Hedman, Lightning even series

TORONTO » Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for his first four-point playoff game and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to even the firstround series.

Nikita Kucherov added a goal and two assists and Brayden Point, Corey Perry and Brandon Hagel also scored for twotime defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in a bounce-back performance after the Lightning dropped the opener 5-0.

Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist for Toronto, Michael Bunting and Alexander Kerfoot also scored and Jack Campbell made 29 saves. Auston Matthews had two assists.

The Lightning opened the scoring on a power play with 1.4 seconds left in the first period. After making a big stop on Point from the slot, Campbell was beaten by Hedman from in tight on a broken play where the puck popped out to the defenseman on the goaltender’s doorstep.

HURRICANES 5, BRUINS 2

RALEIGH, N. C. » Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter each scored twice and Carolina overcame the early loss of goalie Antti Raanta to beat Boston for a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

Jesper Fast had the game’s first goal for Carolina in another strong offensive showing to start this series. Rookie goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov came on in relief of Raanta to finish with 30 saves.

The Hurricanes also played with a physical edge against a Boston team that has knocked them out of the playoffs twice in three postseasons.

And it came in a game that quickly went from competitive to feisty and downright ornery in quick fashion — namely after Boston’s David Pastrnak knocked Raanta from the game midway through the first period when he struck the goaltender in the head with a gloved hand as he tried to skate past him.

Already down injured No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen to start the playoffs, Carolina turned to Kochetkov as Raanta exited while bleeding from an apparent mouth injury.