Saturday, April 16, 2016

NHL Playoff Capsules (April 16, 2016)

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Filip Forsberg got credit for the tiebreaking goal with 9:35 to play, and the Nashville Predators opened their first-round playoff series with a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.

Pekka Rinne made 27 saves for the Predators, who got the early jump on the Pacific Division champion Ducks with a gritty road effort.

James Neal and Colin Wilson also scored, while Forsberg scored the go-ahead goal when his cross-ice pass to Craig Smith hit defenseman Shea Theodore's skate and trickled past John Gibson.

Game 2 is Sunday night in Anaheim.

Captain Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler scored for the Ducks, who lost an opener for just the second time in seven playoff series under coach Bruce Boudreau.

LIGHTNING 5, RED WINGS 2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Tyler Johnson scored a pair of third-period goals, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.

Ben Bishop had 30 saves for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who took the first two games at home despite playing without injured leading goal scorer Steven Stamkos and defenseman Anton Stralman.

A bloody brawl involving several players capped this one, with 14 penalties called - including a game misconduct on Justin Abdelkader - with 54 seconds left.

Game 3 is Sunday in Detroit, where the Red Wings won both regular-season meetings between the teams.

PANTHERS 3, ISLANDERS 1

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Roberto Luongo made 41 saves for his first playoff win in five years, and the Florida Panthers evened their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series by beating the New York Islanders.

Reilly Smith and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist for Florida, which salvaged a split in the series-opening back-to-back. Dmitry Kulikov added an empty-netter with 9.3 seconds left to clinch the win. Game 3 is in Brooklyn on Sunday.

John Tavares scored with 3:33 left for New York, and Thomas Greiss stopped 28 shots for the Islanders.

BLACKHAWKS 3, BLUES 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Andrew Shaw stuffed home a rebound on a power play with 4:19 remaining, minutes after the Chicago Blackhawks won a coach's challenge to negate a goal, and the defending Stanley Cup champions pulled even with the St. Louis Blues in their first-round series.

Corey Crawford had a strong game in net and Duncan Keith also scored for Chicago in his first game back from a six-game suspension for a dangerous high stick to Minnesota's Charlie Coyle. Keith assisted on Artemi Panarin's clinching empty-net goal with 1:34 to go. The series shifts to Chicago with Game 3 on Sunday.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Kevin Shattenkirk scored for St. Louis.

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