Category: Sports/Hockey/NHL

Joe Pavelski’s first home playoff game for the Dallas Stars was a memorable one.

The 37-year-old veteran scored both the equalizing and winning goals for the Stars in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames to a take a 2-1 lead in their playoff series.

“First game here in Dallas in front of theses fans in the playoffs, it lived up to it,” Pavelski said. “I’d heard nothing but great things. Nice to get that win and take another step.”

Trevor Lewis and Elias Lindholm replied for the Flames with Jacob Markstrom turning away 28 of 31 shots in Calgary’s net.

Game 4 in the best-of-seven affair is Monday in Dallas before returning to Calgary for Wednesday’s Game 5.

WATCH | Pavelski sparks Stars’ comeback win over Flames:

Pair of goals by Joe Pavelski gives Stars 2-1 series lead over Flames

10 hours ago

Duration 2:04

Joe Pavelski scored twice as Dallas defeated Calgary 4-2 in game three giving the Stars a 2-1 series lead. 2:04

If necessary, Game 6 is Friday back in Dallas and a Game 7 would be Sunday in Calgary.

After Pavelski’s signing in 2019, the Stars didn’t have a home playoff game until Saturday.

Dallas reached the Stanley Cup final in Edmonton’s 2020 playoff bubble where they lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Stars fell short of the post-season last year.

The Flames (50-21-11) topped the Pacific Division and the Stars (46-30-6) earned the Western Conference’s first wild-card berth.

Calgary opened the conference quarterfinal with a 1-0 win before falling 2-0 to the Stars at the Saddledome.

When a best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 holds an all-time series record of 228-110 (.675), according to NHL statisticians.

‘There’s no panic in our room’

“Win one game, we’ve got home ice back and that’s the goal coming in here,” Flames forward Blake Coleman said. “There’s no panic in our room.”

Pavelski scored his second of the game and the first power-play goal of the series for the Stars — after going 0-for-11 — at 10:05 of the third period for the go-ahead goal.

His 14th career playoff game-winner is the most among active NHL players, according to the Stars.

“He’s always around the net. He knows there’s a timing to get there,” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. “There’s a timing anticipating the shot. He’s got it down pat.

With Coleman in the box for laying his stick on Pavelski’s arm, the latter potted a rebound off a Vladislav Namestnikov shot for his third goal of the series.

“Penalty with seven minutes left, you can’t take it,” Coleman said.

Oettinger denied Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau on a breakaway with less than four minutes remaining in the game.

“Hard-fought, close games,” said Flames head coach Darryl Sutter. “Breakaway with about two or three minutes left. Guy’s got to put it away. Their job.”

Pavelski pulled the hosts even at 11:41 of the second period.

“You see the puck’s coming, you try to get free and feel like you’re boxed out, so you’re just trying to get to the next space,” Pavelski said.

“It’s nice when the pucks lay there for you and you’ve got some space to work with them.”

The Stars continued to give the Flames little real estate in front of Oettinger and force shooters to the outside, although Calgary’s first goal scored by Lewis was from close range.

The Flames were both more responsible with the puck and more of a match physically with the Stars in Game 2, but goals remained scarce in the post-season from a team that ranked sixth in the NHL in that department.

“We’ve just got to dig down a little deeper and find out what we’re made of and hit those second and third efforts,” Lewis said.

“Get to the net and get those greasy goals.”

Flames’ build up to having lead

Calgary led 2-1 at 3:40 of the second period when Lindholm capped a tic-tac-toe passing sequence by Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk with a one-timer.

Lewis batted in a rebound from Oettinger’s doorstep after a Milan Lucic effort there at 13:45 of the first period. Bowness was denied a challenge for goaltender interference by Lucic.

Faksa scored a four-on-four goal for the Stars at 9:21 of the opening period. Dallas and Calgary have played eight minutes of four-on-four in back-to-back games.

“We’ve got to find a way to finish,” Coleman said. “The strength of our game is five-on-five and we spent too much time with ticky-tacky, four-on-four hockey.”

Tkachuk and Stars defenceman John Klingberg continued their running feud in the series with a fight 82 seconds after the opening faceoff.

They tangled and took coincidental minors less than a minute into Game 2.

Danton Heinen’s first playoff goal in three years just past the midway point of the third period broke a tie to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Game 4 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins, who won despite any member of the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust not recording a point until Guentzel’s empty-netter with 2:14 to play sealed it. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins while Brock McGinn started the scoring on a wild night with his first goal of the playoffs.

Domingue made 32 saves and even recorded an assist in his second playoff start. The 30-year-old journeyman put together a flurry of stops early in the third period with the Penguins on the penalty kill to set the stage for Heinen’s heroics.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.

The Penguins sent Shesterkin to the bench with a dazzling first period in which they erupted for four goals — two by Rodrigues — only to promptly squander it with a second-period meltdown culminated by a turnover by defenceman Kris Letang that led directly to Copp’s short-handed tally that tied it at 4.

The Penguins earned a split in New York to start the series by relying on the top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Rust to do most of the heavy lifting. The trio scored five of Pittsburgh’s six goals at Madison Square Garden, the other provided by Evgeni Malkin’s game-winner in triple overtime in the opener.

Avalanche take 3-0 series lead against Predators

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 7-3 Saturday for a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-net goal with 2:46 left. The Avs had a couple missed opportunities once Nashville pulled goalie Connor Ingram with more than four minutes remaining.

Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper was hurt with a minute left in the first period. Pavel Francouz replaced him and made 20 saves in his seventh playoff appearance of his career.

Matt Duchene, Eeli Tolvanen and captain Roman Josi each scored goals for Nashville. Alexandre Carrier had two assists.

This is the first time the Predators have trailed 0-3 in a series, and they will try to avoid being swept for the first time in their 15 playoff appearances in Game 4 on Monday night.

Colorado has simply dominated the Predators, outscoring them 16-6 with a 137-81 difference in shots through the first three games.

Lehkonen got the Avs on the board first yet again midway through the first on yet another Nashville penalty, deflecting a slap shot by Toews. MacKinnon made it 2-0 just 21 seconds into the Avs’ next man advantage at 16:07.

