Lightning wins in OT; Vegas rallies in 3rd
Winnipeg, Carolina, Pens earn qualifying victories
TORONTO — Nikita Kucherov scored a goal in the first period and the winner in the shootout to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Monday in Eastern Conference round-robin play.
The teams played five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime before going to a shootout because the games for seeding follow regular-season rules. Tampa Bay’s win puts it in a tie with Philadelphia at two points apiece in the Eastern Conference race, while Washington is third with one and Boston fourth with zero.
“All around, I thought that was a playoff game,” Lightning winger Patrick Maroon said. “Obviously we’re trying to get as many points as we can to seed ourselves in a good position.”
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped two of the three Capitals players he faced in the shootout after making 31 saves in regulation and overtime.
Before OT, Capitals winger Tom Wilson and Lightning center Anthony Cirelli exchanged some words and shoves at the third-period buzzer. These teams can’t meet again until at least the second round, if not the East final.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, STARS 3:
In Edmonton, Alberta, Will Carrier scored the tiebreaker with 5:12 left in the game, Robin Lehner had 24 saves and Vegas beat Dallas in Western Conference round-robin play on Monday.
Carrier backhanded a rebounded shot through the legs of Stars goal
tender Ben Bishop after the Knights rallied from a 3-1 third period deficit. Vegas scored three times in 5:02 to turn the game around, and added an empty-netter with 21 seconds left.
Chandler Stephenson, Mark Stone, Nate Schmidt and William Karlsson also scored for the Knights.
Before the game, two players from each team knelt in support of Black Lives Matter and other social causes. Dallas forwards Tyler Seguin and Jason Dickinson knelt alongside Vegas forward Ryan Reaves and goaltender Robin Lehner during the national anthems.
Joe Pavelski, Jamie Oleksiak and Corey Perry scored for Dallas, and Bishop had 28 saves.
PENGUINS 3, CANADIENS 1: In Toronto, Sidney Crosby, Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel scored for Pittsburgh as the Penguins tied their best-of-five qualifying series at one game apiece.
Crosby beat Montreal’s Carey Price early in the first period and Zucker scored with about five minutes left in the third. Guentzel sealed the win with an emptynet goal.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi ended Matt Murray’s shutout bid with 2:09 left.
The Canadiens opened the series with a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday, but were flat from the start in Game 2 and never recovered. Game 3 is Wednesday night.
The Penguins controlled the early offensive play and Price had to be sharp right away, denying Zucker after he was sent in alone a few minutes into the game.
Pittsburgh kept the pressure on and was rewarded when Guentzel’s cross-ice pass found Crosby streaking down the left wing. The Penguins’ captain snapped the puck between Price’s legs at 4:25.
It was the 188th playoff point of Crosby’s NHL career, moving him into an eighth-place tie with Joe Sakic and Doug Gilmour.
JETS 3, FLAMES 2: In Edmonton, Alberta, Nikolaj Ehlers scored a thirdperiod power-play goal to give Winnipeg a win and draw even in their qualifyinground series.
The Jets were forced into wholesale line changes Monday in the absence of centers Mark Scheifele and Mason Appleton and winger Patrik Laine. Playing without three regulars only served as inspiration for the Jets.
Adam Lowry led the Jets with a goal and an assist in Game 2 of the best-of-five series.
HURRICANES 4, RANGERS 1: In Toronto, Andrei Svechnikov scored three times for the first postseason hat trick in franchise history and Carolina beat New York for a 2-0 lead in the qualifier series.
The 20-year-old Svechnikov beat Henrik Lundqvist for the first goal less than five minutes into the game. He followed with a power-play one-timer early in the second off a feed from Sami Vatanen, then buried a third at 14:02 of the third off a feed from Sebastian Aho — who assisted on all three of Svechnikov’s goals.