Lightning Round: Friday night playoff report

After five series went to Game 7 during the first round, the second round doesn’t seem that close, especially in the East. On Thursday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning stole a victory in the last seconds of third period against the Florida Panthers, improving to 2-0 in the series. Yesterday, the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Rangers for the second time in a row, making it also 2-0. While the Lightning took a commanding lead in the series ahead of two home games, the Canes will play two next games on the road, where they struggled in the previous round, losing all three games against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

Meanwhile the situation is heating up in the West - after the St. Louis Blues tied their series against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, the Edmonton Oilers also evened the series against the Calgary Flames in another high-scoring game, where a couple of goals were overturned.

Yesterday’s Games

New York Rangers 0, Carolina Hurricanes 2 — CAR leads 2-0

Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers in the game almost the whole game, including making some key saves on a 5-on-3 penalty kill, but the Canes shut down the Rangers 2-0 and took a comfortable lead in the series. Brendan Smith scored a shorthanded goal in the second period and Sebastian Aho scored an empty net goal with two seconds left in regulation. Antti Raanta made 21 saves for his first playoff shutout.

Edmonton Oilers 5, Calgary Flames 3 — series tied 1-1

The Oilers rallied back after trailing 0-2 six minutes into the game. Leon Draisaitl and Duncan Keith each led the Oilers with a goal and two assists, Connor McDavid scored another two goals, becoming the first player to reach the 20-point mark in this year's playoffs. Mike Smith had 37 saves for the victory.

Today’s Game

Colorado Avalanche @ St. Louis Blues — tied 1-1

8:00 PM ET; TBS, CBC, TVAS, SN

Hockey News

Rick Bowness is stepping down as the Dallas Stars coach after three seasons in the position. Bowness led the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, this year his team was eliminated by the Calgary Flames in Game 7 of the first round. Assistant coaches John Stevens, Derek Laxdal and Todd Nelson won’t also continue working with organization.

The NHL revealed finalists for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy. Victor Hedman, who was nominated by the Lightning, didn’t make the list.

The Swedish Women’s Hockey League will allow bodychecking next season as a pilot program, despite it remaining banned by the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1992.