Duchene got Nashville on the board, scoring on a wrister at 17:37. Then Predators centre Ryan Johansen’s stick caught Kuemper’s face, and Francouz replaced him in net.

The Predators managed to score twice on the man advantage in the second with Tolvanen scoring from the dot in the left face-off circle at 5:41. Landeskog beat Ingram with a backhander on the man advantage midway through the second for a 3-2 lead, then Josi tied it with a slap shot from the blue line at 12:11.

Landeskog scored his second at 14:02 to put Colorado ahead to stay.

The Avs got another man advantage when Nashville lost its challenge of Landeskog’s goal for Lehkonen interfering with Ingram after Predators forward Mikael Granlund blamed for the contact. When Ingram played the puck behind the net, lost the puck and Kadri scored into the open net just 39 seconds later for a 5-3 lead.

Toews padded the lead with a shot from the top of the left circle midway through the third.

Capitals cruise past Panthers

Ilya Samsonov rebounded after allowing an early goal, and the Washington Capitals bounced back on Saturday to show they can very much hang with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.

Samsonov made 29 saves, Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another and the Capitals blew out the Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Chants of “Sammy! Sammy!” gave way to “Ovi! Ovi! in the third period of the convincing victory.

Game 4 is Monday in Washington.

T.J. Oshie deflected Ovechkin’s shot for one power-play goal, and Marcus Johansson, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who shook off a 5-1 loss in Game 2 and an early deficit in Game 3 behind the play of their new starting goaltender and a stingy effort that stymied the NHL’s best regular-season offense.

Samsonov got the nod to replace Vitek Vanecek in net after stopping all 17 shots in relief Thursday. He got off to a rough start, giving up a goal to league MVP candidate Jonathan Huberdeau less than three minutes in — then stopped every shot he saw the rest of the way.

With Samsonov the backbone at even strength and short-handed, Washington’s penalty kill improved to 9 of 9 against Florida, which ranked fifth on the power play this season at just under 25%. The Panthers also led the league in scoring at more than four goals a game.

But this series against an opponent with more experience in postseason hockey — seven players remain from Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship — has been another rough lesson for the Panthers about how to win the playoffs. Ill-advised penalties by top-pairing defenceman Mackenzie Weegar and Huberdeau paved the way for the power-play goals, a missed defensive assignment opened the door for Johansson’s and a turnover in the corner led to van Riemsdyk’s.

Expected deep playoff run

Similar mistakes cost Florida in the first round last year: a loss to Tampa Bay on the way to the Lightning’s second of back-to-back titles. Only this time, the Panthers were expected to make a deep run after compiling an NHL-best 122 points on 58 victories in 82 games.

If they don’t win three more within the next eight days, it’ll go down as another disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t advanced in the playoffs since 1996 and entered the post-season as one of the favoUrites to hoist the Cup.

The Eastern Conference eighth-seeded Capitals improved to 4 of 12 on the power play in the series. Their victory guaranteed at least two more home playoff games this spring.

Ovechkin’s goal was his 72nd in the playoffs, tying him with Patrick Marleau and Esa Tikkanen for 14th on the career list. His 28 power-play goals are tied for seventh.

Capitals right-winger Tom Wilson missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

Danton Heinen’s first playoff goal in three years just past the midway point of the third period broke a tie to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Game 4 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins, who won despite any member of the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust not recording a point until Guentzel’s empty-netter with 2:14 to play sealed it. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins while Brock McGinn started the scoring on a wild night with his first goal of the playoffs.

Domingue made 32 saves and even recorded an assist in his second playoff start. The 30-year-old journeyman put together a flurry of stops early in the third period with the Penguins on the penalty kill to set the stage for Heinen’s heroics.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.

The Penguins sent Shesterkin to the bench with a dazzling first period in which they erupted for four goals — two by Rodrigues — only to promptly squander it with a second-period meltdown culminated by a turnover by defenceman Kris Letang that led directly to Copp’s short-handed tally that tied it at 4.

The Penguins earned a split in New York to start the series by relying on the top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Rust to do most of the heavy lifting. The trio scored five of Pittsburgh’s six goals at Madison Square Garden, the other provided by Evgeni Malkin’s game-winner in triple overtime in the opener.

Avalanche take 3-0 series lead against Predators

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 7-3 Saturday for a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-net goal with 2:46 left. The Avs had a couple missed opportunities once Nashville pulled goalie Connor Ingram with more than four minutes remaining.

Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper was hurt with a minute left in the first period. Pavel Francouz replaced him and made 20 saves in his seventh playoff appearance of his career.

Matt Duchene, Eeli Tolvanen and captain Roman Josi each scored goals for Nashville. Alexandre Carrier had two assists.

This is the first time the Predators have trailed 0-3 in a series, and they will try to avoid being swept for the first time in their 15 playoff appearances in Game 4 on Monday night.

Colorado has simply dominated the Predators, outscoring them 16-6 with a 137-81 difference in shots through the first three games.

Lehkonen got the Avs on the board first yet again midway through the first on yet another Nashville penalty, deflecting a slap shot by Toews. MacKinnon made it 2-0 just 21 seconds into the Avs’ next man advantage at 16:07.

Duchene got Nashville on the board, scoring on a wrister at 17:37. Then Predators centre Ryan Johansen’s stick caught Kuemper’s face, and Francouz replaced him in net.

The Predators managed to score twice on the man advantage in the second with Tolvanen scoring from the dot in the left face-off circle at 5:41. Landeskog beat Ingram with a backhander on the man advantage midway through the second for a 3-2 lead, then Josi tied it with a slap shot from the blue line at 12:11.

Landeskog scored his second at 14:02 to put Colorado ahead to stay.

The Avs got another man advantage when Nashville lost its challenge of Landeskog’s goal for Lehkonen interfering with Ingram after Predators forward Mikael Granlund blamed for the contact. When Ingram played the puck behind the net, lost the puck and Kadri scored into the open net just 39 seconds later for a 5-3 lead.

Toews padded the lead with a shot from the top of the left circle midway through the third.

