Major improvement for Tarasenko, Blues

Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals in the first period and added an emptynetter for his first career playoff hat trick, leading the Blues to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Wild on Saturday that evened their first-round playoff series at a game apiece.

Tarasenko had an assist and no shots in a 4-2 loss in Game 1, but he responded with an impressive performance more in line with his play in the regular season. The dynamic winger ran his playoff total to seven goals in nine games.

Patrik Berglund’s unassisted goal past Devan Dubnyk made it a two-goal cushion with 1 minute, 58 seconds to go for the Central Division champions.

Lightning 5, Red Wings 1: Ben Bishop stopped 24 shots for his first career playoff victory, a romp over the visiting Red Wings that evened the series at one game each.

Tyler Johnson had two goals for the Lightning, who dropped Game 1 while outplaying the Red Wings for most of a 3-2 loss. Alex Killorn and Andrej Sustr scored in the second period Saturday before Johnson’s breakaway finished a threegoal flurry that put the Lightning up 4-0.

Bishop lost his shutout when Tomas Tatar scored at 5:49 of the third period.

Penguins 4, Rangers 3: Sidney Crosby scored a pair of goals 4:39 apart in the second period to put the Penguins ahead for good, evening the series with the host Rangers.

Crosby broke a 1-1 tie by knocking in a rebound of Patric Hornqvist’s shot, then made a diving deflection of a pass from Chris Kunitz following a Rangers giveaway in their zone.

One-timers: Defenseman Shea Weber won’t travel with the Predators for Games 3 and 4 against the Blackhawks. Weber left Friday night’s Game 2 in the second period with a lowerbody injury and didn’t return. ... Rookie Scott Darling will start in goal in place of Corey Crawford for the Blackhawks in Game 3 Sunday. ... Capitals starting goalie Braden Holtby says he’s over his illness and ready to return for Game 3 against the Islanders.