Columbus wins in Washington again
Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovsky, a goaltender with a history of playoff struggles, looked like his two-time Vezina Trophywinning self in making 54 saves as the visiting Blue Jackets beat the Washington Capitals 5-4 on Sunday on Matt Calvert’s overtime winner to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference firstround playoff series.
“He’s our best player, and he was our best player by a mile tonight,” said Calvert, whose goal 12:22 into overtime settled matters. “It makes us confident. When you’ve got him making up for your mistakes, it’s always good. He’s been doing it all season.”
The playoff version of Bobrovsky of years past was a confounding nightmare compared with his elite play during the regular season: 3-10 with a 3.63 goals-against average and .887 save percentage. Through two games this year, the second of which head coach John Tortorella called “one of the best goaltending performances” he has seen, the reserved Russian has stopped 81 of 88 shots to send Columbus home for Game 3 Tuesday in a place it has never been before.
The Blue Jackets had not led a playoff series until Thursday night. With “Bob” locked in like never before in the Stanley Cup playoffs, they’re two victories away from advancing to the second round for the first time in franchise history.
“I would say your career is a journey, and you learn some things here and there,” Bobrovsky said. “It doesn’t matter what’s in the past. When we’re gonna play third game, it doesn’t matter what happens tonight. Each moment is huge right now, and you just have to be ready.”
Game 3 is Tuesday in Columbus. Golden Knights 3, Kings 2: James Neal scored the tie-breaking goal with 5:37 to play as visiting Vegas took a 3-0 lead over Los Angeles in a Western Conference first-round series.
The Kings led until Cody Eakin tied it with 13:50 left, and William Karlsson scored 21 seconds after Neal’s goal in a third-period flurry for the expansion Golden Knights.
Alex Iafallo scored his first career playoff goal in the first period for Los Angeles, which hasn’t won a playoff game at Staples Center since the Kings last raised the Stanley Cup in June 2014. Anze Kopitar added a goal with 2:04 to play.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 37 saves for Vegas, which will go for a sweep in Game 4 on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
The winner of the series will face the Sharks-Ducks series winner in the West semifinals. San Jose leads that series 2-0, with Game 3 at SAP Center on Monday night. Penguins 5, Flyers 1: Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists and Matt Murray stopped 26 shots to help visiting Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia to take a 2-1 lead in the East series. Game 4 is Wednesday in Philadelphia.
“When we needed to, we made some good plays,” Crosby said. “We got some big saves, and that’s what you need this time of year.”
Crosby scored his fourth goal of the series in the first period, and Derick Brassard, Evgeni Malkin and Brian Dumoulin scored in the second to make it 4-0. Malkin and Dumoulin scored five seconds apart.
“After the third goal, I should’ve taken a timeout,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “That would’ve been one thing to stop that momentum.” Wild 6, Jets 2: Mikael Granlund and Zach Parise scored power-play goals in the first period, and host Minnesota added four goals in the second against Winnipeg to trim its West series deficit to 2-1.
“We’re here to play,” Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk said, “and we’re fully capable of pushing hard.”
Jets defenseman Tyler Myers, who scored his second goal of the series in the second period, exited with an apparent leg injury after he was checked by Mark Foligno and caught his skate at the bottom of the boards.
Game 4 is Tuesday in St. Paul. Briefly: Forward Ilya Kovalchuk, who played the past five seasons for a Russian team in the KHL, came off the NHL’s voluntary retirement list and became an unrestricted free agent, the Canadian website TSN reported. Kovalchuk, a three-time NHL All-Star and three-time Russian Olympian, played for New Jersey from 2010 through ’13. The Devils had maintained his NHL rights until he turned 35 on Sunday . ... New Jersey head coach John Hynes declined to identify his starting goalie for Game 3. Keith Kinkaid started Games 1 and 2, both losses, and was pulled for Cory Schneider on Saturday after allowing five goals for the second straight game.