Capitals cruise past Panthers

Ilya Samsonov rebounded after allowing an early goal, and the Washington Capitals bounced back on Saturday to show they can very much hang with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.

Samsonov made 29 saves, Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another and the Capitals blew out the Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Chants of “Sammy! Sammy!” gave way to “Ovi! Ovi! in the third period of the convincing victory.

Game 4 is Monday in Washington.

T.J. Oshie deflected Ovechkin’s shot for one power-play goal, and Marcus Johansson, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who shook off a 5-1 loss in Game 2 and an early deficit in Game 3 behind the play of their new starting goaltender and a stingy effort that stymied the NHL’s best regular-season offense.

Samsonov got the nod to replace Vitek Vanecek in net after stopping all 17 shots in relief Thursday. He got off to a rough start, giving up a goal to league MVP candidate Jonathan Huberdeau less than three minutes in — then stopped every shot he saw the rest of the way.

With Samsonov the backbone at even strength and short-handed, Washington’s penalty kill improved to 9 of 9 against Florida, which ranked fifth on the power play this season at just under 25%. The Panthers also led the league in scoring at more than four goals a game.

But this series against an opponent with more experience in postseason hockey — seven players remain from Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship — has been another rough lesson for the Panthers about how to win the playoffs. Ill-advised penalties by top-pairing defenceman Mackenzie Weegar and Huberdeau paved the way for the power-play goals, a missed defensive assignment opened the door for Johansson’s and a turnover in the corner led to van Riemsdyk’s.

Expected deep playoff run

Similar mistakes cost Florida in the first round last year: a loss to Tampa Bay on the way to the Lightning’s second of back-to-back titles. Only this time, the Panthers were expected to make a deep run after compiling an NHL-best 122 points on 58 victories in 82 games.

If they don’t win three more within the next eight days, it’ll go down as another disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t advanced in the playoffs since 1996 and entered the post-season as one of the favoUrites to hoist the Cup.

The Eastern Conference eighth-seeded Capitals improved to 4 of 12 on the power play in the series. Their victory guaranteed at least two more home playoff games this spring.

Ovechkin’s goal was his 72nd in the playoffs, tying him with Patrick Marleau and Esa Tikkanen for 14th on the career list. His 28 power-play goals are tied for seventh.

Capitals right-winger Tom Wilson missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

Danton Heinen’s first playoff goal in three years just past the midway point of the third period broke a tie to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Game 4 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins, who won despite any member of the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust not recording a point until Guentzel’s empty-netter with 2:14 to play sealed it. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins while Brock McGinn started the scoring on a wild night with his first goal of the playoffs.

Domingue made 32 saves and even recorded an assist in his second playoff start. The 30-year-old journeyman put together a flurry of stops early in the third period with the Penguins on the penalty kill to set the stage for Heinen’s heroics.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.

The Penguins sent Shesterkin to the bench with a dazzling first period in which they erupted for four goals — two by Rodrigues — only to promptly squander it with a second-period meltdown culminated by a turnover by defenceman Kris Letang that led directly to Copp’s short-handed tally that tied it at 4.

The Penguins earned a split in New York to start the series by relying on the top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Rust to do most of the heavy lifting. The trio scored five of Pittsburgh’s six goals at Madison Square Garden, the other provided by Evgeni Malkin’s game-winner in triple overtime in the opener.

Avalanche take 3-0 series lead against Predators

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 7-3 Saturday for a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-net goal with 2:46 left. The Avs had a couple missed opportunities once Nashville pulled goalie Connor Ingram with more than four minutes remaining.

Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper was hurt with a minute left in the first period. Pavel Francouz replaced him and made 20 saves in his seventh playoff appearance of his career.

Matt Duchene, Eeli Tolvanen and captain Roman Josi each scored goals for Nashville. Alexandre Carrier had two assists.

This is the first time the Predators have trailed 0-3 in a series, and they will try to avoid being swept for the first time in their 15 playoff appearances in Game 4 on Monday night.

Colorado has simply dominated the Predators, outscoring them 16-6 with a 137-81 difference in shots through the first three games.

Lehkonen got the Avs on the board first yet again midway through the first on yet another Nashville penalty, deflecting a slap shot by Toews. MacKinnon made it 2-0 just 21 seconds into the Avs’ next man advantage at 16:07.

Duchene got Nashville on the board, scoring on a wrister at 17:37. Then Predators centre Ryan Johansen’s stick caught Kuemper’s face, and Francouz replaced him in net.

The Predators managed to score twice on the man advantage in the second with Tolvanen scoring from the dot in the left face-off circle at 5:41. Landeskog beat Ingram with a backhander on the man advantage midway through the second for a 3-2 lead, then Josi tied it with a slap shot from the blue line at 12:11.

Landeskog scored his second at 14:02 to put Colorado ahead to stay.

The Avs got another man advantage when Nashville lost its challenge of Landeskog’s goal for Lehkonen interfering with Ingram after Predators forward Mikael Granlund blamed for the contact. When Ingram played the puck behind the net, lost the puck and Kadri scored into the open net just 39 seconds later for a 5-3 lead.

Toews padded the lead with a shot from the top of the left circle midway through the third.

Capitals cruise past Panthers

Ilya Samsonov rebounded after allowing an early goal, and the Washington Capitals bounced back on Saturday to show they can very much hang with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.

Samsonov made 29 saves, Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another and the Capitals blew out the Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Chants of “Sammy! Sammy!” gave way to “Ovi! Ovi! in the third period of the convincing victory.

Game 4 is Monday in Washington.

T.J. Oshie deflected Ovechkin’s shot for one power-play goal, and Marcus Johansson, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who shook off a 5-1 loss in Game 2 and an early deficit in Game 3 behind the play of their new starting goaltender and a stingy effort that stymied the NHL’s best regular-season offense.

Samsonov got the nod to replace Vitek Vanecek in net after stopping all 17 shots in relief Thursday. He got off to a rough start, giving up a goal to league MVP candidate Jonathan Huberdeau less than three minutes in — then stopped every shot he saw the rest of the way.

With Samsonov the backbone at even strength and short-handed, Washington’s penalty kill improved to 9 of 9 against Florida, which ranked fifth on the power play this season at just under 25%. The Panthers also led the league in scoring at more than four goals a game.

