Tampa Bay’s runaway win turns ugly after slash to Kucherov
Alex Killorn scored a pair of second-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from its first postseason loss to rout the Florida Panthers 6-2 and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round Central Division playoff matchup on Saturday.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists but the Lightning star went down after being slashed by Florida’s Anthony Duclair with the Panthers trailing by four goals midway through the third period. Kucherov remained on the bench for a short time, but did not return to the game.
“The hockey game ended halfway through the second period, then it turned into something else,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said after a penalty-filled afternoon that saw Florida finish with 13 penalties for 50 minutes and Tampa Bay 13 for 42 minutes.
Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was also shaken up by a late hit. Cooper would not discuss the injuries.
“Nothing. Next question,” he said.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 39 of 41 shots for the Lightning.
at Toronto 5, Montreal 1:
Auston Matthews broke a tie early in the second period and the Leafs evened the series in their first game since losing captain John Tavares.
Jack Campbell stopped 22 shots for his first career playoff victory.
Vegas 4, at Minnesota 0:
Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves for his 16th career postseason shutout, Nicolas Roy scored twice and the Golden Knights pushed the Wild to the verge of elimination. Wild star rookie Kirill Kaprizov had only two shots on goal, giving him eight in four games.
at New York Islanders 4, Pittsburgh 1:
Ilya Sorokin stopped 29 shots, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ryan Pulock each had a goal and an assist and New York evened the first-round series. Josh Bailey and Jordan Eberle also scored for New York.