TAMPA
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Jersey , Fla. (AP) The Washington Capitals scored in the opening minute of the game and twice in the last 1:02 of the second period
to pull away to a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night and a
2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference final.Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller each
had a goal and two assists. Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson had a goal and an
assist apiece.Devante Smith-Pelly and Brett Connolly also scored for the Caps,
who took the first two games of the best-of-seven matchup on the road. Since
1974-75, teams that take a 2-0 lead in the conference final or semifinal have a
series record of 39-2 (95.1 percent).Game 3 is Tuesday night in
Washington.Braden Point and Steven Stamkos had early power-play goals for Tampa
Bay, which rebounded after falling behind on Wilson’s goal 28 seconds into the
game.Smith-Pelly’s one-timer finishing an odd-man rush made it 2-2 at 2:30 of
the second period. The Caps took control when Eller scored with 1:02 remaining
and Kuznetsov – with assists from Ovechkin and Eller – delivered on a power play
less than a minute later.Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was called for
tripping Washington’s Andre Burakovsky with 10 seconds left in the period.
Kuznetsov scored seven seconds later to make it 4-2, the second time in the
series the Caps stunned the Lightning with a power-play goal in the closing
seconds of a period.Ovechkin and Connolly finished the rout with third-period
goals. Braden Holtby stopped 33 of 35 shots to improve to 10-3 this
postseason.Ovechkin, playing in the conference final for the first time, also
had a goal and an assist in Washington’s 4-2 victory in Game 1.Vasilevskiy was
pulled from the opener after facing 25 shots in two periods, but the Lightning
didn’t pin the loss on him. Instead, they vowed to player harder in front of the
young goaltender, who finished with 31 saves in Game 2.Tampa Bay benefited early
from a couple of questionable penalties – Wilson for goaltender interference and
T.J. Oshie for high-sticking Victor Hedman, when the Tampa Bay defenseman
actually was struck by the puck – to score twice in just over three minutes on
the power-play for a 2-1 lead.Stamkos and Hedman assisted on Point’s goal at
7:08 of the first. Stamkos’ fourth goal in five games gave Tampa Bay its first
lead of the series.NOTES: Before Sunday night, the Lightning had won Game 2 of a
series five consecutive times after losing Game 1. They’re 4-2 in six previous
series in which they lost Game 1, with those series losses coming in the first
round in 2014 against Montreal and the 2015 Stanley Cup Final against Chicago. …
Capitals C Nicklas Backstrom, who took a shot from Justin Schultz off his right
hand in Game 5 of Washington’s second-round series against the Penguins, missed
his third straight game. He took part in the morning skate on a limited basis
and remains day-to-day. … Hedman has a franchise-record, seven-game point streak
(eight assists). Martin St. Louis had a six-game streak in 2004.— BOSTON (AP)
The Boston Bruins remember what happened last time they met Toronto in the NHL
playoffs. They also realize they can’t count on it happening again.After taking
a 3-1 lead in the series but failing to close out the Maple Leafs in Games 5 and
6 of their first-round series in 2013, Boston fell behind 4-1 in the third
period of the decisive seventh game before sending it into overtime with two
goals in the last 82 seconds of regulation.The Bruins won in OT en route to
their second Stanley Cup Finals appearance in three years.”It’s kind of crazy
how things worked out,” forward Brad Marchand said after practice Wednesday. ”If
we went back there again, it wouldn’t necessarily work out (that way), so we got
lucky.”In addition to Marchand, the Bruins have goalie Tuukka Rask, forward
David Krejci and defensemen Zdeno Chara, Adam McQuaid and Torey Krug from that
team. Toronto has five holdovers with bitter memories of that postseason,
including forward Nazem Kadri, who thought he clinched it when he scored with
5:29 gone in the third to make it 4-1.”I think a lot of people thought the same
thing,” Kadri told The Canadian Press. ”It was hard to deal with.”The Bruins
went on to beat the New York Rangers in five games and swept the Penguins in the
Eastern Conference finals. They led Chicago 2-1 in the finals before losing
three straight, giving up two goals 17 seconds apart in the final minutes of the
finale before watching the Blackhawks skate around the TD Garden ice with the
Cup.It all started with the late rally against Toronto.”We had a good run after
that,” Rask said.Here are some other things to look for from the first-round
playoff series between the Bruins and Maple Leafs.OUTBruins center Riley Nash is
not yet ready to return, Cassidy said. Although he worked out on
Wednesday
Ryan Strome Jersey , the team decided to give him until at least Saturday to recover from the puck to the right ear that has kept him out since
March 31.”He’s an underrated guy,” Cassidy said, adding that Noel Acciari was
the likely replacement. ”We’re confident in the guy replacing Riley, but we’ll
miss him.”The move likely leaves U.S. Olympic team captain Brian Gionta as a
healthy scratch.HISTORY, PART IIThe two Original Six teams don’t have much of a
playoff history – at least not lately, or compared to the Bruins and Canadiens.
Before 2013, Boston and Toronto hadn’t met since 1974, having spent much of the
`80s and `90s in different conferences.In all, the teams are dead even at
34-34-1 in the playoffs, with Toronto holding a series lead of 7-6-1.But that
2013 series still smarts.Current Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner was 16 years
old at the time.”As a Leaf fan, it was tough,” he told the CP.MATCHUPSCassidy
said the Bruins would not go too far out of their way to make sure they can
match lines with the Maple Leafs, which would help Boston use Bergeron to try to
neutralize Toronto’s No. 2 scorer Auston Matthews.”Generally speaking, we’ve
allowed our players to play,” Cassidy said. ”We look for it, but we don’t chase
it.”UP NEXTHere’s the schedule for the series:Thursday: Toronto at Boston, 7
p.m.Saturday: Toronto at Boston, 8 p.m.Monday: Boston at Toronto, 7
p.m.Thursday, April 19: Boston at Toronto, 7 p.m.x-Saturday, April 21: Toronto
at Boston, TBAx-Monday, April 23: Boston at Toronto, TBAx-Wednesday, April 25:
Toronto at Boston, TBA(x-If necessary)—
