Point scores in 5th OT as Bolts beat Jackets
TORONTO — Brayden Point scored 10:27 into the fifth overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday in the fourth-longest game in Stanley Cup 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 bestof-seven series.
Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy was outstanding for Tampa Bay, making 61 stops. The teams combined for 151 shots — most in a NHL game since the league began officially tracking the statistic in 1955.
Game 2 is Thursday.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored on the power play and Oliver Bjorkstrand added a goal late in the second period to give Columbus — the No. 7 seed in the East — a pair of short-lived leads.
Yanni Gourde had the other goal for the second-seeded Bolts.
The five-overtime thriller led the NHL to postpone the playoff opener between Boston and Carolina to Wednesday.
The Bruins and Hurricanes were supposed to play at Scotiabank Arena after the Blue Jackets-Lightning game.
FLAMES 3, STARS 2 EDMONTON — Dillon Dube and his linemates may be third on the Calgary Flames depth chart, but they are grabbing headlines in the NHL playoffs.
Dube scored twice Tuesday while linemates Milan Lucic and Sam Bennett pasted players into the boards and won puck battles in a 3-2 win over Dallas in the opener of their of their best-of-seven, first-round NHL playoff series.
It was a continuation of their play from the best-of-five qualifying round, when they scored four goals and nine points and set a physical tone in a 3-1 triumph over the Winnipeg Jets.
“At the start of the game we knew it had to be like (the) Winnipeg (series): get on them and push the pace right away,” said Dube, a former Kelowna Rockets’ star. “We were fortunate enough to get those two right away to get ourselves a lead in the start and kind of just kept rolling with that for the rest of the game.”
Dube’s second goal was highlight-reel stuff, undressing Dallas defenceman Andrej Sekera.
Blasting down the right wing, Dube went wide around Sekera, swooped in front of the net, held the puck and tucked it past a sprawled Khudobin.
The Associated Press