Evander Kane collected his first career playoff hat trick, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both scored twice in three-point outings and the visiting Edmonton Oilers routed the Los Angeles Kings 8-2 in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round series on Friday.
The Oilers hold a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven set heading into Game 4 on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Leon Draisaitl collected a goal and an assist for the Oilers, while Cody Ceci had three assists and Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid notched two assists apiece. Edmonton goalie Mike Smith made 44 saves, 19 of them in the first period.
Anze Kopitar produced a goal and an assist and Phillip Danault also scored for the Kings. Starting goalie Jonathan Quick was pulled after surrendering four goals on 17 shots. Cal Petersen stopped 16 of 20 shots in relief.
Bruins 4, Hurricanes 2
Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists as Boston used a three-goal spurt during the second and third periods in a victory over Carolina to narrow the Hurricanes’ lead to 2-1 in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
After Carolina’s Vincent Trocheck opened the scoring 9:17 in, Boston went on a four-goal run thanks to Charlie Coyle, Marchand, David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall. Coyle and Pastrnak compiled multiple-point nights by adding assists.
Both goaltenders made their Stanley Cup playoffs starting debut. Boston’s Jeremy Swayman was composed all night as he totaled 25 saves. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 24 shots and Jaccob Slavin also scored for Carolina.
Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 2
Morgan Rielly, Colin Blackwell and David Kampf scored the first three goals of the game as Toronto defeated host Tampa Bay to take a 2-1 lead in a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
Toronto’s Ilya Mikheyev added two empty-net goals in the third period, and Pierre Engvall had three assists. Jack Campbell made 32 saves for the win.
Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, and Ross Colton also scored. Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series will be played Sunday in Tampa.
Wild 5, Blues 1
Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek each had a goal and an assist as visiting Minnesota defeated injury-depleted St. Louis to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Jordan Greenway, Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin also scored for the Wild on Friday, and Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman had two assists apiece.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves to earn 92nd career playoff victory, which tied him with Grant Fuhr for third place in NHL history. Ryan O’Reilly scored for the Blues, and Ville Husso made 28 saves.
–Field Level Media
