Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Predators look to rebound in Game 2

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily look at the races for the 2018 NHL postseason. There were two games Saturday, one a series opener, one decided in double overtime.
Here are the scores from Saturday:

Eastern Conference

Boston Bruins 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 2

Western Conference

San Jose Sharks 4, Vegas Golden Knights 3 (2 OT)

On tap

There are two Game 2s on Sunday, and in each game the home team is looking to avoid falling behind 2-0 in its respective series.
-- The Capitals lost the first two games at home in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Columbus Blue Jackets and still won the series in six games. They don't want to have to do the same thing against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins, who rallied for three goals in the third period for a 3-2 win in Game 1. The Capitals are 1-3 at home this postseason, a trend they need to change if they want to avoid being eliminated by the Penguins for the third straight season. Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin (lower body)
will not play
.
-- This is new territory for the Predators, who had won the first home game in six straight playoff series before falling 4-1 in Game 1 at Bridgestone Arena on Friday. It's not as if the Predators played poorly; they outshot the Jets 48-19 but scored one goal against Connor Hellebuyck. Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne, meanwhile, allowed three goals on 16 shots before being pulled. The Predators won the Presidents' Trophy this season with 117 points, but the Jets were second with 114. The Predators don't want to be behind 2-0 when the series shifts to Winnipeg.

Top line carrying load for Bruins

The top line of the Boston Bruins -- center Patrice Bergeron, left wing Brad Marchand and right wing David Pastrnak -- continues to excel. They combined for 11 points in a 6-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
Pastrnak had four assists, Marchand scored a goal and had three assists, and Bergeron had two goals and an assist.
There have been 10 instances of a player having at least four points in a game during the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Bruins have accounted for five of those performances in eight games played (Pastrnak and Marchand each has two, Bergeron has one). Bruins players combined for five games of at least four points in Boston's previous 162 postseason games since 1994.
Pastrnak leads the NHL in playoff scoring with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists). He is the 13th different player in NHL history with at least 17 points through his team's first eight games in one playoff year, and the first since Mario Lemieux had 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992.
Five players in Bruins history have had more games of at least four points in the postseason than Pastrnak and Marchand: Rick Middleton (five), Johnny Bucyk (four), Phil Esposito (three), Craig Janney (three) and Barry Pederson (three). Esposito (two in 1969), Bucyk (two in 1972), Middleton (two in 1982 and 1983) and Pederson (two in 1983) were the only ones to have multiple games with at least four points in the same playoff year before this season.

Sharks solve Golden Knights, tie series

The San Jose Sharks handed the Vegas Golden Knights their first Stanley Cup Playoff loss when Logan Couture scored a power-play goal 5:13 into the second overtime for a 4-3 win in Game 2 to even the best-of-7 Western Conference Second Round at 1-1
The first-year Golden Knights had won their first five playoff games, an NHL record.
San Jose is 23-22 in 45 postseason overtime games, including 4-4 in games that go into multiple overtime periods. The Sharks are the second road team to win a game in double overtime in the 2018 playoffs. The Washington Capitals defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round.
Sharks defenseman Brent Burns scored two of San Jose's three second-period goals and assisted on Couture's game-winner. Since joining the Sharks in 2011-12, Burns has had three three-point games in the playoffs, making him the only defenseman in team history to do so and the only Sharks defenseman with multiple two-goal games (three). Burns is also the only NHL defenseman with more than one multigoal game in the playoffs since 2012.
San Jose trailed 2-0 early in the second period but rallied from down multiple goals to win a playoff game for the ninth time in team history and the second in as many years. The Sharks trailed the Edmonton Oilers 2-0 in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Edmonton last year but rallied to win 3-2 in overtime. It was the fifth time in the 2018 playoffs that a team won after trailing by more than one goal; Columbus and the Pittsburgh Penguins each have two such wins.
The four goals by the Sharks were more than Vegas had allowed in its first five playoff games combined. The Golden Knights allowed three goals in a four-game, first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings and defeated the Sharks 7-0 in Game 1 of this series.
The Golden Knights have gone into multiple overtime periods in each of their first two OT games, winning Game 2 against the Kings in double overtime. Vegas is the fourth team in Stanley Cup Playoff history to do so, joining the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues, who played two double-OT games in the 1968 NHL Quarterfinals, and the New York Americans, who did so in four of their five overtime games.
The Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise is the only active team that has never been involved in a playoff game that required multiple overtime periods.

What we learned

Here are some takeaways from Day 18 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Nash keeps faith, gets rewarded for Bruins

Rick Nash knows if he keeps going to the net, good things will happen. They did in Game 1. Nash scored two goals, including a power-play goal off a deflection in the slot at 17:11 of the first period, because he planted himself between Lightning defensemen Anton Stralman and Ryan McDonagh, and in front of goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. He also scored what would be the game-winning goal off the rush at 12:33 of the second period. Nash had plenty of scoring chances against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round but scored one goal on 24 shots. The Lightning are in trouble if Nash starts scoring.

Lightning defensive zone coverage an issue

The Lightning outshot the Bruins 36-24 and had a 78-37 advantage in total shot attempts, but it didn't matter because when the Bruins had the puck, the Lightning gave them too much room to operate and lost coverage, allowing Boston to convert on its rare Grade A scoring chances. Boston's top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak combined for 11 points (three goals, eight assists). The six players tasked with shutting that line down for most of Game 1 -- forwards Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson, and defensemen Ryan McDonagh, Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman -- were a combined minus-20. Coach Jon Cooper said the Lightning need to raise their battle level in the defensive zone. McDonagh said they all need to be harder to play against. Both fair points, but the Lightning can be as intense as they want in the defensive zone. It won't matter if they're not tightening up on the Bruins and limiting their time and space. They gave too much in Game 1.

Golden Knights must stay out of penalty box

The Vegas Golden Knights took 266 penalties in the regular season, fifth-fewest in the NHL. They took 11 in a 4-3 double-overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round on Saturday, including two in the second overtime, sometimes getting caught up in rough stuff, sometimes getting caught in the defensive zone. The Sharks scored two power-play goals -- including the winner in double OT -- and two 4-on-4 goals. The Sharks were 16th on the power play in the regular season (20.6 percent) and scored one 4-on-4 goal, but they're fifth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (25 percent).

Couture is man of the moment

Sharks forward Logan Couture, who led the Stanley Cup Playoffs in scoring two years ago with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) is at it again. Not only is he scoring at an impressive rate (four goals in six games), he is delivering in timely fashion. Of the four goals, three have put the Sharks in the lead. He scored twice in Game 2, including the game-winner on the power play 5:13 into the second overtime. He's had multigoal playoff games five times in his NHL career and Saturday was the first time he has done so on the road.

About last night

Boston Bruins 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 2 -- The Bruins' top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak combined for 11 points in the Game 1 win at Amalie Arena. Marchand had one goal and three assists, Pastrnak had four assists and Bergeron had two goals and one assist for the Bruins, who also got two goals from Rick Nash and 34 saves from Tuukka Rask. Dan Girardi and Mikhail Sergachev scored for Tampa Bay, which lost at home for the first time in four playoff games. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves.
-- Logan Couture scored his second goal of the game at 5:13 of the second overtime to help the Sharks even the Western Conference Second Round 1-1. The Sharks, who were defeated 7-0 in Game 1, also got two goals from defenseman Brent Burns. It was the first postseason loss for the Golden Knights, who swept the Los Angeles Kings in the first round.