Capitals hold off rally, advance
Kuznetsov secures win with dazzling goal in third period.
Skating around every opponent on the ice, rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the go-ahead goal with less than 7 1/2 minutes left in Game 7, and Braden Holtby only needed to make 10 saves Monday, lifting the Washington Capitals past the New York Islanders 2-1 in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Joel Ward gave Washington a 1-0 lead late in the second period, and Frans Nielsen pulled New York even early in the third.
The Capitals now face the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers, who eliminated Washington from the 2012 and 2013 playoffs — in Game 7 each time.
Lightning 5, Red Wings 2: Tyler Johnson scored two goals in his latest stellar performance and Tampa Bay held on for a victory over Detroit, forcing a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series.
Johnson and Jason Garrison scored in the first period, and Johnson added another goal in the second to give the Lightning a 3-0 lead.
Tomas Tatar scored twice for Detroit, but Alex Killorn answered with an unassisted goal with 5:09 remaining, and Cedric Paquette added an empty-netter.
Ben Bishop made 22 saves for the Lightning.
■ Hall of Famer Marcel Pronovost, who spent 15 years playing for Detroit before capping his career with a five-year run in Toronto, died. He was 84. Pronovost won the Stanley Cup five times as a player and recorded 88 goals and 257 assists in 1,206 regular-season games.
Rangers: Mats Zuccarello, who was struck on the left side of the head by Ryan McDonagh’s shot late in the first period in Game 5 against Pittsburgh, is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, the team said after practice.
The team offered no specifics about the injury to Zuccarello, who had 15 goals and 49 points in the regular season.
Blackhawks: Coach Joel Quenneville said goalie Corey Crawford will start Game 1 of the team’s second-round series against the Minnesota Wild.
Predators: Captain Shea Weber is recovering from surgery to repair a dislocated right kneecap.