Canes’ wing scores hat trick

Andrei Svechnikov kept on the attack, both in skating with a physical edge and continuing to firepucksatthenet.

Now he has a franchise first and the Carolina Hurricanes are a win away from a sweep.

The 20-year-old scored three times for the first postseason hat trick in franchise history and the Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Monday, securing a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup qualifier series.

Svechnikov beat Henrik Lundqvist for the game’s first goal less than five minutes into the game. He followed with a power-play one-timer early in the second off a feed from Sami Vatanen, then buried a third at 14:02 of the third off a feed from Sebastian Aho — who assisted all three Svechnikov goals.

Artemi Panarin scored for the Rangers, beating Mrazek in the closing seconds of a 5-on-3 power play in the first. Lundqvist had 30 saves, but lost for the second time in the postseason after going 3-0 against Carolina in the regular season.

Lightning 3, Capitals 2, SO:

Nikita Kucherov scored the shootout winner to give Tampa Bay a victory against Washington in Eastern Conference round-robin play.

The teams played five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime before going to a shootout because the games for seeding are following regular-season rules. Tampa Bay’s win puts it in a tie with Philadelphia at two points apiece in the Eastern Conference race, while Washington is third with one and Boston fourth with zero.

Jets 3, Flames 2:

Nikolaj Ehlers scored a third-period power-play goal to give Winnipeg a win over Calgary, tying their qualifying-round series.

Adam Lowry led the Jets with a goal and an assist in Game 2 of the best-of-five series. Rookie Jansen Harkins also scored for

Winnipeg and Jack Roslovic contributed a pair of assists.

Vezina Trophy finalist Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the win.

Elias Lindholm and Sam Bennett scored for the Flames.

Penguins 3, Canadiens 1:

Sidney Crosby, Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel scored for Pittsburgh in a victory over Montreal, tying the best-of-five qualifying series at one game apiece.

Crosby beat Montreal’s Carey Price early in the first period and Zucker scored with about five minutes left in the third. Guentzel sealed the win with an empty-net goal.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi ended Matt Murray’s shutout bid with 2:09 left.

Oilers 6, Blackhawks 3:

Connor Mcdavid set the tone right away by scoring the first goal just 19 seconds into the game. Mcdavid extended the Oilers’ lead to 2-0, and he recorded a hat trick by the second period.

Frank Gunn The Associated Press Carolina Hurricanes right wing Andrei Svechnikov (37) scores his third goal of the game past New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist durng the third period Monday. The Hurricanes won 4-1 to lead their series 2-0.