Tampa Bay, Colorado and Boston took commanding 3-1 leads Monday in their best-of-seven series as the three teams will have a chance Wednesday to end their respective series.
Notes from around the NHL: Andrei Svechnikov will stay in the bubble despite his lower-body injury. The Hurricanes will likely have to go deep into the playoffs for Svechnikov to have another chance to play. … Matthew Tkachuk will be a game-time decision Tuesday for Game 5. He has missed the last two games as he is unfit to play. … The same story holds true for the Golden Knights Paul Stastny who has missed the last two games and is a game-time decision Tuesday. … Zach Aston-Reese underwent left shoulder surgery and teammate Evgeni Malkin had successful left elbow surgery. … For the third straight week, there were no positive COVID-19 tests in either bubble. That’s the only way that sports will work as everyone has to be healthy and in a bubble. Hockey and Basketball have it right but Baseball and Football will struggle to play a full schedule and not have lots of postponements.
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TAMPA BAY 2 COLUMBUS 1 (Lightning lead the series 3-1)
If you are the Columbus Blue Jackets, you figure that if you are able to hold the Lightning’s top-two lines to no points, you have a great chance to win.
But that was not the case on Monday afternoon as Barclay Goodrow and Yanni Gourde each scored once and assisted on each other’s goal to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 2-1 win over Columbus.
The Blue Jackets carried the play as they outshot the Lightning 29-22. It was more pronounced at even strength as they outshot the visitors 27-16.
After a scoreless first period, Goodrow scored just 16 seconds into the second period after a nifty pass from Blake Coleman found him alone in front of the net for an easy tap-in.
Gourde extended the lead to two just 3:53 later as Kevin Shattenkirk’s slapshot from the top of the circle was tipped in by the winger.
Cam Atkinson returned from a two-game absence as he was unfit to play and scored as the puck bounced off his body after a shot from Pierre-Luc Dubois was stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
But that would be the only puck to get past Vasilevskiy as the Tampa Bay goaltender stopped 28 shots to go to 5-2 in post-season with a 1.76 GAA and a .932 save percentage.
Joonas Korpisalo picked up the start for Columbus and turned aside 20 shots but was saddled with the loss. He is 3-4 with outstanding peripherals as he has a 1.57 GAA and a .953 save percentage.
Seth Jones and Ondrej Palat each had five hits.
The Blue Jackets were dominate at the faceoff dot as they won 30-42 including all 11 in the first period.
COLORADO 7 ARIZONA 1 (Avalanche lead the series 3-1)
The Avalanche had their best effort of the post-season as they scored seven times and easily beat the Arizona Coyotes 7-1.
Nazem Kadri led the way with a pair of first period goals as well as an assist while rookie defenseman Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Matt Calvert each had a goal and an assist for the winners.
Joonas Donskoi and Matt Nieto, who opened the scoring, also scored for Colorado.
Defenseman Jakob Chychrun scored the only goal for Arizona who have their backs against the wall with Colorado leading the best-of-seven series 3-1.
Philipp Grubauer was forced to make only 14 saves as Colorado shut the Coyotes down.
Darcy Kuemper got the start in goal for Arizona and after his sensational performance in Game 3 in which he made 49 saves in a 4-2 Coyotes win Saturday, he made only 18 saves on 22 shots Monday before being replaced after two periods.
Antti Raanta replaced Kuemper at the start of the third period but was actually worse as he gave up three goals on only eight shots.
Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each had a pair of assists.
Christian Fischer and Niklas Hjalmarsson each had five hits.
Conor Garland was forced to leave the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury while Andre Burakovsky left with an undisclosed injury in the third. Both players did not return.
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BOSTON 4 CAROLINA 3 (Boston leads the best-of-seven series 3-1)
The Boston Bruins spotted the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead and then roared back in the third period with four unanswered goals to beat Carolina and take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Justin Williams put the Hurricanes up 1-0 in the first period and then Jordan Martinook made it 2-0 in the second period when he garnered in a pass from Sebastian Aho and from the top of the circle, beat Jaroslav Halak on the glove side.
