Facts and figures: Blue Jackets making history against Lightning

The Columbus Blue Jackets became the fourth team to take a 2-0 series lead in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Presidents' Trophy winner since the award was instituted in 1985-86 when they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 in Game 2 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Friday.

Prior to the Blue Jackets, the most recent team to take a 2-0 series lead on a Presidents' Trophy winner was the 2012 Los Angeles Kings against the Vancouver Canucks. Los Angeles won that series in five games and went on to become the first No. 8 seed to win the Stanley Cup in the conference era (since 1974-75). The 2009 Anaheim Ducks also defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games in their opening-round series. The 2002 Detroit Red Wings lost the first two games to the Canucks after finishing with the NHL's best regular-season record but won the next four to win the series and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
It's the second straight year the Blue Jackets have opened the playoffs with back-to-back wins on the road; they won the first two games in overtime at the Washington Capitals last year, then lost four in a row.

The Lightning (62-16-4), who matched the NHL single-season wins record during the regular season, finished 30 points ahead of Columbus (47-31-4). Nine teams in NHL history have won a playoff series against a team that finished at least 30 points ahead of them in the regular season; the most recent was the Montreal Canadiens (39-33-10), who defeated the Capitals (54-15-13) in the 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Islanders win first two games of series for first time in 36 years

The New York Islanders own a 2-0 series lead for the first time since 1983 after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Nassau Coliseum. The last time New York won the first two games in a series was the 1983 Stanley Cup Final, when they went on to sweep the Edmonton Oilers to win their fourth consecutive championship.
Robin Lehner made 32 saves to become the first goalie in Islanders history to win each of his first two playoff starts.

Binnington, Blues head home with 2-0 series lead

The St. Louis Blues are going home with a chance to close out the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference First Round after a 4-3 victory in Game 2 at Bell MTS Place.
Rookie goalie Jordan Binnington made 26 saves and center Oskar Sundqvist scored twice for his first multigoal game since Nov. 1, 2018, helping the Blues win the first two games of a best-of-7 series on the road for the fourth time in their history and the second time in three years. St. Louis won Games 1 and 2 in the first round at the Minnesota Wild in 2017; the other instances were in the 1993 Norris Division Semifinals at the Chicago Blackhawks and the 2001 Western Conference Semifinals at the Dallas Stars. The Blues went on to win each of those series, requiring no more than five games in any of them.

Binnington is the second rookie goalie in Blues history to win each of his first two playoff starts. The other is Curtis Joseph, who won each of the first three games of the 1990 Norris Division Semifinals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Golden Knights win after surrendering three-goal lead

The Vegas Golden Knights became the fourth team in NHL history to win a playoff game after losing a three-goal lead when they defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-3 at SAP Center in Game 2 to even their Western Conference First Round at 1-1.
The Golden Knights led 3-0 after forward Max Pacioretty scored at 6:11, only to see the Sharks tie the game with three goals in a span of 2:09 late in the period, becoming the first team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to tie a game in the first period after falling behind by three goals. But forward Mark Stone put Vegas on top 4-3 with a power-play goal 1:31 into the second period and center William Karlsson scored the second shorthanded goal of the game at 7:35 of the third.
The shorthanded goals by the Golden Knights were the fourth and fifth of the 2019 playoffs, the most through the first three days of a postseason since 1997, when there were six.
In addition to the Golden Knights, the other teams to win a playoff game after surrendering a lead of at least three goals are the Oilers in Game 4 of the 1990 Smythe Division Final (6-5 overtime win at Los Angeles), the Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 of the 2006 Western Conference Quarterfinals (5-4 overtime win at Dallas) and the Canadiens in Game 2 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (6-5 win in double overtime at the Carolina Hurricanes).