From trade afterthought to playoff hero: How did Sean Kuraly get here?

Sean Kuraly went from being largely unknown to saving the Boston Bruins' season.

His first NHL goal tied Game 5 of the Bruins' first-round series against the Ottawa Senators on Friday night, and his second career marker ended the double-overtime affair while helping Boston stave off elimination.

Unless you're a hardcore Bruins fan or a college hockey aficionado, you might not be too familiar with the 24-year-old center. So just how did he go from relative obscurity to scoring an overtime winner in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Until Friday night's heroics, Kuraly was essentially the answer to a trivia question.

He wasn't a highly touted prospect, falling to the fifth round in the 2011 draft before the San Jose Sharks chose him 133rd overall. Before his Game 5 double dip, Kuraly was primarily known for being part of the package that netted the Sharks their No. 1 goaltender, Martin Jones.

In late June 2015, the Sharks shipped Kuraly to Boston along with a 2016 first-round pick that became prospect Trent Frederic in exchange for Jones. While the netminder was obviously the centerpiece of the deal, Kuraly was more than just a throw-in.

He was specifically targeted by John Ferguson Jr., Bruins executive director of player personnel, who served as the Sharks' director of pro scouting from 2008-14.

Here's how that went down, as described by The Boston Globe's Fluto Shinzawa in July 2015:

Ferguson knew Kuraly from San Jose's development camps. He tracked Kuraly’s progress at Miami. In December of 2012, before the 2013 World Junior Championship, Ferguson watched Kuraly in pre-tournament practices in Tarrytown, N.Y. It was then, because of Kuraly’s skating and size as a center, that Ferguson was confident he would become an NHL player.

At the time of the deal, Kuraly had finished his junior season at Miami of Ohio, where he was a teammate of Bruins prospect Austin Czarnik. Kuraly scored 19 goals in 40 games for the RedHawks that season, the most he'd tally in any of his collegiate campaigns.

After serving as Miami's captain for his senior season, he joined the Bruins' AHL club in Providence in 2016-17, posting 14 goals and 26 points in 54 games. He was summoned for eight NHL games in the regular season, but failed to make much of an impact, collecting a single assist.

Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has given Kuraly several chances to prove himself in the playoffs, inserting him into the lineup for Games 1 and 2 against the Senators, and Kuraly's most recent opportunity came at the expense of Ryan Spooner.

Kuraly proved much more than a footnote to Spooner's Game 5 benching with a two-goal performance that helped Boston force Game 6.

He didn't come out of nowhere, but he wasn't exactly on the hockey world's collective radar until Friday's heroics. Still, whether he sticks in the lineup for good or ultimately needs more time to develop consistency, Kuraly has already proven he's more than an afterthought.

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Watch: Kuraly keeps Bruins alive with Game 5 2OT winner

Sean Kuraly made his case to be a permanent fixture in the Boston Bruins' lineup.

The rookie forward scored his second goal of Game 5 in double overtime, helping his team avoid elimination and take the opening-round series back to Boston.

Kuraly, 24, entered the postseason with one assist in eight appearances with the Bruins, meaning his offensive outburst in Game 5 marked his first two goals at the NHL level.

The double-overtime winner came after Boston appeared to have won in the fourth period, only to have it disallowed due to goalie interference.

Kuraly, by the way, was inserted into the lineup as a replacement for Ryan Spooner - a decision that certainly paid off for interim head coach Bruce Cassidy.

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Twitter reacts to Bruins’ disallowed OT goal

Upon further review, no goal.

Boston Bruins forward Noal Acciari appeared to score a season-saving overtime goal Friday in Game 5, but it was disallowed after video review due to goaltender interference on the part of Sean Kuraly.

Judge for yourself:

The reaction on Twitter was, in a word, befuddled:

Leave it Roberto Luongo to drop some gold:

A former NHL official also chimed in:

Good effort, Bruins.

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Power outage: Leafs’ power-play woes cost them in Game 5

The Toronto Maple Leafs had the NHL's second-best power play throughout the regular season, but it was their inability to generate any sort of offense with the man advantage that cost them a crucial Game 5 tilt with the Washington Capitals on Friday night.

The Leafs went 0-for-4 on the power play, failing to take advantage of the Capitals' undisciplined penalties. They didn't just fail to score while up a man, they weren't able to generate much pressure, either.

Power play Shots attempted Shots on goal
1st 0 0
2nd 1 0
3rd 5 2
4th 5 2

Toronto only managed to throw four pucks on goal during four power plays, and at least two of them were weak shots from the outside.

