Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Oilers try to pull even with Kings in Game 2
Ullmark starts again for Bruins; Bunting back for Maple Leafs
By
NHL.com @NHLdotcom
On Tap
There are four games on the Stanley Cup Playoffs schedule for Wednesday:
Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, TVAS2, BSSO, NESN)
Goalie Linus Ullmark will start Game 2 for the Boston Bruins after stopping 20 of 24 shots in a 5-1 loss Monday. Carolina leads the best-of-7 series 1-0. The Bruins will re-work their defensive rotation to slow down the Hurricanes, who had five different players score goals and 12 earn points. Sixteen had at least one shot, led by four from Sebastian Aho.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSUN)
Auston Matthews continued in the playoffs where he left off in the regular season, scoring two goals in a 5-0 win against the Lightning in Game 1 to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. He scored 60 goals in 73 regular-season games. Forward Ondrej Kase had two assists in his first action since March 19. Goalie Jack Campbell made 24 saves to earn his second shutout in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed more than four goals for the first time Game 3 of the first round against the Panthers last season (six). Toronto forward Kyle Clifford is suspended for Game 2 after a boarding incident Monday, but Michael Bunting will play after the forward missed the final three-regular season games and Game 1 with a knee injury.
St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, TVAS2, BSN, BSWIX, BSMW)
The Wild trail the series after a 4-0 loss in Game 1 on Monday. Blues forward David Perron scored three goals, two on the power play, and four points, and goalie Ville Husso had a 37-save shutout in his first NHL postseason start. Minnesota allowed two power-play goals and was 0-for-6 with the man-advantage. Forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov each had five shots to lead the Wild in Game 1. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will start Game 2 for the Wild.
Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers (10 p.m. p.m. ET; ESPN2, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSC)
Phillip Danault scored at 14:46 of the third period to give the Kings a 4-3 victory in Game 1. Brendan Lemieux, Trevor Moore and Alex Iafallo also scored for Los Angeles. The Oilers were driven by their top-six forwards. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Kailer Yamamoto scored. Mike Smith made 31 saves on 35 shots, but his mistake led to Danault's game-winner on a deflection.
What we learned
Vanecek very good
Goalie Vitek Vanecek was up to the challenge for the Washington Capitals, making 30 saves in their 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round. Capitals coach Peter Laviolette had a difficult choice between Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov to start Game 1 after each was inconsistent during the regular season. Vanecek said when Laviolette informed him during the flight to Florida on Monday that he would start, his coach told him, "Be better like [Panthers goalie Sergei] Bobrovsky." Vanecek held his own against the two-time Vezina Trophy winner to earn his first Stanley Cup Playoff victory. -- Tom Gulitti, staff writer
Comeback story
The Panthers led the NHL with 29 come-from-behind wins this season but had the tables turned on them and made some critical mistakes to let a 2-1 lead slip away in the third period. Florida had trouble generating speed through neutral zone for much of the game against Washington's structured play and turnovers led to Evgeny Kuznetsov's game-tying breakaway goal and T.J. Oshie's game-winner. The Panthers know they will have to be much better in their decisions with the puck in Game 2 to even the best-of-7 series. "I like to think we're going to learn a valuable lesson from this and try and do things a little bit differently with the lead in the third period," defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. -- Gulitti
Penguins roll on despite goalie injuries
The Pittsburgh Penguins won a triple-overtime playoff game with their third-string goalie in net for the last 16:40. If that doesn't give them a feeling that they can win in just about any circumstance, what does? Casey DeSmith had to leave Game 1 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday because of a lower-body injury with 10:42 left in the second overtime after making 48 saves. Louis Domingue, who was sitting on a chair in the Zamboni entrance for most of the game, made 17 saves in relief to help the Penguins stay alive long enough before Evgeni Malkin scored at 5:58 of the third overtime to lift Pittsburgh to a 4-3 win. Domingue was dressed as the backup and DeSmith started because Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh's No. 1 goalie, is out with a lower-body injury. It's not clear yet if DeSmith will be able to start Game 2 on Thursday or if Domingue will get his first start in the NHL playoffs, but either way the Penguins should be feeling good about their goalie after what they experienced Tuesday. -- Dan Rosen, senior writer
