Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Lightning look to tie series with Maple Leafs

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily in-depth look at the 2022 NHL postseason. There are four playoff games scheduled for Sunday, the seventh day of the postseason.

On Tap

Carolina Hurricanes at Boston Bruins (12:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, NESN, BSSO)
The Bruins will be looking to even the series in Game 4 behind rookie goalie Jeremy Swayman, who made 25 saves in his first Stanley Cup Playoff start, a 4-2 win in Game 3. The Bruins scored four unanswered goals, three on special teams, for their first win against the Hurricanes this season after being outscored 26-4 in five combined regular-season and playoff games since Oct. 28. When the Bruins took the lead at 5:41 of the second period in Game 2 it was their first lead against the Hurricanes since Patrice Bergeron's series-clinching power-play goal at 19:56 of the second period in Game 5 of the 2020 Eastern Conference First Round. Goalie Antti Raanta will start for the Hurricanes after leaving Game 2 because of an injury. Forward Derek Stepan replaces Jordan Martinook, who left in the second period of Game 3 because of a lower-body injury. Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy was placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol.
Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues (4:30 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS, BSMW, BSN, BSWIX)
Goalie Jordan Binnington could replace Ville Husso for Game 4 with the Blues trying to avoid falling behind 3-1 against the Wild. Husso has allowed nine goals in his past two games, giving up one on the first shot in each of them. St. Louis also has questions at defenseman with Nick Leddy (upper body), Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) and Torey Krug (lower body) not playing.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Tampa Bay Lightning (7 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSUN)
The Lightning have not trailed a series 2-1 during their eight series wins the past two playoffs and must win Game 4 to avoid facing elimination. The Maple Leafs have received goals from nine players in the series. Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman and forwards Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each is minus-5. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has an .890 save percentage.
Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings (10 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSW)
The Oilers have outscored the Kings 14-2 in their past two games to lead the series 2-1 going into Game 4. More amazingly, Connor McDavid (four assists) and Leon Draisaitl (two goals, one assist) are not driving the show. Evander Kane has scored five goals in his past two games and Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each has two goals. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, pulled in Game 3 on Friday, has a 5.29 goals-against average and .859 save percentage. Cal Petersen allowed four goals on 20 shots in relief.

