(Photo credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images)

The visiting Buffalo Sabres scored two first-period goals and never trailed en route to a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Friday, clinching their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series in Game 6.

Alex Tuch and Mattias Samuelsson built a 2-0 lead in the opening frame before Zach Benson and Josh Norris added insurance tallies in the third as Buffalo advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2007.

Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin each dished out two assists while Alex Lyon made 25 saves for the Sabres, who won all three games played in Boston in the series.

David Pastrnak scored the lone goal and Jeremy Swayman stopped 22 shots in Boston's losing effort.

Golden Knights 5, Mammoth 1

Mitch Marner scored two goals and had an assist as Vegas defeated Utah in Game 6 in Salt Lake City to win their first-round playoff series.

It was the sixth career three-point playoff game for Marner, tying his postseason high. Brett Howden scored a goal for the third straight game as Vegas advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the sixth time in its nine-year history. Carter Hart made 22 saves for the Golden Knights, who will face the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference semifinals.

Kailer Yamamoto scored a goal and Karel Vejmelka finished with 21 saves for Utah, which was playing its first playoff series since the franchise moved from Arizona in April 2024.

Lightning 1, Canadiens 0 (OT)

Gage Goncalves scored the overtime game-winning goal to give visiting Tampa Bay a season-saving win over Montreal on Friday and force Game 7.

The deciding game of their Eastern Conference first-round set will be Sunday in Tampa. That clash has quite the affair to top in entertainment value. A thrilling Game 6 finally came to a close when Goncalves buried a loose puck amidst a scramble at 9:03 of overtime for his first career playoff overtime winner.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy had struggled to find his form during this series but delivered his best performance with 30 saves to post his eighth career playoff shutout. Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes stopped 32 shots in a fantastic goaltending duel.

--Field Level Media