Panthers struck by Lightning at finish

Ross Colton scored with 3.8 seconds remaining, giving the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.

The stunning finish put the Lightning up 2-0 in the best-ofseven series that heads to Tampa, Fla., for Game 3 on Sunday.

The game appeared headed for overtime before Colton scored from right in front of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky off a backhand pass from Nikita Kucherov, who chased down a loose puck behind the Florida net.

Tampa Bay’s power play once again was the catalyst, producing Corey Perry’s firstperiod goal after delivering three goals in the Lightning’s 4-1 victory in Game 1.

Perry’s goal was the Lightning’s fourth in seven powerplay chances to start the series.

Battle of Alberta returns: The first Battle of Alberta in the playoffs in 31 years didn’t disappoint.

The Calgary Flames got a hat trick from Matthew Tkachuk to outlast the Edmonton Oilers 9-6 and grab Game 1 of the second-round series Wednesday night. It was the most goals in a postseason game in 29 years.

“Strange game,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “We scored on our first two shots and there were probably six different games out there. Take the win. Move on.”

“We fought back and made it a game, but we can’t feel good about that in any way because we scored six goals in a game and found a way to not win it,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said.

It was the highest-scoring postseason game since Los Angeles beat Calgary 9-6 in the 1993 division semifinals.

Briefly: The Flames’ Sutter, Andrew Brunette of the Panthers and Gerard Gallant of the Rangers are the three finalists for the Jack Adams Award, presented annually to the NHL’s coach of the year . ... The Predators have extended the contracts of coach John Hynes and his assistants through the 2023-24 season.