But this series against an opponent with more experience in postseason hockey — seven players remain from Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship — has been another rough lesson for the Panthers about how to win the playoffs. Ill-advised penalties by top-pairing defenceman Mackenzie Weegar and Huberdeau paved the way for the power-play goals, a missed defensive assignment opened the door for Johansson’s and a turnover in the corner led to van Riemsdyk’s.

Expected deep playoff run

Similar mistakes cost Florida in the first round last year: a loss to Tampa Bay on the way to the Lightning’s second of back-to-back titles. Only this time, the Panthers were expected to make a deep run after compiling an NHL-best 122 points on 58 victories in 82 games.

If they don’t win three more within the next eight days, it’ll go down as another disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t advanced in the playoffs since 1996 and entered the post-season as one of the favoUrites to hoist the Cup.

The Eastern Conference eighth-seeded Capitals improved to 4 of 12 on the power play in the series. Their victory guaranteed at least two more home playoff games this spring.

Ovechkin’s goal was his 72nd in the playoffs, tying him with Patrick Marleau and Esa Tikkanen for 14th on the career list. His 28 power-play goals are tied for seventh.

Capitals right-winger Tom Wilson missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

Danton Heinen’s first playoff goal in three years just past the midway point of the third period broke a tie to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Game 4 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins, who won despite any member of the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust not recording a point until Guentzel’s empty-netter with 2:14 to play sealed it. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins while Brock McGinn started the scoring on a wild night with his first goal of the playoffs.

Domingue made 32 saves and even recorded an assist in his second playoff start. The 30-year-old journeyman put together a flurry of stops early in the third period with the Penguins on the penalty kill to set the stage for Heinen’s heroics.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.

The Penguins sent Shesterkin to the bench with a dazzling first period in which they erupted for four goals — two by Rodrigues — only to promptly squander it with a second-period meltdown culminated by a turnover by defenceman Kris Letang that led directly to Copp’s short-handed tally that tied it at 4.

The Penguins earned a split in New York to start the series by relying on the top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Rust to do most of the heavy lifting. The trio scored five of Pittsburgh’s six goals at Madison Square Garden, the other provided by Evgeni Malkin’s game-winner in triple overtime in the opener.

Avalanche take 3-0 series lead against Predators

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 7-3 Saturday for a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-net goal with 2:46 left. The Avs had a couple missed opportunities once Nashville pulled goalie Connor Ingram with more than four minutes remaining.

Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper was hurt with a minute left in the first period. Pavel Francouz replaced him and made 20 saves in his seventh playoff appearance of his career.

Matt Duchene, Eeli Tolvanen and captain Roman Josi each scored goals for Nashville. Alexandre Carrier had two assists.

This is the first time the Predators have trailed 0-3 in a series, and they will try to avoid being swept for the first time in their 15 playoff appearances in Game 4 on Monday night.

Colorado has simply dominated the Predators, outscoring them 16-6 with a 137-81 difference in shots through the first three games.

Lehkonen got the Avs on the board first yet again midway through the first on yet another Nashville penalty, deflecting a slap shot by Toews. MacKinnon made it 2-0 just 21 seconds into the Avs’ next man advantage at 16:07.

Duchene got Nashville on the board, scoring on a wrister at 17:37. Then Predators centre Ryan Johansen’s stick caught Kuemper’s face, and Francouz replaced him in net.

The Predators managed to score twice on the man advantage in the second with Tolvanen scoring from the dot in the left face-off circle at 5:41. Landeskog beat Ingram with a backhander on the man advantage midway through the second for a 3-2 lead, then Josi tied it with a slap shot from the blue line at 12:11.

Landeskog scored his second at 14:02 to put Colorado ahead to stay.

The Avs got another man advantage when Nashville lost its challenge of Landeskog’s goal for Lehkonen interfering with Ingram after Predators forward Mikael Granlund blamed for the contact. When Ingram played the puck behind the net, lost the puck and Kadri scored into the open net just 39 seconds later for a 5-3 lead.

Toews padded the lead with a shot from the top of the left circle midway through the third.

Capitals cruise past Panthers

Ilya Samsonov rebounded after allowing an early goal, and the Washington Capitals bounced back on Saturday to show they can very much hang with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.

Samsonov made 29 saves, Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another and the Capitals blew out the Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Chants of “Sammy! Sammy!” gave way to “Ovi! Ovi! in the third period of the convincing victory.

Game 4 is Monday in Washington.

T.J. Oshie deflected Ovechkin’s shot for one power-play goal, and Marcus Johansson, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who shook off a 5-1 loss in Game 2 and an early deficit in Game 3 behind the play of their new starting goaltender and a stingy effort that stymied the NHL’s best regular-season offense.

Samsonov got the nod to replace Vitek Vanecek in net after stopping all 17 shots in relief Thursday. He got off to a rough start, giving up a goal to league MVP candidate Jonathan Huberdeau less than three minutes in — then stopped every shot he saw the rest of the way.

With Samsonov the backbone at even strength and short-handed, Washington’s penalty kill improved to 9 of 9 against Florida, which ranked fifth on the power play this season at just under 25%. The Panthers also led the league in scoring at more than four goals a game.

But this series against an opponent with more experience in postseason hockey — seven players remain from Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship — has been another rough lesson for the Panthers about how to win the playoffs. Ill-advised penalties by top-pairing defenceman Mackenzie Weegar and Huberdeau paved the way for the power-play goals, a missed defensive assignment opened the door for Johansson’s and a turnover in the corner led to van Riemsdyk’s.

Expected deep playoff run

Similar mistakes cost Florida in the first round last year: a loss to Tampa Bay on the way to the Lightning’s second of back-to-back titles. Only this time, the Panthers were expected to make a deep run after compiling an NHL-best 122 points on 58 victories in 82 games.

If they don’t win three more within the next eight days, it’ll go down as another disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t advanced in the playoffs since 1996 and entered the post-season as one of the favoUrites to hoist the Cup.

