Lightning Round: Tampa Bay lost, but have been the better team so far

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost last night, but they are still up 2-1 in their second round series against the Carolina Hurricanes. All three games so far have been won by the road team, with Game 4 in Tampa Bay on Saturday. The team is playing well, the power play is on form, but it’s still going to be a heck of a battle to the finish line against the division leaders.

Lightning Links

On Thursday, the Canes squeaked by the Lightning with a 3-2 overtime victory, headed by Carolina's top center, Sebastian Aho, and his two goals. Nikita Kucherov had two primary assists for the Lightning in the loss, and was unfortunately in the penalty box when Aho won the game. [Raw Charge]

“The Carolina Hurricanes have evaded going down 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning with a Game 3 overtime win from the stick of Sebastian Aho on a power play. The series is now 2-1 in favor of the Lightning after the 3-2 loss in overtime at Amalie Arena. The Lightning played really well all game, getting the better of the chances and looking terrifying on the power play, but they missed on a couple crucial chances with the man advantage.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy has been great in the playoffs so far. Last night wasn’t his best night, but it’s hard to expect Game 2 level performances every single time, and neither should the Lightning need them. Here’s just how good Vasy was in the Bolts second win. [Raw Charge]

“The Lightning opened up the first round by beating the Florida Panthers 5-4 and 3-1 on the road. Against the Hurricanes, they’ve now done it 2-1 twice. While the Panthers had some leaky goaltending, and Vasilevskiy did turn in a strong performance in game two of that series, the Lightning have leaned heavily on Vasilevskiy in the first two games against Carolina.”

The Boston Bruins vs. New York Islanders game also went to overtime, although this time the Bruins won to take a 2-1 series lead in the East. [Stanley Cup of Chowder]

“The Boston Bruins settled Game 3 of the second round in overtime, beating the New York Islanders 2-1 at Nassau Coliseum tonight. Tuukka Rask made 28 saves in the win. The Bruins now lead the series 2-1. It was the second consecutive game in this series that needed to be determined in overtime, and fifth this postseason for the Bruins. They’re now 3-2 in OT through two rounds.”

The NHL has announced their Calder trophy finalists, and unfortunately Ben Thomas didn’t make the cut. Stars forward Jason Robertson, Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, and Hurricanes goalie Alex Nedeljkovic are the three finalists.

Mark Scheifele has been suspended four games (half as long as Nazem Kadri) for his predatory charging hit on Jake Evans on Wednesday.

This league is the worst...