Steven Stamkos scores and Lightning routs Canadiens, 6-2, in Game 2

Steven Stamkos scored his first goal of the playoffs, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2, on Sunday night in Montreal to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Nikita Kucherov scored twice on power plays, Valtteri Filppula, Victor Hedman and J.T. Brown added goals, and Ben Bishop made 27 saves for the Lightning.

Jeff Petry and Tom Gilbert scored for Montreal. Carey Price allowed the most goals he has all season, finishing with 18 saves.

Tampa Bay went four for seven on the power play, and Montreal was 0 for 3.

Filppula and Hedman scored with the man advantage as Tampa Bay got its first power-play goals since Game 2 of its seven-game opening series against Detroit.

Montreal is one for 26 with the man advantage in the playoffs.

The Canadiens scored the first goal of a game for only the second time in eight postseason contests, when Petry took a pass from Torrey Mitchell and beat Bishop with a wrist shot from the blue line at 7:20.

Montreal let it slip away with undisciplined penalties. Brandon Prust got an extra two minutes for yapping at a referee, and P.K. Subban was sent off for cross-checking. Filppula tied it with Subban off on a shot from the right circle with 24 seconds left in the period.

Stamkos used a fortunate bounce to go in on a breakaway and deke Price for a goal 8:06 into the second. It was the Lightning captain’s first goal in nine postseason games this year. He also had two assists.

The Lightning had a four-on-three man advantage when Tyler Johnson slipped a cross-ice pass to Kucherov for a shot into an open side at 12:29. Then, Price had no chance when Hedman finished a back-door play with Alex Killorn on a power play at 19:46.

Kucherov redirected Johnson’s pass inside the post 6:37 into the third to make it 5-1, before Gilbert scored from the point at 11:06 for Montreal. Brown added his goal at 16:05.

Prust got a game misconduct with 3:55 left. He bumped Bishop, leading to a fight with Braydon Coburn.

at Chicago 4, Minnesota 1: Patrick Kane scored two goals, Corey Crawford made 30 saves and the Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Patrick Sharp had a goal and an assist as Chicago improved to 5-0 at home in this year’s playoffs. Jonathan Toews also scored in the second after a big play by Marian Hossa.

Defenseman Matt Dumba scored for the Wild, which is winless in eight postseason games at Chicago. Devan Dubnyk finished with 27 saves.