What We Learned

Ovechkin is A-OK
Alex Ovechkin demonstrated again how he can lead the Washington Capitals with his scoring and his physicality in their 6-1 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Saturday. In addition to having a goal and an assist, the Capitals captain had six hits, including big ones on Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Noel Acciari in the first period. Washington finished with 44 hits on its way to taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series. "If the big man is hitting, and I guess everyone has got less games than him, less experience, less GOAT-ness … you better be hitting too," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. "He is going to drag everyone else along with him."-- Tom Gulitti, staff writer
Panthers not so special
Special teams are becoming an issue for the Panthers. Florida, which tied the Nashville Predators for fifth in the NHL on the power play at 24.4 percent during the regular season, was 0-for-3 in Game 3 and is 0-for-9 in the series. Washington went 2-for-6 with the man-advantage, including Oshie's deflection goal that tied the score 1-1 with 26 seconds left in the first period, and is 4-for-12. The Panthers were held to four shots on goal during their three power-play opportunities Saturday. "Obviously we're going to talk about it because 0-for-9 is unacceptable," Huberdeau said. "In the playoffs you need these goals. It's important. We had some chances today and we didn't capitalize." -- Gulitti
Don't take penalties against the Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche are 6-for-14 on the power play against the Predators in the Western Conference First Round. After going 0-for-4 in Game 2, they scored on their first four chances and finished 4-for-5 in a 7-3 win in Game 3 on Saturday. "I've liked our power play a lot in this series and tonight we just converted on our chances," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Sometimes it's as simple as that." Well, yes and no. Forward Gabriel Landeskog said although the Avalanche had good looks the first two games, they watched video Saturday to see where they could stay ahead of the Predators' adjustments. One goal was a gift, when goalie Connor Ingram misplayed a puck and Nazem Kadri had an open net. But otherwise, Landeskog said the key was keeping an attack mentality and not looking for the perfect play.-- Nicholas J. Cotsonika, columnist
Predators still need more offense
The Predators were looking for offense when they shuffled the lineup for Game 3, including calling up forward Cody Glass from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League. Still, they've been unable to compete against the high-octane Avalanche. Matt Duchene leads the Predators with three goals in the series after scoring a Nashville-high 43 during the regular season, though two of his goals came in Game 1 after they trailed 6-0. Roman Josi has one goal after scoring 23 during the regular season. Nashville's other top goal-scorers -- Filip Forsberg (42), Ryan Johansen (26) and Tanner Jeannot (24) -- haven't scored yet. -- Cotsonika
Puzzling special teams pay off for Penguins
Typically when you think of the Pittsburgh Penguins' special teams, you think of a dominant first power-play unit that features Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Kris Letang. But that unit is guilty of giving up two shorthanded goals through three games against the New York Rangers in the first round. Though it scored 5-on-3 in Game 1, it has been mostly ineffective and dangerous in the wrong way. However, the Penguins got two goals from their second power-play unit in Game 3 and three critical penalty kills in a span of 10:04 bridging the second and third periods when Game 3 was tied 4-4. The first power-play unit must be better as the series moves to Game 4 on Monday, but Pittsburgh has a 2-1 lead largely because of the second power-play unit and a penalty kill that was 3-for-3 Saturday after getting burned twice in the first two games. -- Dan Rosen, senior writer
Shesterkin can be beaten
Igor Shesterkin was pulled after the first period of Game 3 after giving up four goals on 15 shots. But it wasn't necessarily for performance. Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said he thought two of the goals "were lucky bounces," and down 4-1 he wanted to "change momentum a little bit." He also mentioned that counting triple-overtime Game 1, Shesterkin had played almost 10 periods of hockey in a span of five days. The Rangers again showed their resiliency, a calling card for them, by responding to tie the game 4-4 with three goals in the second period. The Rangers believe they're right in this series. In fact, losing Game 1 gives them a little bit of experience in playing with the backs-against-the-wall mentality they must have in Game 4. -- Rosen
Pavelski continues to shine
Yes, we've talked about Stars forward Joe Pavelski a lot, be it the regular season or now, but it's for good reason. Pavelski scored two goals, including the game-winner on the power play at 10:05 of the third period, to help the Stars defeat the Calgary Flames 4-2 in Game 3 on Saturday. The 37-year-old looked ageless, with four shots on goal, three hits and two blocked shots. Forward Tyler Seguin was asked prior to the game about the impact Pavelski has made on the Stars: "Don't really have a word for it. Everything, I guess, is the best word." Yeah, that about sums it up. -- Tracey Myers, staff writer
Watch those penalties
Each team was assessed eight penalties in Game 3, but they always loom larger when you lose, right? Flames forward Blake Coleman said "can't take it" about his slashing penalty 8:58 into the third period; Pavelski scored the game-winner on the resulting power play. Coach Darryl Sutter said Calgary must be careful not to get caught taking penalties after the whistle. The Flames feel they're at their best when they're playing 5-on-5, so they'll look to cut down on the penalties to give themselves a better chance. -- Myers

About Last Night

Washington Capitals 6, Florida Panthers 1
Ovechkin scored his first goal of the 2022 playoffs to help the Capitals win Game 3 and give them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series. Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves for his first playoff win. Samsonov made his first start of the series after relieving Vitek Vanecek during a 5-1 loss in Game 2 on Thursday. Game 4 is at Capital One Arena on Monday.
Colorado Avalanche 7, Nashville Predators 3
Landeskog had two goals and two assists to put the Avalanche on the verge of sweeping the Predators. The Avalanche lead the best-of-7 series 3-0 and have outscored the Predators 16-6. Game 4 will be played in Nashville on Monday. Defenseman Cale Makar had three assists for Colorado, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper made nine saves on 10 shots before leaving at 19:03 of the first period after taking a stick to the eye or face from Johansen. He was replaced by Pavel Francouz, who made 18 saves on 20 shots. Nashville was 2-for-3 on the power play.
Pittsburgh Penguins 7, New York Rangers 4
Danton Heinen scored the go-ahead goal at 11:02 of the third period and the Penguins won Game 3. It was Heinen's first playoff goal since May 12, 2019, with the Bruins. Pittsburgh leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is at PPG Paints Arena on Monday. Evan Rodrigues had two goals and an assist, Louis Domingue made 32 saves and Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Penguins. Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves after replacing Shesterkin to start the second period.
Dallas Stars 4, Calgary Flames 2
Pavelski scored twice and Jake Oettinger made 39 saves for the Stars. Pavelski tied the game 2-2 with his first goal at 11:41 of the second period and scored the go-ahead goal at 10:05 of the third for Dallas, which leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Trevor Lewis and Elias Lindholm scored for Calgary, which has scored three goals and is 1-for-12 on the power play in the series. Game 4 is in Dallas on Monday.