Lightning KO Blue Jackets in OT
The Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated Columbus from the Stanley Cup playoffs in five games on Wednesday, rallying from a two-goal, third-period deficit before beating the Blue Jackets 5-4 on Brayden Point’s goal 5:12 into overtime.
Point also delivered the winner in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, a fiveovertime thriller that wound up being the fourth-longest game in NHL history.
Kevin Shattenkirk and Anthony Cirelli scored in the final eight minutes of regulation to wipe out a 4-2 deficit. Earlier, Columbus scored four consecutive times to overcome an early two-goal deficit of its own.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 of 41 shots for Tampa Bay, which was swept from the first round by the Blue Jackets last season.
“We had 422 days to think about it, but who’s counting,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who insisted heading into the series that redemption was not his team’s mission because both clubs have changed since last season.
“We want to advance regardless of who we’re playing,” Cooper said. “It just turned out we got a second chance, and often times you don’t get that.”
Joonas Korpisalo had 20 saves for Columbus. Point took a pass from Nikita Kucherov in the slot before backhanding the game-winner past the Blue Jackets goaltender.
BRUINS 2, HURRICANES 1 >> Patrice Bergeron broke a tie with 3.5 seconds left in the second period, David Pastrnak returned with two assists and Boston beat Carolina to win the first-round playoff series in five games.
The Bruins trailed 1-0 entering the final 5 minutes of the second period before scoring twice on the power play, first from David Krejci with 4:40 left after Bergeron drew a penalty on a breakaway chance.
Then came Bergeron’s score as the teams appeared headed to the second intermission tied at 1. He tracked down a loose rebound from Pastrnak that hit the boards, then quickly sent the puck back toward the net from the left side.
The puck slipped under a standing Petr Mrazek, bounced off his left skate and straight into the net for the 2-1 lead.
Bergeron and Krejci also had an assist each for the Bruins, while Pastrnak’s return to the lineup also provided a boost. The NHL’s coleader with 48 regular-season goals hadn’t played since the fourth-seeded Bruins won Game 1 in double overtime and was a gametime decision for this one.
AVALANCHE 7, COYOTES 1 >> Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists, Nazem Kadri also scored twice and Colorado routed Arizona to close out the first-round playoff series in five games.
Colorado, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, took control of the series with a Game 4 blowout and skated into the next round with three first-period goals in Game 5.
Kadri scored two goals for the second straight game, both in the first period, and finished with five in the series. Samuel Girard also had a goal in the first and MacKinnon scored twice in 58 seconds of the second to put Colorado up 5-0.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, BLACKHAWKS3>> Alex Tuch scored the tiebreaking goal 1:34 into the third period of Game 5, and Vegas rallied from an early two-goal deficit to eliminate Chicago late Tuesday night.