 on the power play during the series, while the Capitals were 7-for-24 with the extra attacker.

Since winning the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, the Capitals have been eliminated in the first round in each of the last four seasons.

Ilya Samsonsov stopped 27 of 31 shots for the Capitals.

–Field Level Media

Chris Kreider’s second goal of the night was the tiebreaker with 1:28 left in the third period Friday as the visiting New York Rangers topped the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 to set up a Game 7 in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Kreider’s slapshot from the left point popped off of and over goaltender Louis Domingue to break a 3-3 tie. Andrew Copp added an empty-netter with 26.4 seconds left, completing New York’s rally from a 2-0 deficit on the night.

Mika Zibanejad had two goals and two assists while Adam Fox had four assists for the Rangers, who have won two straight to even the series.

New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves and picked up an assist.

Jeff Carter, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins, and Domingue made 33 saves.

Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday in New York.

Pittsburgh played without captain Sidney Crosby, who left Game 5 after a high hit by New York’s Jacob Trouba.

The Penguins then lost forward Brian Boyle Friday, who left late in the first after he hit Trouba.

Carter opened the scoring at 14:12 of the first. After Kasperi Kapanen’s sharp-angle shot, Carter backhanded in the rebound.

Pittsburgh pushed it to 2-0 when Rust scored 1:36 later. From the bottom of the left circle, Rust one-timed a cross-ice pass from Jake Guentzel inside the near post.

In the second, New York scored three unanswered goals, the first two by Zibanejad to tie it.

At 5:05 and just four seconds into a power play, Zibanejad blasted a shot short side from the top of the right circle to make it 2-1, and 1:16 later, he scored on a one-timer past a screen to knot it 2-2.

Shesterkin’s long outlet pass to Zibanejad led to a go-ahead goal. As Domingue got his glove on Zibanejad’s shot but didn’t hold on, Kreider was spinning away from Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson above the crease and swept the rebound in at 13:48 of the second.

Malkin tied it 3-3 at 16:36 of the second. He poked a pass from Trouba intended for K’Andre Miller near the blue line for a long breakaway with Miller closely chasing. Malkin beat Shesterkin under his glove.

–Field Level Media