On Thursday night, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-2 in Denver in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series with to goals from Artturi Lehkonen, Devon Toews, and Valeri Nichushkin.
The Avalanche tied the Western Conference series at 1-1 thanks to 27 saves from Alexandar Georgiev. Saturday night in Seattle is Game 3.
The Kraken’s goals came from Justin Schultz and Brandon Tanev, with help from Yanni Gourde. Philipp Grubauer had 38 saves in goal.
In the third period, Colorado scored the game-winning goal off of a faceoff. It was won by Nathan MacKinnon, and the puck found its way to Artturi Lehkonen, whose shot went through a bunch of people. At 12:59 of the first period, Toews took advantage of a save by Grubauer and scored to give the Avalanche their first lead of the series.
Winner: Golden Knights (over Jets), 5-2
Vegas defeated Winnipeg in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series, with goals from Mark Stone (who also added an assist) and Reilly Smith.
Vegas tied the best-of-seven series at one win apiece thanks to first-period goals from Chandler Stephenson, William Karlsson, and Jack Eichel. For the Golden Knights, Alex Pietrangelo and Phil Kessel each earned two assists, and Laurent Brossoit made 31 saves in goal for his first career postseason victory.
The Jets got goals from Adam Lowry and Kevin Stenlund. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck had 34 saves.
Canadiens win, 9–2 over Lightning
Toronto won Game 2 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against Tampa Bay, with goals from John Tavares (3) and Morgan Rielly (4).
With two goals and an assist from Mitchell Marner, the Maple Leafs tied the best-of-seven series. For Toronto, Zach Aston-Reese scored a goal and William Nylander added an assist. Ilya Samsonov turned away 20 shots as Auston Matthews chipped up with two assists.
Tampa Bay won thanks to goals from Ian Cole and Corey Perry and 30 saves from Andrei Vasilevskiy.
New York Rangers 5, New Jersey Devils 1
New York won Game 2 of their playoff series against New Jersey, 5-1. Chris Kreider scored twice on the power play, while Patrick Kane had three points.
The Rangers got goals from Vladimir Tarasenko and Kaapo Kakko, too. Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves to earn the victory, and defenseman Adam Fox added two more assists, giving him six through two postseason games.
The Devils’ lone goal was scored by Erik Haula, and Vitek Vanecek turned away 25 shots.