The Eastern Conference eighth-seeded Capitals improved to 4 of 12 on the power play in the series. Their victory guaranteed at least two more home playoff games this spring.

Ovechkin’s goal was his 72nd in the playoffs, tying him with Patrick Marleau and Esa Tikkanen for 14th on the career list. His 28 power-play goals are tied for seventh.

Capitals right-winger Tom Wilson missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

Danton Heinen’s first playoff goal in three years just past the midway point of the third period broke a tie to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Game 4 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins, who won despite any member of the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust not recording a point until Guentzel’s empty-netter with 2:14 to play sealed it. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins while Brock McGinn started the scoring on a wild night with his first goal of the playoffs.

Domingue made 32 saves and even recorded an assist in his second playoff start. The 30-year-old journeyman put together a flurry of stops early in the third period with the Penguins on the penalty kill to set the stage for Heinen’s heroics.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.

The Penguins sent Shesterkin to the bench with a dazzling first period in which they erupted for four goals — two by Rodrigues — only to promptly squander it with a second-period meltdown culminated by a turnover by defenceman Kris Letang that led directly to Copp’s short-handed tally that tied it at 4.

The Penguins earned a split in New York to start the series by relying on the top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Rust to do most of the heavy lifting. The trio scored five of Pittsburgh’s six goals at Madison Square Garden, the other provided by Evgeni Malkin’s game-winner in triple overtime in the opener.

Avalanche take 3-0 series lead against Predators

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 7-3 Saturday for a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-net goal with 2:46 left. The Avs had a couple missed opportunities once Nashville pulled goalie Connor Ingram with more than four minutes remaining.

Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper was hurt with a minute left in the first period. Pavel Francouz replaced him and made 20 saves in his seventh playoff appearance of his career.

Matt Duchene, Eeli Tolvanen and captain Roman Josi each scored goals for Nashville. Alexandre Carrier had two assists.

This is the first time the Predators have trailed 0-3 in a series, and they will try to avoid being swept for the first time in their 15 playoff appearances in Game 4 on Monday night.

Colorado has simply dominated the Predators, outscoring them 16-6 with a 137-81 difference in shots through the first three games.

Lehkonen got the Avs on the board first yet again midway through the first on yet another Nashville penalty, deflecting a slap shot by Toews. MacKinnon made it 2-0 just 21 seconds into the Avs’ next man advantage at 16:07.

Duchene got Nashville on the board, scoring on a wrister at 17:37. Then Predators centre Ryan Johansen’s stick caught Kuemper’s face, and Francouz replaced him in net.

The Predators managed to score twice on the man advantage in the second with Tolvanen scoring from the dot in the left face-off circle at 5:41. Landeskog beat Ingram with a backhander on the man advantage midway through the second for a 3-2 lead, then Josi tied it with a slap shot from the blue line at 12:11.

Landeskog scored his second at 14:02 to put Colorado ahead to stay.

The Avs got another man advantage when Nashville lost its challenge of Landeskog’s goal for Lehkonen interfering with Ingram after Predators forward Mikael Granlund blamed for the contact. When Ingram played the puck behind the net, lost the puck and Kadri scored into the open net just 39 seconds later for a 5-3 lead.

Toews padded the lead with a shot from the top of the left circle midway through the third.

Capitals cruise past Panthers

Ilya Samsonov rebounded after allowing an early goal, and the Washington Capitals bounced back on Saturday to show they can very much hang with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.

Samsonov made 29 saves, Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another and the Capitals blew out the Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Chants of “Sammy! Sammy!” gave way to “Ovi! Ovi! in the third period of the convincing victory.

Game 4 is Monday in Washington.

T.J. Oshie deflected Ovechkin’s shot for one power-play goal, and Marcus Johansson, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who shook off a 5-1 loss in Game 2 and an early deficit in Game 3 behind the play of their new starting goaltender and a stingy effort that stymied the NHL’s best regular-season offense.

Samsonov got the nod to replace Vitek Vanecek in net after stopping all 17 shots in relief Thursday. He got off to a rough start, giving up a goal to league MVP candidate Jonathan Huberdeau less than three minutes in — then stopped every shot he saw the rest of the way.

With Samsonov the backbone at even strength and short-handed, Washington’s penalty kill improved to 9 of 9 against Florida, which ranked fifth on the power play this season at just under 25%. The Panthers also led the league in scoring at more than four goals a game.

But this series against an opponent with more experience in postseason hockey — seven players remain from Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship — has been another rough lesson for the Panthers about how to win the playoffs. Ill-advised penalties by top-pairing defenceman Mackenzie Weegar and Huberdeau paved the way for the power-play goals, a missed defensive assignment opened the door for Johansson’s and a turnover in the corner led to van Riemsdyk’s.

Expected deep playoff run

Similar mistakes cost Florida in the first round last year: a loss to Tampa Bay on the way to the Lightning’s second of back-to-back titles. Only this time, the Panthers were expected to make a deep run after compiling an NHL-best 122 points on 58 victories in 82 games.

If they don’t win three more within the next eight days, it’ll go down as another disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t advanced in the playoffs since 1996 and entered the post-season as one of the favoUrites to hoist the Cup.

The Eastern Conference eighth-seeded Capitals improved to 4 of 12 on the power play in the series. Their victory guaranteed at least two more home playoff games this spring.

Ovechkin’s goal was his 72nd in the playoffs, tying him with Patrick Marleau and Esa Tikkanen for 14th on the career list. His 28 power-play goals are tied for seventh.

Capitals right-winger Tom Wilson missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

Danton Heinen’s first playoff goal in three years just past the midway point of the third period broke a tie to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

Game 4 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins, who won despite any member of the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust not recording a point until Guentzel’s empty-netter with 2:14 to play sealed it. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins while Brock McGinn started the scoring on a wild night with his first goal of the playoffs.

Domingue made 32 saves and even recorded an assist in his second playoff start. The 30-year-old journeyman put together a flurry of stops early in the third period with the Penguins on the penalty kill to set the stage for Heinen’s heroics.

Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.

The Penguins sent Shesterkin to the bench with a dazzling first period in which they erupted for four goals — two by Rodrigues — only to promptly squander it with a second-period meltdown culminated by a turnover by defenceman Kris Letang that led directly to Copp’s short-handed tally that tied it at 4.

