NHL roundup: Islanders take a 2-0 series lead; Hurricanes advance; Maple Leafs shut out Blue Jackets
Jordan Eberle scored twice, including the go-ahead goal, and the New York Islanders rallied to a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers and take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five NHL preliminary round playoff series on Tuesday.
Ryan Pulock and Matt Martin also scored, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 26 shots for New York, which overcame a pair of one-goal deficits.
Mike Hoffman had a goal and assist and captain Aleksander Barkov also scored for Florida, which is one loss from going one-and-done in the playoffs for a fifth consecutive time.
The Panthers have advanced past the playoffs’ opening round just once in franchise history, in 1996, when Florida reached the Stanley Cup Final before being swept by Colorado.
Florida is making its first playoff appearance since 2016, when the Panthers were eliminated by the Islanders in six games.
Minnesota’s Matt Dumba became the first NHL player to kneel during the U.S. national anthem when he did so before the Oilers-Blackhawks game in Edmonton.
Florida finished 10th in the East and qualified for the playoffs, which were expanded to include 12 teams from each conference after the coronavirus pandemic cut short the regular season in mid-March.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots, and had little chance on Eberle’s go-ahead goal with 3:33 left in the second period.
Hurricanes 4, Rangers 1
Sebastian Aho scored twice in the third period while James Reimer was strong in net to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Tuesday night and sweep the Stanley Cup qualifier series.
Warren Foegele scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period for the Hurricanes, redirecting a shot from the point by Brady Skjei to beat rookie Igor Shesterkin at 5:07 in the third. Then Aho followed with a highlight-reel goal about 5{ minutes later, taking the puck from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba along the boards and skating in on Tony DeAngelo to backhand the puck past Shesterkin as he went to his knees.
Aho added an empty-netter late to seal it, with the Hurricanes sweeping the best-of-5 series after losing all four regular-season meetings against the Rangers.
Reimer had a huge part of the win too, finishing with 37 saves that included a couple of big stops during a wild second-period sequence.
Predators 4, Coyotes 2
Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist, Jusse Saros stopped 24 shots and Nashville beat Arizona to even their Stanley Cup qualifier series in Edmonton, Canada.
Predators coach John Hynes stuck with Saros after the Finnish goalie gave up four goals on 37 shots in the opener. Saros responded with a strong Game 2 performance, turning away multiple flurries in the first two periods before giving up goals to Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse 9 seconds apart late in the third.
Nashville had the early jump after falling into a three-goal hole to lose Game 1, scoring on goals by Nick Bonino and Johansen in a span of three minutes of the first period.
Calle Jarnkrok scored in the second period and Viktor Arvidsson put it away with a goal in the third to tie up the best-of-five series heading into Game 3 on Wednesday.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 24 shots for the Coyotes after turning away 40 in the series opener.
After a four-month delay caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the NHL resumes its season Saturday with a Stanley Cup playoff qualifying round.
Maple Leafs 3, Blue Jackets 0
Auston Matthews and John Tavares scored and Toronto beat Columbus to even its best-of-five qualifying series at one game.
Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin was taken off the ice on a stretcher with 1:52 left in the game after his head made violent contact with Columbus’ Oliver Bjorkstrand behind the Blue Jackets net. Muzzin was attended to by a trainer before more medical personnel arrived on the ice.
Frederik Andersen made 20 saves for his third career playoff shutout and Morgan Rielly added an empty-net goal with 43 seconds left.
The Blue Jackets, after shutting out Toronto 2-0 in Game 1, could muster little offense in this one while the Leafs finally solved goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who finished with 36 saves.
Flames 6, Jets 2
Sean Monahan had a goal and two assists while Cam Talbot finished with 33 saves to help the Flames beat the Jets in Game 3 of their Stanley Cup qualifier series Tuesday night.
Mikael Backlund, Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm each had a goal and an assist for the Flames, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series. Milan Lucic and Matthew Tkachuk also scored goals for Calgary.
Andrew Copp and Nikolaj Ehlers scored goals for the Jets, who took a 1-0 lead midway through the first on Ehlers’ even-strength score only to surrender Lindholm’s tying goal 18 seconds later on the power play.
Calgary went 3 for 4 on the power play while being whistled for just two penalties.
Connor Hellebuyck finished with 26 saves for Winnipeg.
Game 4 is Thursday.
Canucks 4, Wild 3
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist and Vancouver beat Minnesota to even their qualifying series at a win each.
Tanner Pearson, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat also scored for the Canucks, and Jacob Markstrom made 32 saves.
Kevin Fiala had two goals and Luke Kunin scored for Minnesota. Alex Stalock made 24 stops.
Game 3 is Thursday, when lower-seeded Minnesota will be the home team for the first time in the series.
Matt Dumba continued to raise his right fist on the Wild’s bench through the pregame anthems to bring attention to racism and social injustice. Teammate Jonas Brodin put his hand on Dumba’s shoulder in support Tuesday.
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