Hurricanes go up 2-0 on Bruins
The Carolina Hurricanes didn’t flinch after losing yet another goaltender.
Instead, they responded with a physical and even confrontational edge against a team that has twice bullied them out of recent NHL playoffs. And now they’re up 2-0 on the Boston Bruins in their firstround series.
Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter each scored twice, and the Hurricanes overcame the early loss of goalie Antti Raanta to beat the Bruins 5-2 on Wednesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Jesper Fast had the game’s first goal for Carolina in another strong offensive showing to start this series. Rookie goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov came on in relief of Raanta to finish with 30 saves.
Perhaps just as importantly, the Hurricanes looked ready for a fight at every moment as the Bruins racked up penalties and time in the box while facing yet another uphill climb.
“We’re not going to get pushed around, I guarantee you that,” said Carolina defenseman Tony DeAngelo, who had three assists.
Game 3 is tonight in Boston. Lightning 5, Maple Leafs 3: Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for his first four-point playoff game and visiting Tampa Bay beat Toronto in Game 2 to even their first-round series.
Nikita Kucherov added a goal and two assists, and Brayden Point, Corey Perry and Brandon Hagel also scored for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in a bounce-back performance after the Lightning dropped the opener 5-0.
Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist for Toronto, Michael
Bunting and Alexander Kerfoot also scored and Jack Campbell made 29 saves. Auston Matthews had two assists.
Game 3 is tonight in Florida. Wild 6, Blues 2: Kirill Kaprizov had a hat trick and Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice for host Minnesota, which snapped back at St. Louis with a victory to even their first-round playoff series at one game apiece.
Frederic Gaudreau and Kaprizov scored on the power play for the Wild, who went 0-for-6 with the man advantage in their 4-0 defeat in Game 1 and were 1-for-9 against the Blues over three regular-season losses.
The Wild beat their Central
Division rival in regulation for only the third time in 16 games since the Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019.
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who host Game 3 tonight in St. Louis.
Oilers 6, Kings 0: Mike Smith bounced back with a perfect 30-save night and host Edmonton routed Los Angeles to even their first-round playoff series through two games.
Evander Kane had two goals and an assist, Ryan McLeod had one of each, and Jesse Puljujarvi, Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl also scored. Connor McDavid added two assists.
The series moves to Los Angeles for Game 3 tonight.