Dose: Lightning strike twice
The second round began on Friday in two series, with the Habs hosting the Lightning and the Wild in Chicago to take on the Blackhawks.
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TAMPA BAY 2 MONTREAL 1 (Double Overtime)
Lightning struck twice in Montreal as Nikita Kucherov scored 2:06 into the second overtime to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 win over the Canadiens in Game 1 of the division final.
Both goalies were outstanding and Carey Price did not have a chance on the bullet drive by Kucherov, his first of the post-season.
Tyler Johnson got things started in the third after a couple of scoreless periods as his seventh of the playoffs gave the Bolts a 1-0 lead that held up until Max Pacioretty evened things up with 5:13 left in the third.
Ben Bishop continued his outstanding play of late as he stopped 43 shots. He has now given up only three goals in his last three games on 99 shots as the Lightning have won all three. Carey Price made 33 saves in taking the loss.
Steve Stamkos continued his scoring slump as he has not found the back of the net in all eight playoff games after finishing second in the NHL with 43 goals during the regular season.
Brendan Gallagher led the way with nine shots on goal while Devante Smith-Pelly had eight hits.
P.K. Subban played 37:53 minutes to lead Montreal while Victor Hedman led the Lightning with 31:32.
CHICAGO 4 MINNESOTA 3
Teuvo Teravainen is the new hero in Chicago. His game winner in the second period gave the Blackhawks a 4-3 win on Friday in the opening game of the best-of-seven series.
The Blackhawks got off to a great start as they scored three times in the first to take a 3-0 lead into the dressing room despite being outshot 13-8.
Brandon Saad got things started only 1:15 into the game with his third of the playoffs and then Patrick Kane and Marcus Kruger (his first) found the back of the net to give the Blackhawks the lead.
But the Wild were far from done as Jason Zucker wristed a shot past Corey Crawford in the Chicago cage 1:21 into the second as the goal gave Minnesota new life.
Zach Parise on the power play and Mikael Granlund tied the game at three before Teravainen’s goal with one tick less than a minute to go in the second became the game winner.
There was no scoring in the third as Devan Dubnyk stopped 31 of 35 shots while Crawford turned aside 30 for the Blackhawks.
Bryan Bickell had 11 hits in the games with no one else getting more than four.
Duncan Keith had a pair of assists for Chicago with Thomas Vanek doing the same for the Wild.
Justin Fontaine suffered an apparent leg injury in the second stanza and did not return.