Their one glorious opportunity with the man advantage came when Washington turned the puck over off a Toronto dump-in, leaving James van Riemsdyk all alone in front. He attempted to slide the puck through Braden Holtby's five hole, rather than waiting out the netminder and lifting it over his right pad.

The most glaring issue was that Toronto's zone entries on the power play were stymied by Washington's penalty killers.

Defenseman Jake Gardiner, who quarterbacks a unit featuring Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Connor Brown, and Leo Komarov, said postgame that they need to change something on their power play, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

Gardiner appears to be channeling his inner Captain Obvious.

(Courtesy: Action Images)

Maybe it's Toronto's zone entries that need an adjustment.

"Well, not winning any faceoffs and our entries haven't been very good," head coach Mike Babcock told reporters when asked why the power play struggled. "We'll have to go back to the drawing board.

"They've done a good job on that and then obviously they've got in our head a little bit there because we're not coming with the same kind of pace we normally do on entries," said Babcock.

Like many teams, the Leafs opt to skate the puck up to the neutral zone and drop it back to a deep player with a full head of steam. Whether that puck-carrier was Matthews, Nylander, or Mitch Marner, nobody was very successful.

This tactic was awfully successful throughout the regular season, but in a seven-game series, opponents begin to catch on.

Even in the few occasions where they were able to get the puck into Washington's zone, their setup was short-lived. The Capitals did a great job taking away time and space from Toronto's skilled players on the half wall, and of blocking shots when Toronto was able to find some space.

Whatever adjustments need to be made with their power play, the Leafs have arguably the best coach in the business in Babcock to find and fix the issues.

If the Maple Leafs can't get their power play going in Game 6, there likely won't be a Game 7.

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Babcock to Verizon Center staff: ‘See you in a couple days’

Despite being on the brink of elimination, Mike Babcock appears quite confident in the Toronto Maple Leafs chances in Game 6.

The club dropped Game 5 in Washington on Friday thanks to an overtime tally by Justin Williams just over a minute into the extra period. The loss puts the Maple Leafs just one loss away from elimination, but as Babcock left Verizon Center he appeared confident he would be back for Game 7 in a few days:

It appears Babcock has already mapped out just how the rest of the series is going to go.

"We’ve got to go home and win a game now," Babcock said, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston. "We want to be right here in overtime in Game 7."

Related - Watch: Williams puts Maple Leafs on brink of elimination with Game 5 OT winner

So after four of the first five games went to extra time, there might still be more overtime in store.

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Capitals’ Schmidt: Ovechkin replaced parts and kept going after Kadri hit

The Russian machine never breaks, as they say.

Alex Ovechkin's resilience was on full display in Game 5, as the Washington Capitals superstar returned shortly after being upended by Toronto's Nazem Kadri.

Related: Ovechkin forced from game momentarily after Kadri hip check

Defenseman Nate Schmidt described the captain perfectly, telling Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post: "Just replace the parts and keep going."

The sentiment was echoed by goaltender Braden Holtby, with a subtle nod to the Russian winger's machine-like nature:

Kadri, for his part, didn't feel the incident was all that problematic.

"From what I saw I thought it was okay," he told James Mirtle of The Athletic.

Despite leaving the ice late in the first period, Ovechkin saw 19:29 of ice time in the overtime win, recording three shots and six hits. He was in the locker room when the Capitals opened the scoring, but maintained he wasn't being tended to by the medical staff.

Because the machine apparently runs on caffeine.

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Watch: Williams puts Maple Leafs on brink of elimination with Game 5 OT winner

Mr. Game 7 came up clutch for the Washington Capitals in Game 5 on Friday night.

Justin Williams fired the overtime winner past Frederik Andersen just 1:04 into the extra frame to give the Capitals a 3-2 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The goal was Williams' third of the postseason, giving him a share of the team lead in that category with T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson.

The series now shifts to Toronto for Game 6 on Sunday, where the Capitals will have the chance to eliminate the Maple Leafs on their home rink.

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Krejci leaves Game 5 after knee-on-knee with Wideman

The Boston Bruins will look to stay alive in their first-round series without the services of David Krejci.

The forward left Friday's game after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Ottawa Senators defenseman Chris Wideman.

The Bruins later ruled out Krejci's return to the game. He was playing in his third postseason game where he has been held pointless.

The Bruins are down three games to one.

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