Lightning Round: Tampa Bay are one win away from the Stanley Cup semifinals

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in another crazy and breathtaking game on Saturday evening, pushing them on the edge of elimination. The second period was an epitome of run-and-gun hockey, or a “damn circus” as it was called by Jon Cooper, as both teams combined to score eight goals and the Bolts rallied back after a two-goal deficit during that stretch [Raw Charge]

With Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos combining for four goals, the Tampa Bay Lightning powered their way to a 6-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Four of their series. After a season of having Andrei Vasilevskiy bail them out in win after win, it was the power play (3-for-6) and the offense picking up their goaltender to put them on the brink of moving to the third round.

Several records were broken on the evening, including a franchise record for the most combined goals in a single period. Overall that second period stayed just one goal shy from the most in NHL history.

Nikita Kucherov scored two goals and added an assist yesterday, extending his lead for most points this postseason. It was also his 100th career postseason game, Sidney Crosby is the only active player to score more points at this mark.

It wasn’t a perfect game for Andrei Vasilevskiy, who definitely wants some of the opponent's goals back, but he moved into first place for the most postseason wins by a Russian-born goaltender, passing former Lightning goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin.

Jon Cooper noted in his postgame interview, that Nikita Kucherov channeled his energy in the right way, compared to the previous game, when he took a penalty in overtime, which led to the Hurricanes game-winning goal.

Yesterday’s Games

Carolina Hurricanes 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 6 — TBL leads 3-1

The Lightning made their fans nervous after allowing two goals at the start of the second period. The Canes were dominating at this point, but the Bolts managed to turn the course of the game and earned a very important victory on Saturday evening. The Lightning will have a chance to clinch the series on Tuesday.

Boston Bruins 1, New York Islanders 4 — series tied 2-2

The Islanders evened their series against the Bruins last night. Semyon Varlamov made 28 stops, while Mathew Barzal scored a game-winning goal in the third period. The series will continue on Monday in Boston.

Lightning Links

Unfortunately the Orlando Solar Bears couldn’t get a win in their final game of the 2020-21 season, losing to the Florida Everblades.

Recent Syracuse Crunch acquisition Shawn Element has won the President’s Cup with the Victoriaville Tigres, beating Lightning prospect Max Cajkovic and his Val-d’Or Foreurs.

Today’s Games

Winnipeg Jets @ Montreal Canadiens — MTL leads 2-0

6:00 PM ET; NBCSN, TVAS, SN

Colorado Avalanche @ Vegas Golden Knights — COL leads 2-1

8:30 PM ET; NBCSN, TVAS, SN

Hockey News

Auston Matthews, Jaccob Slavin and Jared Spurgeon were nominated as three finalists for 2020-21 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

Goaltender Taya Currie has become the first woman to be drafted in the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection.