Nikita Kucherov scored the shootout winner to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Monday in Eastern Conference round-robin play.
The teams played 5 minutes of 3-on-3 overtime before going to a shootout because the games for seeding are following regular-season rules.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped two of the three Capitals players he faced in the shootout after making 31 saves in regulation and overtime.
Kucherov also scored in regulation. Mitchell Stephens gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead 7:48 into the second. That lead didn’t last the rest of the period.
Richard Panik scored at the 17:24 mark of the second, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, scored with 27.1 seconds left before intermission to tie it.
HURRICANES 4, RANGERS 1
Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov scored three times for the first postseason hat trick in franchise history and Carolina beat New York for a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup qualifier series.
The 20-year-old Svechnikov beat Henrik Lundqvist for the first goal less than 5 minutes into the game. He followed with a power-play one-timer early in the second off a feed from Sami Vatanen, then buried a third at 14:02 of the third off a feed from Sebastian Aho — who assisted on all three of Svechnikov’s goals.
Jordan Martinook also scored for the Hurricanes. Petr Mrazek added 23 saves.
Artemi Panarin scored for the Rangers. Lundqvist finished with 30 saves.
JETS 3, FLAMES 2
Nikolaj Ehlers scored a power-play goal in the third period, lifting Winnipeg past Calgary as the teams drew even in their qualifying round.
Adam Lowry led the Jets with a goal and an assist in Game 2 of the best-of-five series. Rookie Jansen Harkins also scored for Winnipeg and Jack Roslovic contributed a pair of assists. Vezina Trophy finalist Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the win.
Elias Lindholm and Sam Bennett scored for the Flames. Calgary starter Cam Talbot stopped 23 shots in the loss.
Calgary won Saturday’s opener 4-1.
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Shea Theodore scored 2:09 into overtime to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
Alec Martinez, Evgenii Dadonov and Chandler Stephenson scored for the Golden Knights in regulation. Robin Lehner made 12 stops in the first period and didn’t return. Logan Thompson stopped 13 shots in the final two periods and didn’t face any in overtime.
Vegas has 89 points and is two back of Dallas for the second wild card in the Western Conference, and trails Los Angeles by three in the Pacific Division.
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore (27) scores against Washington Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov (30) during overtime in an NHL hockey game Wednesday, April 20, 2022, in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights won 4-3. (AP PhotoSam Morris)
Alex Ovechkin had two goals and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for the Capitals, while Samsonov made 26 saves.
KRAKEN 3, AVALANCHE 2
Kole Lind, Jordan Eberle and Yanni Gourde all scored in the first period and the Seattle held on to beat Colorado.
Philipp Grubauer had 25 saves as Seattle won its third straight. Matty Beniers had an assist to become the first rookie this season to begin his NHL career with a point in each of his first four games.
Cale Makar and Artturi Lehkonen scored for the Avalanche, and Pavel Francouz finished with 26 saves. Colorado, assured of having the top seed in the Western Conference, has lost two straight after winning nine in a row. The Avalanche remained tied with Florida with 116 points for the Presidents’ Trophy for the league’s best record.
BLACKHAWKS 4, COYOTES 3, OT
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Alex DeBrincat scored his 40th goal of the season with 37 seconds left in overtime, giving Chicago a win over Arizona.
Jake McCabe, Dominik Kubalik and Alex Vlasic also scored for Blackhawks, who won for the second time in 12 games after squandering a 3-1 lead in the final 10:18 of regulation.
Barrett Hayton, Nate Smith and Anton Stralman scored for the Coyotes, who have lost eight in a row and 15 of 17.
Kevin Lankinen had 32 saves for the Blackhawks, who have not won in regulation since March 23.
Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves in his 49th game, a franchise record for rookie goaltenders. He is the first rookie in NHL history with four games of at least 46 saves.
OILERS 5, STARS 2
Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists, and Edmonton won its third straight.
Evander Kane, Derek Ryan, Zach Hyman and Jesse Puljujarvi also scored for the Oilers, who are 11-0-1 in their last 12 home games. Evan Bouchard had two assists and Mike Smith stopped 34 shots.
Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz each had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who have lost three of their last four. Scott Wedgewood finished with 45 saves.
