BRUINS SKATE PAST LIGHTNING IN GAME 1
Rick Nash and Boston’s high-scoring line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are to a flying start in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
TAMPA, Fla. — Tuukka Rask tossed a broken skate blade up the ice in frustration, but hardly lost his cool.
“I didn’t throw it at anybody,” the Boston goaltender said Saturday. “If I threw it at somebody, I’d like to apologize, but I didn’t. I just wanted to make sure that everybody saw that my blade was off.”
Rask settled after allowing a second-period goal while trying to let officials know he had a problem with his left skate, finishing with 34 saves in the Bruins’ 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Rick Nash had two goals and the Bruins’ high-scoring line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand combined for 11 points, however Rask’s ability to retain his composure after Mikhail Sergachev’s goal trimmed Boston’s lead to 3-2 was every bit as important.
“He was really good,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He gave us more than a chance to win early on when we were still trying to find our legs. We weren’t executing very well. They were better than us, and then our top guys started finishing their chances.”
Bergeron also scored twice and had an assist on one of Nash’s goals for the Bruins, who finished one point behind Tampa Bay for the Atlantic Division title, as well as the No. 1 seed in the East.
Marchand had a goal and three assists, while Pastrnak finished with four assists in a dominating performance.
A second goal by Marchand was waved off because of a crosschecking penalty on Pastrnak.
“You need your best players to be your best players, and clearly that happened tonight for us,’ Cassidy said.
Dan Girardi also scored for the Lightning, which trailed by one goal entering the third period.
Marchand and Bergeron hiked Boston’s advantage to 5-2 before Jake DeBrusk added an emptynetter with 6:19 remaining.
The Bruins had just 10 shots against Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy over the last two periods, but made the most of the limited opportunities.
Game 2 is Monday night at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning, in the conference semifinals for the third time in four years, remain confident.
“We have a lot of experience. Guys have been in this position before,” center Tyler Johnson said. “It’s one game. It doesn’t matter if you lose a game 3-2 or 12-2. It’s the same thing.”
Rask won three of four starts against the Lightning during the regular season, with Tampa Bay’s victory coming in the final meeting.
Pastrnak assisted on each of Boston’s first three goals and added another on Bergeron’s third-period goal, giving him 12 helpers in eight playoff games.
“They’ve played on Olympic teams, World Cup teams, and every time you look up and Canada is winning, usually Marchand or Bergeron had something to do with it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of Boston’s top line.
Nash, meanwhile, got his second and third goals of the postseason, scoring on the power play at 17:11 of the opening period and 12:33 of the second to put the Bruins up 3-1. Sergachev countered on the power play, trimming Tampa Bay’s deficit to 3-2.
SHARKS 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 (2 OT): In Las Vegas, Nev., Logan Couture’s second goal of the game, on the power play at 5:13 of the second overtime, lifted San Jose to a victory over Vegas, tying their Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.
Moments after Vegas’ Jon Merrill was called for hooking, Couture found the back of the net, as the Sharks stole home-ice advantage from Vegas.
The Golden Knights, who lost for the first time in six playoff games, thought they won in the first overtime when Jonathan Marchessault’s backhand sailed past Jones with 3:02 left, but officials ruled there was goaltender interference when Marchessault ran into Jones’ blocker and spun him around before his shot.
Brent Burns also scored two goals and Martin Jones stopped 26 shots for San Jose, which was playing without suspended forward Evander Kane.
William Karlsson scored twice, while Nate Schmidt got his first of the postseason to tie the score at 3-3 with 6½ minutes left in the third period. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 43 saves.
Game 3 is Monday night at San Jose.
DRAFT LOTTERY: The Buffalo Sabres followed a season filled with losses by finally winning something — the NHL draft lottery — and landing the No. 1 pick for the third time in franchise history.
The Sabres became the first team to finish 31st in the standings following the addition of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights. And they entered the draft lottery in Toronto on Saturday night with the best odds — 18.5 percent— to win the first pick.
The Sabres overcame their past disappointments the last two times they finished last and settled for the No. 2 pick in both 2014 and 2015.
The Carolina Hurricanes landed the No. 2 pick in making the biggest jump in the order by moving up from the 11th spot. The Montreal Canadiens moved up one spot in the order and will select third.
The Hurricanes and Canadiens moved ahead of Ottawa and Arizona. The Senators dropped from the second slot to having the fourth pick, and Arizona dropped from third to fifth.
This year’s draft will be held at Dallas on June 22-23.
Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is regarded as the top prospect and is listed first among European skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s rankings. Russian forward Andrei Svechnikov is the top North American prospect.