|
The Lightning became the NHL's first
Presidents' Trophy winner ever to be swept in a best-of-seven,
opening-round playoff series. Tampa Bay had tied the all-time
NHL record with 62 regular-season wins.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets won a playoff series for the first
time in franchise history.
Columbus' Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the tiebreaking goal late in
the second period, and Artemi Panarin, Texier and Matt Duchene
added empty-net goals in the final two minutes. Pierre
Luc-Dubois and Seth Jones also scored for the Blue Jackets.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
Islanders 3, Penguins 1
Jordan Eberle scored for the fourth time in as many games, and
Brock Nelson added the winner as visiting New York completed a
first-round playoff sweep of Pittsburgh.
The Islanders, who finished second in the Metropolitan Division,
used a consistent formula of stifling defense, effective puck
pursuit, strong goaltending from Robin Lehner and just enough
offense to oust the Penguins, who were third in the division but
had hopes of winning the Stanley Cup for the third time in four
years.
New York advances to the second round of the Eastern Conference
postseason to face the winner of the Washington-Carolina series.
The Capitals lead two games to one heading to Game 4 on
Thursday.
Golden Knights 5, Sharks 0
Marc-Andre Fleury had 28 saves for his 15th career playoff
shutout, and Max Pacioretty had two goals and two assists as
Vegas cruised to a victory over San Jose in Las Vegas to take a
3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference series.
It was the 78th career playoff win for Fleury, who broke a tie
with Mike Vernon for seventh place on the all-time playoff wins
list. Fleury also moved into a tie with Chris Osgood for fourth
place for most career playoff shutouts.
Pacioretty produced the first two-goal playoff game of his
career. Shea Theodore also had a goal and an assist, Alex Tuch
and Jonathan Marchessault each scored their first goals of the
playoffs, and Mark Stone, Reilly Smith and Nate Schmidt all
finished with two assists for the Golden Knights.
Jets 2, Blues 1 (OT)
Kyle Connor scored the overtime winner as visiting Winnipeg
erased a third-period deficit to defeat St. Louis and even their
opening-round Western Conference playoff series at two wins
apiece. Game 5 will be Thursday in Winnipeg. The road team has
won all four games so far in the series between the Central
Division rivals who finished even with 99 points in the regular
season.
Off the rush in the extra frame, Mark Scheifele was denied on a
golden chance, but he had the presence of mind to feed the puck
to the slot for a wide-open Connor to bury the winner at 6:02.
It was the first-ever playoff overtime victory in Jets franchise
history.
--Field Level Media
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
