Point lifts Lightning in 5th OT
Brayden Point scored 10:27 into the fifth overtime, and the Lightning beat the Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday in the fourth-longest game in Stanley Cup playoff history.
Point scored from just above the left circle, beating Joonas Korpisalo after the goaltender made an NHL-record 85 saves. Point also scored way back in the first period of Game 1 of the best-of-seven series in Toronto.
Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy also was outstanding for the Lightning, making 61 stops. The teams combined for 151 shots — most in a NHL game since the league began officially tracking the statistic in 1955-56.
“It’s tiring for sure but then it gets fun at some point,” Point said. “I don’t know how many guys played a game like that, that long. It was an exciting one.”
The teams are meeting in first round of the playoffs for second straight year.
The Lightning are looking to rebound from being swept 16 months ago by the underdog Blue Jackets, who became the first No. 8 seed in league history to oust the winner of the Presidents’ Trophy in four games.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored on the power play and Oliver Bjorkstrand added a goal late in the second period to give the Blue Jackets — the No. 7 seed in the East — a pair of short-lived leads in regulation.
Yanni Gourde had the other goal for the second-seeded Lightning. Game 2 is Thursday.
The Lightning played Game 1 without injured captain Steven Stamkos. But Norris Trophy finalist Victor Hedman, who appeared to twist an ankle during last Saturday’s round-robin finale against the Flyers, skated and had an assist on the Lightning’s first goal.
The Bruins-Hurricanes series opener, which was scheduled to be played after the marathon Lightning-Blue Jackets game at the Scotiabank Arena, was moved to Wednesday. the the
Flames take opener: Rasmus Andersson scored the tiebreaking goal on a wrist shot after Dillon Dube scored twice in the first period for the Flames, who beat the Stars 3-2 in Game 1 of their Western Conference series in Edmonton, Alberta.
Andersson scored on a rush with four minutes left in the second period, with the defenseman taking a strong shot and the puck skirting over the top of defenseman Andrej Sekera’s stick blade on its way to the net.
Cam Talbot stopped 24 shots for the Flames, including a power-play attempt by Joe Pavelski with 10 seconds left in the game. Game 2 is Thursday.
The Flames got their first goal on that power play, on Dube’s one-timer from the right circle off Milan Lucic’s pass across the ice past two Stars.
Dube later made a rush with the puck, getting around one defenseman and then splitting between another one just in front of Khudobin before the shot that gave the Flames a 2-0 lead.