The Penguins earned a split in New York to start the series by relying on the top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Rust to do most of the heavy lifting. The trio scored five of Pittsburgh’s six goals at Madison Square Garden, the other provided by Evgeni Malkin’s game-winner in triple overtime in the opener.

Avalanche take 3-0 series lead against Predators

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 7-3 Saturday for a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-net goal with 2:46 left. The Avs had a couple missed opportunities once Nashville pulled goalie Connor Ingram with more than four minutes remaining.

Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper was hurt with a minute left in the first period. Pavel Francouz replaced him and made 20 saves in his seventh playoff appearance of his career.

Matt Duchene, Eeli Tolvanen and captain Roman Josi each scored goals for Nashville. Alexandre Carrier had two assists.

This is the first time the Predators have trailed 0-3 in a series, and they will try to avoid being swept for the first time in their 15 playoff appearances in Game 4 on Monday night.

Colorado has simply dominated the Predators, outscoring them 16-6 with a 137-81 difference in shots through the first three games.

Lehkonen got the Avs on the board first yet again midway through the first on yet another Nashville penalty, deflecting a slap shot by Toews. MacKinnon made it 2-0 just 21 seconds into the Avs’ next man advantage at 16:07.

Duchene got Nashville on the board, scoring on a wrister at 17:37. Then Predators centre Ryan Johansen’s stick caught Kuemper’s face, and Francouz replaced him in net.

The Predators managed to score twice on the man advantage in the second with Tolvanen scoring from the dot in the left face-off circle at 5:41. Landeskog beat Ingram with a backhander on the man advantage midway through the second for a 3-2 lead, then Josi tied it with a slap shot from the blue line at 12:11.

Landeskog scored his second at 14:02 to put Colorado ahead to stay.

The Avs got another man advantage when Nashville lost its challenge of Landeskog’s goal for Lehkonen interfering with Ingram after Predators forward Mikael Granlund blamed for the contact. When Ingram played the puck behind the net, lost the puck and Kadri scored into the open net just 39 seconds later for a 5-3 lead.

Toews padded the lead with a shot from the top of the left circle midway through the third.

Capitals cruise past Panthers

Ilya Samsonov rebounded after allowing an early goal, and the Washington Capitals bounced back on Saturday to show they can very much hang with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.

Samsonov made 29 saves, Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another and the Capitals blew out the Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. Chants of “Sammy! Sammy!” gave way to “Ovi! Ovi! in the third period of the convincing victory.

Game 4 is Monday in Washington.

T.J. Oshie deflected Ovechkin’s shot for one power-play goal, and Marcus Johansson, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who shook off a 5-1 loss in Game 2 and an early deficit in Game 3 behind the play of their new starting goaltender and a stingy effort that stymied the NHL’s best regular-season offense.

Samsonov got the nod to replace Vitek Vanecek in net after stopping all 17 shots in relief Thursday. He got off to a rough start, giving up a goal to league MVP candidate Jonathan Huberdeau less than three minutes in — then stopped every shot he saw the rest of the way.

With Samsonov the backbone at even strength and short-handed, Washington’s penalty kill improved to 9 of 9 against Florida, which ranked fifth on the power play this season at just under 25%. The Panthers also led the league in scoring at more than four goals a game.

But this series against an opponent with more experience in postseason hockey — seven players remain from Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship — has been another rough lesson for the Panthers about how to win the playoffs. Ill-advised penalties by top-pairing defenceman Mackenzie Weegar and Huberdeau paved the way for the power-play goals, a missed defensive assignment opened the door for Johansson’s and a turnover in the corner led to van Riemsdyk’s.

Expected deep playoff run

Similar mistakes cost Florida in the first round last year: a loss to Tampa Bay on the way to the Lightning’s second of back-to-back titles. Only this time, the Panthers were expected to make a deep run after compiling an NHL-best 122 points on 58 victories in 82 games.

If they don’t win three more within the next eight days, it’ll go down as another disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t advanced in the playoffs since 1996 and entered the post-season as one of the favoUrites to hoist the Cup.

The Eastern Conference eighth-seeded Capitals improved to 4 of 12 on the power play in the series. Their victory guaranteed at least two more home playoff games this spring.

Ovechkin’s goal was his 72nd in the playoffs, tying him with Patrick Marleau and Esa Tikkanen for 14th on the career list. His 28 power-play goals are tied for seventh.

Capitals right-winger Tom Wilson missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

Evander Kane wanted to honour his ailing uncle on the ice on Friday.

The Oilers winger stepped up, scoring a hat trick that powered Edmonton to a lopsided 8-2 win over the L.A. Kings in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

Family has been key for Kane during a tumultuous season, and he wanted to have a big game for his uncle, Leonard Kane, who is in hospital.

“The beginning of the year was very tough with a lot of different things going on in my life. It’s a real credit to my family helping me through everything,” he said. “There’s been a lot of trials and tribulations and it’s nice to turn the page and start to move forward in a positive way.”

Kane wasn’t the only Oiler to put in a big performance on Friday.

Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had two goals and an assist, while Leon Draisaitl contributed one of each for Edmonton as it took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Cody Ceci had three assists, while Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard each had two.

Mike Smith made 44 saves to collect the 13th playoff win of his career.

“The most important thing is we found a way to get the win,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. “I thought there was lots to like in our game. Contributions up and down the lineup, big-time goaltending, special teams were good again. It was a good game again for us tonight.”

WATCH l Kane nets hat trick as Oilers take series lead:

Oilers defeat Kings to take series lead as Kane scores hat trick

1 day ago

Duration 1:08

Evander Kane scores three times in Edmonton’s 8-2 victory over Los Angeles and the Oilers take a 2-1 series lead in their first round series. 1:08

The Kings replied with a goal and an assist from Anze Kopitar, and a goal from Philip Danault.

Edmonton chased L.A. netminder Jonathan Quick midway through the second period after he allowed four goals on 19 shots. Cal Petersen stopped 16 of 20 in relief.

