The day got off to an interesting start when Sam Bennett was given a hearing by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for boarding Tampa Bay’s Blake Coleman. Fortunately, Coleman was okay but Bennett was still suspended for one game, which he will serve Tuesday.
In other news, the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to add to their staff as they promoted Hayley Wickenheiser to senior director of player development and added Danielle Goyette as the director of player development. The Maple Leafs continue to be leaders in adding talented women to their staff.
Don’t forget, for everything NHL, check out NBCSportsEdge Player News, and follow @NBCSEdge HK and @mfinewaxhockey on Twitter.
BOSTON 4 WASHINGTON 3 (OT) (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)
Brad Marchand scored the overtime winner 39 seconds in as he one-timed a beautiful pass from Matt Grzelcyk, from the right faceoff dot, beating Craig Anderson in the Washington net, as he tied the series at one apiece.
The best-of-seven series is now headed to Boston for Game 3 Wednesday.[[ad:athena]]
The goal by Marchand was the fastest ever in overtime for the Bruins. The 39 seconds was one tick of the clock better than Bobby Orr’s goal at the 40 second mark in 1970 to give Boston their first Stanley Cup in 29 years.
The Bruins got off to a 1-0 lead as Jake DeBrusk scored his second of the post-season. Charlie Coyle set up the goal as he circled the net, forcing Anderson out of his crease and out of position, and then passed in front where DeBrusk knocked it into the net.
The Capitals tied it on the power play as T.J. Oshie re-directed an Alex Ovechkin shot past Tuukka Rask.
Patrice Bergeron regained the lead for the Bruins with his first of the playoffs and Garnet Hathaway with his first of two, evened the score at 2 as the first period ended.
There was no scoring in the second, but Hathaway gave the Capitals the lead for the first time as he ripped home the shot from inside the circle on a perfect pass from Dmitry Orlov.
Taylor Hall tied it at 3 with 2:49 left in the third as he shoveled the puck into the net during a wild scrimmage in front of Anderson, as he sent the game into overtime.
Anderson was great in the Washington cage as he made 44 saves. Tuukka Rask won his first of the post-season as he turned aside 36 Capital shots.
Hall had seven shots on goal for Boston while Anthony Mantha had seven as well, for the Capitals.
Tom Wilson had six hits.
Grzelcyk and Orlov each had two assists.
Charlie McAvoy had a pair of minor penalties along with five shots on goal and five hits.
Lars Eller suffered a lower-body injury halfway through the second period and did not return.
CAROLINA 5 NASHVILLE 2 (Carolina leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
Jordan Staal scored twice to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Staal had a strong season for the Hurricanes, his best offensive season in nine campaigns with Carolina as he had 16 goals and 38 points in 53 games. He continued in Game 1 with his pair.
The Predators actually opened the scoring when Filip Forsberg took a pass from Ryan Johansen and made a couple of moves before depositing the puck through the legs of Alex Nedeljkovic and into the net.
Teuvo Teravainen tied the score at 1 when he deflected Brett Pesce’s point shot and caught Juuse Saros completely out of position as he did not anticipate the deflection.
Staal’s first of the game came in the second period and Erik Haula tied the game at 2 when his shot went off Jani Hakanpaa and into the net.
It was all Carolina in the third as Nino Niederreiter scored the game winner 2:26 into the third while Staal made it 4-2 with his second.
Andrei Svechnikov completed the scoring with an empty netter.
Nedeljkovic made his Stanley Cup debut and made 22 saves as the Hurricanes went with the rookie rather than veteran Petr Mrazek.
Saros picked up the loss for Nashville as he turned aside 33-of-37 shots.
Brett Pesce had two assists.
Svechnikov had eight shots on goal while Sebastian Aho had seven.
Jordan Martinook had seven hits for Carolina as did Yakov Trenin for Nashville.
Pesce was a plus-three while Mikael Granlund was a minus-two.
Ryan Johansen had a pair of minors.
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COLORADO 4 ST. LOUIS 1 (Colorado leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
Captain Gabriel Landeskog had the Gordie Howe hat trick as he scored once, added two assists and had a fight, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.
But the offensive force of the night was Nathan MacKinnon whose shot was tipped by Landeskog to make it 3-1. MacKinnon broke a 1-1 tie in the third on a beautiful goal just 30 seconds into the third and then scored into the empty net to clinch the contest.
Cale Makar opened the scoring in the first period with a blast from 50 feet out, that eluded Jordan Binnington.
Binnington was absolutely sensational on Monday as he stopped 31-of-32 shots in the first two periods, making great save after great save, with his best coming late in the second when he robbed Mikko Rantanen in close, lifting his pads when it appeared that Rantanen had an easy goal.
Jordan Kyrou scored in the second period to even the score heading into the third.
Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for the win.
Binnington faced 49 shots in the Blues net and made 46 saves in taking the hard-luck loss.
Rantanen had two assists.
Schenn had five penalty minutes while Ryan Graves had four.
Graves had five blocked shots as did Robert Bortuzzo.
Every Avalanche player had at least one shot on goal.
Game 2 will be back in Denver on Wednesday.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Nathan MacKinnon – 2
Garnet Hathaway – 2
Jordan Staal - 2
Assists
Matt Grzelcyk – 2
Dmitry Orlov – 2
Brett Pesce – 2
Mikko Rantanen – 2
Shots on Goal
Sebastian Aho - 7
Anthony Mantha – 7
Taylor Hall - 7
Hits
Yakov Trenin – 7
Jordan Martinook - 7
Tom Wilson - 6
Penalty Minutes
Brayden Schenn - 5
Ryan Graves – 4
Ryan Johansen - 4
Brad Marchand - 4