James Reimer shut out the Bruins for over 47 minutes Monday but it all fell apart shortly thereafter.
Jake DeBrusk started the comeback as he beat Reimer to the puck, and calmly went around him and shot the puck into the empty net at the 7:26 mark of the third.
Defenseman Connor Clifton who drew the secondary assist on DeBrusk’s goal, blasted a Joakim Nordstrom pass from the faceoff circle, high past the glove hand of Reimer to tie the game at two.
Clifton’s goal came just 10 seconds past the halfway mark of the third period and just 90 seconds after that, Brad Marchand corralled a long pass from Torey Krug, and went in alone on Reimer, beating him through the legs.
The Bruins made it 4-2 when David Krejci, Ondrej Kase and DeBrusk played tic-tac-toe and DeBrusk ended up with the puck in front of the net. He put it far side on Reimer from in close, and beat him for his second of the game.
Teuvo Teravainen made it close with a backhand shot that eluded Halak with 87 seconds left but that completed the scoring.
Halak picked up his second straight win as he had taken over the netminding duties in Boston with Tuukka Rask opting out of the Stanley Cup playoffs to spend time with his family. Halak made 16 saves for the victory.
Things were coming up roses for Reimer until Boston scored all four goals in 6:51 in the third period. Reimer made 29 saves and the Hurricanes could turn back to Petr Mrazek to halt the tide as Boston has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Kase had two assists.
Patrice Bergeron had seven shots on goal.
Nordstrom had seven hits.
Boston was 0-3 on the power play while the Hurricanes could not score on one attempt.
Jordan Staal left the game in the third period after taking a big hit from Charlie McAvoy and did not return.
ST. LOUIS 3 VANCOUVER 1 (Series tied at 2-2)
The Blues flexed their muscles Monday and are now even in the series at two games apiece after a 3-1 victory. The Blues have won back-to-back games as they scored in overtime Sunday to get back in the series.
Ryan O’Reilly scored on the power play as Alex Pietrangelo’s shot was stopped by Jacob Markstrom but O’Reilly banged in the rebound from the side of the net. That was the only goal of the first period.
The Canucks evened the score at one in the second as J.T. Miller deflected an Alexander Edler point shot, beating Jake Allen.
St. Louis regained the lead when O’Reilly scored his second of the game on a backhand, high over the glove hand of Markstrom and the Blues made it 3-1 on the power play when Pietrangelo’s attempted pass to Brayden Schenn went off the stick of Alexander Edler and into the net. The Canucks were two men short at the time.
David Perron had a pair of assists in the contest.
Allen won his second straight game and it looks like he will be between the pipes for Game 5 in place of last year’s Conn Smythe runner up, Jordan Binnington. Allen stopped 22 shots.
Markstrom played well as the Blues carried the play in the first two periods. He made 34 saves in taking the loss.
Quinn Hughes saw his six-game points streak come to an end Monday. The Canucks struck gold when they selected him seventh overall in 2018 as he is a tremendous skater and a huge offensive threat. He quarterbacks the power play and should win a Norris Trophy in his future.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Ryan O’Reilly - 2
Nazem Kadri – 2
Jake DeBrusk - 2
Assists
David Perron - 2
Nathan MacKinnon – 2
Sean Monahan – 2
Ondrej Kase - 2
Shots on Goal
Patrice Bergeron – 7
Alex Pietrangelo - 7
Jaden Schwartz - 6
Yanni Gourde – 6
Zach Werenski – 5
Hits
Joakim Nordstrom – 7
Jordan Staal – 5
Jordie Benn – 5
Troy Stecher – 5
Justin Faulk – 5
Jacob De La Rose - 5
Ondrej Palat – 5
Seth Jones - 5
Penalty Minutes
Sammy Blais – 4
Alexander Edler - 4
Antoine Roussel – 4
Vincent Dunn - 4