L.A.’s head coach Todd McLellan was succinct in describing what went wrong, meeting with media for just 26 seconds after the game.

“We can do this really quick tonight. I can summarize it for you, we can all go home,” he said. “We weren’t any good, we’re really disappointed, we got trapped playing their game. You could ask me about individuals, I’ll give you the same answer for all of them — they weren’t any good and we have to regroup tomorrow.”

The series continues with Game 4 in L.A. on Sunday before returning to Edmonton for Game 5 on Tuesday.

Kane completed the fifth hat trick of his career — and his first in the playoffs — with just 19.7 seconds left on the clock, sending a wrist shot past Petersen to seal the score at 8-2.

Nugent-Hopkins put away two goals 81 seconds apart late in the third period.

His first came 14:19 into the frame when he collected a puck from Hyman and blasted a snap shot past Petersen from the hash marks, shattering his stick in the process.

He tipped in his second of the night at the 15:40 mark.

The Kings finally got their first power-play goal of the series 17:29 into the second after Derek Ryan was called for interference on Blake Lizotte.

Seconds into the man advantage, Kempe fired a slapshot at Smith. The goalie stopped the initial blast but Danault was there to collect the rebound and backhand it into the Edmonton net to make it 5-2.

L.A.’s power play has struggled through the series, going 1 for 12 across three games, and 1 for 4 on Friday.

The Oilers were 1 for 3 with the man advantage in Game 3 and improved to 5 for 11 in the series.

Edmonton’s special teams have begun to return to the same high form they showed early in the season, said captain Connor McDavid.

“We kind of got away from that in the middle of the season and our five-on-five game got real solid and the special teams kind of dropped away,” he said. “It takes all types of power play, penalty kill, five-on-five, it takes all of it. So I thought our penalty kill’s done a great job.”

L.A got on the board at the 10:07 mark when Kopitar muscled his way past Draisaitl down low and backhanded a shot past Smith, cutting L.A.’s deficit to 5-1.

The goal was the first Smith conceded in 95 minutes and 21 seconds of play.

Edmonton went up 5-0 just 16 seconds earlier when Ceci launched a long bomb from inside the blue line and Kane batted in a rebound from the top of the crease for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Hyman scored his second of the night 7:42 into the second, beating Andreas Athanasiou to a puck along the boards and driving to the net before sending a shot in from the hash marks.

L.A. pulled Quick after the goal and Petersen took over the Kings’ net.

Ceci notched his first assist of the night 6:27 into the second, picking off a Kings’ pass at the blue line and sending it in to the front of the net, where Kane tucked a shot around Quick’s outstretched leg to give Edmonton a 3-0 cushion.

The Kings outshot the Oilers 19-7 across the first but Edmonton made the most of its opportunities.

Hyman bumped the lead to 2-0 just 6:07 into the opening frame, deflecting in McDavid’s shot from inside the faceoff circle on a power play. The goal was his first of the playoffs.

The Oilers opened the scoring 3:50 into the game during a stretch of four-on-four hockey after L.A.’s Brendan Lemieux and Edmonton’s Brett Kulak were called for roughing.

Draisaitl and McDavid used the open ice to break off for a two-on-one with McDavid carrying the puck. He sliced it across the slot to Draisaitl, who snapped a shot in behind Quick for his third goal of the playoffs.

Edmonton handed L.A. a 6-0 drubbing in Game 2 on Wednesday, but McDavid said he’s most proud of how his team has found ways to win games.

“That’s all that matters this time of year,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter how it looks or what happens. I think we’ve done a good job of playing well, playing hard, we’ve been physical. They kind of pushed back today and I thought we responded well.”

Evander Kane scored a hat trick and the visiting Edmonton Oilers continued their offensive domination with a decisive 8-2 win over the L.A. Kings in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series on Friday.

Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had two goals and an assist while Leon Draisaitl contributed a goal and an assist. Cody Ceci contributed three assists and Connor McDavid, and Evan Bouchard each had two for Edmonton, which improved to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

The Kings replied with a goal and an assist from Anze Kopitar, and a goal from Philip Danault.

The Oilers chased L.A. netminder Jonathan Quick midway through the second period after he allowed four goals on 19 shots. Cal Petersen stopped 16 of 20 in relief.

The series continues with Game 4 in Edmonton on Sunday before returning to Edmonton for Game 5 on Tuesday.

WATCH l Kane nets fifth career hat trick as Oilers rout Kings to take series lead:

Oilers defeat Kings to take series lead as Kane scores hat trick

4 hours ago

Duration 1:08

Evander Kane scores three times in Edmonton’s 8-2 victory over Los Angeles and takes a 2-1 series lead in their first round series. 1:08

Kane completed the fifth hat trick of his career with just 19.7 seconds left on the clock, sending a wrist shot past Petersen to seal the score at 8-2.

Nugent-Hopkins put away the final two goals of the game 81 seconds apart late in the third period.

His first came 14:19 into the frame when he collected a puck from Hyman and blasted a snap shot past Petersen from the hash marks, shattering his stick in the process.

He tipped in his second of the night at the 15:40 mark.

The Kings finally got their first power-play goal of the series 17:29 into the second after Derek Ryan was called for interference on Blake Lizotte.

Seconds into the man advantage, Kempe fired a slapshot at Smith. The goalie stopped the initial blast but Danault was there to collect the rebound and backhand it into the Edmonton net to make it 5-2.

L.A.’s power play has struggled through the series, going 1 for 12 across three games, and 1 for 4 on Friday.

The Oilers were 1 for 3 with the man advantage in Game 3 and improved to 5 for 11 in the series.

There was a busy three minute, 33 second stretch in the second with goals at both ends of the ice.

L.A got on the board at the 10:07 mark when Kopitar muscled his way past Draisaitl down low and backhanded a shot past Smith, cutting L.A.’s deficit to 5-1.

The goal was the first Smith conceded in 95 minutes and 21 seconds of play.

Edmonton went up 5-0 just 16 seconds earlier when Ceci launched a long bomb from inside the blue line and Kane batted in a rebound from the top of the crease for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Hyman scored his second of the night 7:42 into the second, beating Athanasiou to a puck along the boards and driving to the net before sending a shot in from the hash marks.

