Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Penguins, Predators look to advance

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily look at the races for the 2018 NHL postseason. There were three games Saturday, with one team moving to the second round.
Here are the scores from Saturday:

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Eastern Conference

Tampa Bay Lightning 3, New Jersey Devils 1
Washington Capitals 4, Columbus Blue Jackets 3 (OT)
Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Boston Bruins 3

On tap

Two more teams can advance to the second round with wins Sunday:
--The Penguins will try for a second time to eliminate the Flyers after losing 4-2 at home Friday, but they be without center Evgeni Malkin, who is out with an injury. Goaltender Michal Neuvirth is likely to start for the Flyers after making 30 saves in Game 5 to keep them alive. Neuvirth has a history of coming off the bench and excelling in the playoffs. In 2016, he helped Philadelphia win Games 4 and 5 after losing the first three to the Washington Capitals before losing 1-0 in Game 6. The team that has scored first has won each of the first five games.
-- Colorado was less than five minutes away from being eliminated in Game 5 on Friday but scored two late goals for a series-extending 2-1 win. Goaltender Andrew Hammond will try to help the Avalanche push the series to seven games after making 44 saves in Game 5. The Predators remain confident despite blowing the late lead at home. Some offense from their defense might help. Nashville's defensemen have 11 assists but no goals on 57 shots in the first five games after leading the NHL in goals (55) and points (206) in the regular season.

What we learned

Here are some things we learned on Day 11 of the playoffs:

The team that plays better doesn't always win

The Washington Capitals thought they deserved better after they outplayed and outshot the Columbus Blue Jackets 58-30 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round, but lost 5-4 in overtime. Capitals coach Barry Trotz thought the hockey gods paid them back in Game 5 on Saturday. The Capitals had to hang on in the third period when they were outshot 16-1 and out attempted 35-11, but made it to overtime thanks mostly to goaltender Braden Holtby. After regrouping during the intermission, the Capitals played much better in OT and won on Nicklas Backstrom's deflection goal at 11:53.

Blue Jackets remain confident

Despite trailing 3-2 in the best-of-7 series after losing three in a row, the Blue Jackets have reason to be confident they can win Game 6 in Columbus on Monday and play Game 7 in Washington on Wednesday, like coach John Tortorella stated they would. After a 4-1 loss in Game 4 on Thursday, the Blue Jackets responded with their best game of the series. They had the Capitals on their heels for long stretches and if not for Holtby, they would be leading the series with a chance to advance Monday. They'll need to shrug off the disappointing ending and rebound again, but know how evenly matched these teams are after four of the first five games went to overtime.

Lightning are loaded

The Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the Eastern Conference Second Round for the first time since 2016 after a 3-1 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 5. Nikita Kucherov who scored the decisive goal at 12:27 of the third period, had 10 points (five goals, five assists) in five games to set a Lightning record for most points in a playoff series. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, made 159 saves on 169 shots with a 2.01 goals-against average and .941 save percentage. Tampa Bay's shutdown defense pair of Ryan McDonagh and Anton Stralman limited the Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri line to 10 points (four goals, six assists) in the series.

Devils learn lessons

The Devils took too many penalties and could not take advantage when given some power-play opportunities. The Devils went 3-for-19 with the man-advantage (15.8 percent) and scored six goals 5-on-5. The Lightning went 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) on the power play and scored nine of their goals 5-on-5. New Jersey also struggled getting untracked in the first period of all three road games in Tampa Bay. They were outscored 4-1 in the first period at Amalie Arena and it set the tone for each of those three losses. Coach John Hynes was proud of the Devils' season: "One of the things we talked about when we came into the season was gaining respect back in the League. This was a group that did that. We earned respect back, found our way back into the playoffs."

Bruins need to be better defensively

By the end of Game 5, it was impossible to fault the Boston Bruins offense. The Bruins had 45 shots on goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring three times, but their defense was not good enough, with breakdowns that allowed the Maple Leafs to take a 4-1 lead at 11:55 of the second period. The Bruins need to do a better job of containing Toronto in Game 6.

Leafs need to be more disciplined

After the Maple Leafs built a 4-1 lead in the second, coach Mike Babcock had a blueprint for how to protect that advantage. Taking four minor penalties wasn't part of that thinking. Toronto's lack of discipline allowed Boston to get back in the game. The Bruins power play leads the playoffs in efficiency at 35.3 percent (6-for-17), so Toronto, which took 16 minutes in penalties to Boston's six, needs to stay out of the box. If the Maple Leafs keep racking up the penalty minutes, they may not get past Game 6.

About last night

There were three games Saturday, all in the Eastern Conference.
Tampa Bay Lightning 3, New Jersey Devils 1 -- Tampa Bay advanced to second round with a convincing Game 5 victory. Nikita Kucherov scored his fifth goal of the series, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves, and Mikhail Sergachev and Ryan Callahan scored for the Lightning, who will play either the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round.
-- Another playoff game, another overtime for the Washington Capitals. Nicklas Backstrom scored at 11:53 of OT to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series. All six Capitals home games in the first round have reached overtime in the past two postseasons. The Capitals have gone to overtime in 13 of their past 24 playoff games since the 2016 second round against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Boston Bruins 3-- The Maple Leafs kept their season alive thanks to goalie Frederik Andersen, who made 42 saves. Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who got center Nazem Kadri back from a three-game suspension.