JORDAN STAAL

Three Games Hinge on Iron and Bars

Posts and crossbars left three results razor-thin — Capitals, Bruins and Blues nights were all shaped by near-misses off the metal

If those posts rattle in, tonight’s box scores look very different. The Capitals–Hurricanes game saw 3 iron hits including attempts by Aliaksei Protas, Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Staal that came inches from altering the result. In Boston–Winnipeg 3 shots struck iron — Josh Morrissey, Kyle Connor and Marat Khusnutdinov all tested the frame before the winner held up. And in St. Louis–Dallas 2 iron hits — Mikko Rantanen and Tyler Seguin — robbed both teams of what felt like momentum-shifting goals; Cutter Gauthier also had a brutal close call in that game. Those near-goals changed how each team attacked the final minutes and kept the scorelines tight, a reminder that tonight’s outcomes rode on inches and rebounds off the post.