L.A. pulled Quick after the goal and Petersen took over the Kings’ net.

Ceci notched his first assist of the night 6:27 into the second, picking off a Kings’ pass at the blue line and sending it in to the front of the net, where Kane tucked a shot around Quick’s outstretched leg to give Edmonton a 3-0 cushion.

Hyman bumped the lead to 2-0 just 6:07 into the opening frame, deflecting in McDavid’s shot from inside the faceoff circle on a power play. The goal was his first of the playoffs.

The Oilers opened the scoring 3:50 into the game during a stretch of four-on-four hockey after L.A.’s Brendan Lemieux and Edmonton’s Brett Kulak were called for roughing.

Draisaitl and McDavid used the open ice to break off for a two-on-one with McDavid carrying the puck. The Oilers’ captain sliced it across the slot to Draisaitl, who snapped a shot in behind Quick for his third goal of the playoffs.

Evander Kane wanted to honour his ailing uncle on the ice on Friday.

The Oilers winger stepped up, scoring a hat trick that powered Edmonton to a lopsided 8-2 win over the L.A. Kings in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

Family has been key for Kane during a tumultuous season, and he wanted to have a big game for his uncle, Leonard Kane, who is in hospital.

“The beginning of the year was very tough with a lot of different things going on in my life. It’s a real credit to my family helping me through everything,” he said. “There’s been a lot of trials and tribulations and it’s nice to turn the page and start to move forward in a positive way.”

Kane wasn’t the only Oiler to put in a big performance on Friday.

Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had two goals and an assist, while Leon Draisaitl contributed one of each for Edmonton as it took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Cody Ceci had three assists, while Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard each had two.

Mike Smith made 44 saves to collect the 13th playoff win of his career.

“The most important thing is we found a way to get the win,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. “I thought there was lots to like in our game. Contributions up and down the lineup, big-time goaltending, special teams were good again. It was a good game again for us tonight.”

WATCH l Kane nets hat trick as Oilers take series lead:

Oilers defeat Kings to take series lead as Kane scores hat trick

1 day ago

Duration 1:08

Evander Kane scores three times in Edmonton’s 8-2 victory over Los Angeles and the Oilers take a 2-1 series lead in their first round series. 1:08

The Kings replied with a goal and an assist from Anze Kopitar, and a goal from Philip Danault.

Edmonton chased L.A. netminder Jonathan Quick midway through the second period after he allowed four goals on 19 shots. Cal Petersen stopped 16 of 20 in relief.

L.A.’s head coach Todd McLellan was succinct in describing what went wrong, meeting with media for just 26 seconds after the game.

“We can do this really quick tonight. I can summarize it for you, we can all go home,” he said. “We weren’t any good, we’re really disappointed, we got trapped playing their game. You could ask me about individuals, I’ll give you the same answer for all of them — they weren’t any good and we have to regroup tomorrow.”

The series continues with Game 4 in L.A. on Sunday before returning to Edmonton for Game 5 on Tuesday.

Kane completed the fifth hat trick of his career — and his first in the playoffs — with just 19.7 seconds left on the clock, sending a wrist shot past Petersen to seal the score at 8-2.

Nugent-Hopkins put away two goals 81 seconds apart late in the third period.

His first came 14:19 into the frame when he collected a puck from Hyman and blasted a snap shot past Petersen from the hash marks, shattering his stick in the process.

He tipped in his second of the night at the 15:40 mark.

The Kings finally got their first power-play goal of the series 17:29 into the second after Derek Ryan was called for interference on Blake Lizotte.

Seconds into the man advantage, Kempe fired a slapshot at Smith. The goalie stopped the initial blast but Danault was there to collect the rebound and backhand it into the Edmonton net to make it 5-2.

L.A.’s power play has struggled through the series, going 1 for 12 across three games, and 1 for 4 on Friday.

The Oilers were 1 for 3 with the man advantage in Game 3 and improved to 5 for 11 in the series.

Edmonton’s special teams have begun to return to the same high form they showed early in the season, said captain Connor McDavid.

“We kind of got away from that in the middle of the season and our five-on-five game got real solid and the special teams kind of dropped away,” he said. “It takes all types of power play, penalty kill, five-on-five, it takes all of it. So I thought our penalty kill’s done a great job.”

L.A got on the board at the 10:07 mark when Kopitar muscled his way past Draisaitl down low and backhanded a shot past Smith, cutting L.A.’s deficit to 5-1.

The goal was the first Smith conceded in 95 minutes and 21 seconds of play.

Edmonton went up 5-0 just 16 seconds earlier when Ceci launched a long bomb from inside the blue line and Kane batted in a rebound from the top of the crease for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Hyman scored his second of the night 7:42 into the second, beating Andreas Athanasiou to a puck along the boards and driving to the net before sending a shot in from the hash marks.

L.A. pulled Quick after the goal and Petersen took over the Kings’ net.

Ceci notched his first assist of the night 6:27 into the second, picking off a Kings’ pass at the blue line and sending it in to the front of the net, where Kane tucked a shot around Quick’s outstretched leg to give Edmonton a 3-0 cushion.

The Kings outshot the Oilers 19-7 across the first but Edmonton made the most of its opportunities.

Hyman bumped the lead to 2-0 just 6:07 into the opening frame, deflecting in McDavid’s shot from inside the faceoff circle on a power play. The goal was his first of the playoffs.

The Oilers opened the scoring 3:50 into the game during a stretch of four-on-four hockey after L.A.’s Brendan Lemieux and Edmonton’s Brett Kulak were called for roughing.

Draisaitl and McDavid used the open ice to break off for a two-on-one with McDavid carrying the puck. He sliced it across the slot to Draisaitl, who snapped a shot in behind Quick for his third goal of the playoffs.

Edmonton handed L.A. a 6-0 drubbing in Game 2 on Wednesday, but McDavid said he’s most proud of how his team has found ways to win games.

“That’s all that matters this time of year,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter how it looks or what happens. I think we’ve done a good job of playing well, playing hard, we’ve been physical. They kind of pushed back today and I thought we responded well.”