Rangers need to show a killer instinct
The Rangers had a 2-0 lead 3:08 into the second period and they were in full control, dominating the Penguins in just about every facet of the game. But they couldn't hold it. The Penguins were the better team as soon as Jake Guentzel scored the first of his two goals at 4:32 of the second to make it 2-1. Guentzel scored again at 11:47, using his speed to blow by the flat-footed Rangers and collect a sublime pass from Sidney Crosby in stride. The Rangers scored a shorthanded goal, but also gave the Penguins a 5-on-3 and Bryan Rust made them pay. Pittsburgh outshot New York 25-8 in the second. The Rangers had the Penguins on the ropes with the way they were playing in the first 23-plus minutes: fast, physical, pressuring, but they didn't keep it up and that allowed the Penguins to get back into it. It's a lesson they have to take into Game 2.-- Rosen
Ingram a bright spot for Nashville
Rookie goalie Connor Ingram faced a tough situation when he made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday. The Nashville Predators were down 5-0 to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round and pulled David Rittich after he allowed five goals on 13 shots. Ingram gave up two goals on 32 shots in a 7-2 loss, but neither was his fault. The first was kicked in by a teammate during a 5-on-3 penalty kill; the second deflected off a teammate's stick. "He looked calm," Predators coach John Hynes said. "He looked poised. He made some good saves, so it was nice to see." Hynes said he didn't know who would start in Game 2 on Thursday. -- Nicholas J. Cotsonika, columnist
Avalanche's health a concern again?
The Avalanche entered Game 1 fully healthy, and forward Gabriel Landeskog had two points (one goal, one assist) in his first game since knee surgery March 14. But forward Andrew Cogliano left in the second period with an upper-body injury. Forward Nico Sturm left in the second period after being cross-checked in the left arm by Predators defenseman Matt Benning; he returned. The Avalanche hope to go on a two-month run to the Stanley Cup, but the Predators' physical play already is taking a toll after one game. -- Cotsonika
Flames do it with defense
Much was made, and rightfully so, about the Calgary Flames' scoring prowess, especially the top line of left wing Johnny Gaudreau, center Elias Lindholm and right wing Matthew Tkachuk. Even with those three combining for Lindholm's game-winning power-play goal, it was otherwise a quiet night. Instead, the Flames took Game 1 largely because of their defense. They stifled the Stars, not allowing them a shot in the first 11:06 and going 5-for-5 on the penalty kill for a 1-0 victory in Game 1. -- Tracey Myers, staff writer
Stars need to generate more
Be it 5-on-5 or on the power play, the Stars didn't make life too difficult for Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom in Game 1. The Stars had 16 shots on goal, six on the power play while going 0-for-5. Their top line of left wing Jason Robertson, center Roope Hintz and right wing Joe Pavelski, the heart of the Stars offense this season, combined for two shots on goal. The Stars are not the highest scoring team out there (their average of 2.84 goals per game was the lowest of any team that qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs). They need more in Game 2.-- Myers
About Last Night
Washington Capitals 4, Florida Panthers 2
Oshie scored the game-winning goal in the third period for the Capitals, who also got goals from Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson and Lars Eller. Sam Bennett and Claude Giroux scored for the Panthers, the Presidents' Trophy winner with the best record in the NHL. Bobrovsky made 34 saves.
Pittsburgh Penguins 4, New York Rangers 3, 3OT
Malkin scored in the third overtime while in front when he tipped a John Marino wrist shot. Malkin had a goal and an assist, Rust had a goal and two assists, Guentzel scored twice and Crosby had two assists for the Penguins. Igor Shesterkin made 79 saves for the Rangers, the second most in a Stanley Cup Playoff game since 1955-56 (when shots on goal began being tracked). Joonas Korpisalo made 85 saves for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the 2020 first round, won 3-2 by the Lightning in the fifth overtime.
Colorado Avalanche 7, Nashville Predators 2
The Avalanche scored five goals in the first period. Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, Landeskog had a goal and an assist, Mikko Rantanen had three assists and Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves for the Avalanche. Matt Duchene scored two goals for the Predators.
Calgary Flames 1, Dallas Stars 0
Markstrom made 16 saves for the Flames after leading the NHL with nine shutouts. Jake Oettinger made 25 saves for the Stars. Lindholm scored at 5:01 of the first period when he one-timed a pass in the slot from Tkachuk on the power play.
