The 2015 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs rolled on Monday night with a trio of Game 3s on the slate.
The series between the New York Rangers and the Penguins shifted to Pittsburgh while the St. Louis Blues visited the Wild in Minnesota for the first time this postseason and the Jets hosted the Anaheim Ducks, bringing the playoffs back to Winnipeg for the first time in 19 years.
Here are three keys to victory for each team that ended Monday night with a win in Game 3 of their series:
3) Steal City: The Rangers may have dropped a killer at home in Game 2, but they came to the Steel City with plenty of confidence and played a fantastic road game to go up 2-1 in their series with Pittsburgh. During last year's epic come-from-behind series win against the Penguins, the Rangers took three of the four meetings at the Consol Energy Center -- including the decisive Game 7 -- to stun their rivals in seven games after falling behind 3-1 in the set. The Blueshirts utilized their familiarity with success in the building to garner a tight 2-1 victory on Monday. New York went an NHL-best 25-11-5 on the road this season, so the team is no stranger to grinding it out away from Madison Square Garden. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist wasn't tested early, but turned aside several quality chances in the third period while protecting a one-goal lead and he finished with 23 saves.
2) Top of the Line: The Wild's top line was held mostly at bay during Games 1 and 2 against the St. Louis Blues, but with the series shifting to the Xcel Energy Center -- a place where Minnesota struggled down the stretch -- the top trio broke out. Zach Parise (goal, assist), Jason Pominville (goal, assist) and Mikael Granlund (two helpers) combined for six points in the victory and Devan Dubnyk made 17 saves to shutout the Blues and give the Wild a 2-1 series lead and a 3-0 Game 3 victory.
1) The Third Time Isn't The Charm: For the third consecutive game, the Jets brought a one-goal lead into the third period against the Ducks, but despite the venue shifting to the raucous MTS Centre in Winnipeg, the script stayed the same. After the Jets blew a one-goal lead in the final frame and dropped both Games 1 and 2 to the Ducks in Anaheim, they entered the third stanza Monday with a 3-2 lead. Once again, Winnipeg wasn't able to hold it, coughing it up on a goal from Ryan Kesler. Rickard Rakell then notched the game-winning marker in overtime to give the Ducks a 5-4 victory and stake them to a commanding 3-0 series lead.
The NHL Stanley Cup playoffs carry on with four games on the slate for Tuesday.
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