Lightning gets the jump on Panthers
Colorado goes to OT to topple St. Louis
SUNRISE, Fla. — PierreEdouard Bellemare scored the goahead goal early in the third period, Andrei Vasilevskiy remained redhot with 34 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning topped the Florida Panthers 4-1 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday night.
Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist, and Ross Colton also scored for the twotime defending Stanley Cup champions, who went ahead 1-0 against their in-state rivals for the second consecutive season.
Time and again, Vasilevskiy slammed the door on Florida. Over his last three games — all of them wins, including Game 7 at Toronto on Sunday — he’s stopped 94 of 99 shots.
Anthony Duclair had the goal for Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida, which got 32 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Florida has lost seven consecutive Game 1’s — a streak that goes back to 1997. Game 2 is Thursday night. AVALANCHE 3, BLUES 2 (OT): In Denver, Josh Manson scored 8:02 into overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his return to the net from an eye injury and Colorado overcame a sluggish start to beat St. Louis in Game 1 of their second-round series.
Manson sent a shot from near the blue line through a sea of players that went in just over the shoulder of Jordan Binnington.
Valeri Nichushkin and Samuel Girard also scored for an Avalanche team that had a weeklong layoff after sweeping Nashville. It showed early on, too, before they found their stride. They outshot the Blues by a 54-25 margin, including 13-0 in OT. The Avalanche also hit three posts and two crossbars.
Ryan O’Reilly had a first-period goal and Jordan Kyrou tied it late for St. Louis. Binnington kept the Blues close with one sprawling save after another. He stopped 51 shots.
Game 2 is Thursday.