Lightning pour it on, take 2-0 series lead
Steven Stamkos scored his first goal of the playoffs, and the Lightning beat the Canadiens 6-2 on Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Nikita Kucherov scored twice on power plays, Valtteri Filppula, J.T. Brown and Victor Hedman added goals, and Ben Bishop made 27 saves for the Lightning, who went 4-for-7 on the power play, while the Canadiens went 0-for-3 to fall to 1-for-26 in the postseason.
Carey Price allowed the most goals he has all season, finishing with 18 saves.
Filppula and Hedman also scored with the man advantage as Tampa Bay got its first power-play goals since Game 2 of its sevengame opening series against the Red Wings.
Stamkos used a fortunate bounce to go in on a breakaway and deke Price 8 minutes, 6 seconds into the second for a 2-1 lead.
Flames enjoy break: Having two days off between the first two games of their Western Conference semifinal felt like a long time, but Flames forward Joe Col- borne said the break might work to his team’s advantage. The Ducks opened with a 6-1 rout of the Flames on Thursday, and the wait for Sunday’s Game 2 in Anaheim gave the Flames time to adjust and improve. Or so they hoped.
“It doesn’t matter how we lost,” Colborne said. “We have an opportunity to go home with a tied-up series.”
Flames coach Bob Hartley put Karri Ramo in goal instead of Game 1 starter Jonas Hiller. It was Ramo’s first playoff start.