Sports shorts Maple Leafs take 2-0 lead

David Pastrnak had a hat trick and three assists to help Boston blow out the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second straight game, leading the Bruins to a 7-3 victory Saturday night and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.

Pastrnak shattered his previous career high of four points, scoring his third goal with 1:36 left to bring two trash cans full of caps and winter hats fluttering down to the ice. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron each had four assists, and Torey Krug had three.

Tuukka Rask stopped 30 shots for Boston, and David Krejci, Rick Nash, Jake DeBrusk and Kevan Miller also scored.

Ryan Hartman’s empty-net goal with 1:09 left wound up the game-winner as the Nashville Predators held off the Colorado Avalanche, 5-4, Saturday for a 2-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Hartman’s goal gave the Predators a 5-3 lead until Alexander Kerfoot pulled Colorado within 5-4 with 35.8 seconds left. But the Avalanche couldn’t get another puck past goalie Pekka Rinne.

The Predators took a 2-0 lead in the best-ofseven series.

Game 3 is Monday night in Denver.

Alex Killorn scored twice during a four-goal second period, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New Jersey Devils, 5-3, on Saturday in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, taking a 2-0 lead.

The Atlantic Division champions scored three times in a 2:47 span in the second period, and the reeling Devils pulled goalie Keith Kinkaid after Killorn’s third goal in two games made it 5-1 with 6:48 remaining in the period.

Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay.