Matthews’ goal propels Toronto into series lead

Auston Matthews scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:06 left in the third period, and the host Toronto Maple Leafs rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Tuesday night and take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

William Nylander added a goal and two assists for Toronto, which is a victory away from advancing in the postseason for the first time since 2004. John Tavares had a goal and assist, and Morgan Rielly also scored. Jack Campbell stopped 32 shots.

Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh scored, Nikita Kucherov had two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the twotime defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning, who will try to avoid elimination in Game 6 at home on Thursday.

Matthews broke a 3-3 tie on a two-on-one rush in the third period. Mitch Marner fired a shot off Vasilevskiy’s right pad, and Matthews, who had 60 regular-season goals, scored his third goal of the playoffs to ignite the raucous home crowd.

at Carolina 5, Boston 1:

Rookie Seth Jarvis scored twice and Antti Raanta made 34 saves to help the Hurricanes grab a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series.

Defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Tony DeAngelo scored first-period goals for Carolina, and Vincent Trocheck had an empty-netter.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Boston.

Connor Clifton scored and Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves for the Bruins. Boston had a surprise addition in defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who was a scratch for Sunday’s Game 4 because of COVID-19 protocols. McAvoy cleared the protocols and got 25:14 of ice time.

St. Louis 5, at Minnesota

2: Vladimir Tarasenko had three third-period goals to break open a tied game and series, and the Blues pushed the Wild to the edge of elimination with a win in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round series.

Ryan O’Reilly scored for the fourth time in the series and Brandon Saad notched the tying goal late in the second period as St. Louis upstaged Minnesota star Kirill Kaprizov.

Kaprizov brought the building to life by scoring twice on the Wild’s previously sluggish power play in the first period. He has an NHL-best seven goals in the playoffs.

The series returns to St. Louis for Game 6 on Thursday night.