'Canes avoid sweep
Brady Skjei scored on the power play with 3:11 left to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-3 on Saturday, staving off a sweep by winning Game 4 of the second-round playoff series.
Skjei's shot from the point came off a feed from Tuevo Teravainen, with the puck zipping past Igor Shesterkin to catch the post and bang into the net. That was Carolina's first goal with the man advantage in 17 tries in the series, and it finally pushed Carolina ahead for good on a night when the Hurricanes squandered a two-goal lead.
The Rangers get another closeout chance Monday when the series returns to New York for Game 5.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan
Noesen and Sebastian Aho each scored for Carolina, which led 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period during a strong start that built some early momentum. Frederik Andersen finished with 22 saves.
Will Cuylle, Barclay Goodrow and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers, while Shesterkin finished with 27 saves.
BRUINS' MARCHAND IFFY
Leon Draisaitl provided the Edmonton Oilers with a boost when he came back from an injury. Sam Bennett delivered in his return for the Florida Panthers.
The Boston Bruins are hoping Brad Marchand can do the same.
Bennett, who was injured in Game 2 of Florida's first-round series against Tampa Bay, returned Friday with some big hits in the Panthers' 6-2 victory over the Bruins. One of the collisions left Marchand struggling to get off the ice and in pain on the bench.
Replays show a collision in which Bennett's hand comes up and appears to hit Marchand in the face.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was among those who took issue with the hit, saying “there's clearly evidence of what went on. People can say it wasn't intentional. We have our view of it.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice disagreed.
“It was just a collision,” he said on Saturday. “In a perfect world, every team has everybody healthy. Nobody likes to see him get hurt.”
Bennett was not penalized. Marchand remained in the game but did not return for the third period. He did not practice on Saturday, and Montgomery said that the team's leading scorer in the playoffs was day to day.
“You never want to see someone go down and not be able to come back, especially a guy who's your leader and your best player,” Bruins forward Charlie Coyle said after the off-day practice. “You want everyone to be healthy and everyone chip in. But it's an opportunity to step up, and we can do that.”
Bennett missed five playoff games after he was injured on April 23, but he returned on Friday with seven hits and an assist.
About a minute after the Marchand hit, he flattened Bruins star David Pastrnak.
“It was nice to get back out there,” Bennett said.
“I think it's important to not dip your toe in. I wanted to go out there and play full speed. That's kind of my game. I think that's the only way to approach it.”