TAMPA
http://www.officialsabres.com/authentic-adidas-rasmus-ristolainen-jersey , Fla. (AP) Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals overcame a major hurdle by
reaching the Eastern Conference final.Just like that, they’re in a full-on
sprint toward the finish.The Capitals scored in the opening minute of the game
and twice in the last 1:02 of the second period Sunday night to pull away to a
6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning and a 2-0 lead in the East final.”It’s
huge but it’s not over yet,” Ovechkin said. ”We played hard and played smart.
You can see all four lines doing their job.”Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller each
had a goal and two assists. Ovechkin and Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist
apiece 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).”We didn’t panic. Just
stayed to the system and played the right way,” Ovechkin said. ”We stayed calm
and waited for our opportunities.”Devante Smith-Pelly and Brett Connolly also
scored, helping Washington improve to 7-1 on the road this postseason. It’s
their first visit to the conference final during Ovechkin’s 13-season
career.”You’re on the road and it’s us against them, and this group has really
bonded,” coach Barry Trotz said. ”They’ve got a lot of resiliency, and they’re
having fun.”Game 3 is Tuesday night in Washington.The Lightning had the best
record in the Eastern Conference this season and breezed through the first
rounds of the playoffs against New Jersey and Boston.Little has gone right
against the Capitals.”For a team that’s been used to being able to make some
plays, we sure haven’t made them in these two games. It’s very uncharacteristic
of us. That’s the difference. They’ve made plays, we haven’t. And it’s cost us,”
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.”We’ve just played tentative and a little bit
slow. We didn’t get 113 points by playing that way. We didn’t win the first two
rounds by playing that way,” Cooper added. ”For some reason for two games,
that’s the way we’ve played.”Brayden 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 finished an odd-man rush
and 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.Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei
Vasilevskiy was called for tripping 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.”We’ve defended this entire playoffs up until these last couple of
games, and that’s why we’ve had success,” Stamkos said. ”We haven’t defended
with the same urgency. We’re leaving our goalie out to dry.”Ovechkin 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
Womens Robin Lehner Jersey , they vowed to play 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.The Lightning will have to turn the series around on the road
to return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2015.”We’ll prepare
for the toughest game that we’ve played all season,” Stamkos said. ”It’s
gut-check time. Let’s see who we really are.”NOTES: Washington’s John Carlson
had two assists, giving him 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) this postseason.
That’s a club record by a defenseman in one playoff year. He had been tied for
the most with Kevin Hatcher (5-7-12, 1988), Scott Stevens (1-11-12, 1988) and
himself (5-7-12, 2016). … 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.— SUNRISE, Fla.
(AP) — Bo Horvat came through with the winning goal on a milestone night.Horvat,
playing in his 300th NHL game, scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period,
leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on
Saturday night.“I think that was the icing on top,” Horvat said. “The win feels
that much better.”Horvat gave the Canucks their first lead when he took a nifty
pass from Sven Baertschi in the left circle and sent a one-timer in at 6:11 of
the final period.“He couldn’t have made a better pass on his backhand to
me
Ryan O'Reilly Jersey , and all I had to do was tap it in from there,” Horvat said.Antoine Roussel and Elias Pettersson also scored for the Canucks,
and Anders Nilsson stopped 24 shots. Baertschi had two assists.Petterson left
the game after being pushed into the boards by Mike Matheson in the third
period.“That’s a dirty play. The league is trying to protect the good young
players and that’s just a dirty play,” Vancouver coach Travis Green said.Center
Jay Beagle also left with an injury after blocking a shot. No update was
available on either player postgame.“We had two centermen go down and we were
stuck with two centers out there the last five minutes,” Horvat said. “To grind
that one out and show the composure and the will to win there was great for our
group.”Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for the Panthers, who
remain winless through three games. James Reimer made 27 saves.The Panthers had
the lead twice but each time the Canucks were able to even the score within a
couple of minutes.“Every time we take the lead it’s tough when the other team
ties it up right after,” Florida coach Bob Boughner said. “That’s a pattern
that’s got to change.”The Panthers haven’t been able to build on their late
surge of last season, when they went 25-8-2 and missed the playoffs by a
point.“Once we get a lead, we’ve got to learn how to win,” Boughner said.
“Everything we worked hard for in the second half of last season, we’ve got to
get some of that back.”With the score tied 1-1, Trocheck put the Panthers ahead
on a shot from the right circle the got past Nilsson on the glove side with 2:40
left in the second.Less than a minute later, Roussel was awarded a penalty shot
after he was hooked by Bogdan Kiselevich. Roussel beat Reimer on the glove side
at with 1:45 left to tie the score 2-2.“It’s very disappointing,” Panthers
defenseman Keith Yandle said. “We’ve got to get on the horse and get
going.”Huberdeau gave Florida a 1-0 lead with 7:29 left in the second when he
poked in his own rebound.Pettersson tied the score 1-1 on a power-play goal with
5:12 left in the period as his wrister from the right circle beat Reimer.
Pettersson tied the Canucks’ franchise record with a five-game point streak to
start a career.NOTES: The Panthers celebrated G Roberto Luongo becoming only the
third goaltender in NHL history to play 1,000 games in a pregame ceremony.
Luongo reached the milestone last April 5. Luongo, who also played 448 games for
the Canucks, is the NHL’s active wins leader (471) and stands fourth all-time in
NHL wins. … Kiselevich made his NHL debut for the Panthers. … Roussel was
activated from IR and made his season debut for Vancouver.UP NEXTCanucks: At
Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.Panthers: At Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
