Lightning finish off Devils in 5
Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning are moving on in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Kucherov scored his 27th career postseason goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots as the top seed in the Eastern Conference beat the New Jersey Devils, 3-1, yesterday in Tampa, Fla., to end the first-round series in five games.
Mikhail Sergachev became the youngest player in Lightning history to score a playoff goal and Ryan Callahan, back in the lineup after missing the previous two games with an upper-body injury, sealed it with an empty-netter with 1.7 seconds remaining.
Tampa Bay, which won the first two games at home before splitting a pair on the road, advances to a secondround series against the winner of the first-round matchup between the Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Kucherov, who had 100 points during the regular season, had five goals and five assists in the series. His sizzling shot past goalie Cory Schneider put Tampa Bay up 2-0 at 12:27 of the third period, and his 10 points were the most ever for a Tampa Bay player in a playoff series
Sergachev, at 19 years, 300 days, became the youngest player in franchise history to score a playoff goal, giving the Lightning a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Capitals 4, Blue Jackets 3 — Nicklas Backstrom scored his second goal of the game 11:53 into overtime to give host Washington the win over Columbus and a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.
Braden Holtby made 16 of his 39 saves in the third period to help the Caps get to overtime. Four of five games between the teams have gone past regulation making fatigue a factor for Game 6 tomorrow night in Columbus.
Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie scored along with Backstrom in regulation for the Capitals, who became the first home team this series to win a game. Holtby has been in net for Washington’s three consecutive victories after replacing Philipp Grubauer in Game 2, stopping 102-of108 shots to turn the tide.
Fellow Vezina Trophywinning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky allowed a soft goal to Kuznetsov as one of his four on 29 shots in the loss. Matt Calvert scored shorthanded and on a breakaway and Oliver Bjorkstrand had a deflection goal for Columbus.