The defending champion Tampa Bay was surprised at home on the night of Thursday to Friday by Carolina (2-3), who is only led by two wins to one in this series of the second round of the play-offs. A goal from Jordan Staal in overtime delivered the Hurricanes, who were then outnumbered but did not steal their first victory at the expense of the Lightning. Previously, the other four goals had been scored in the second half alone, by Brett Pesce and Sebastian Aho, Brayden Point and Alex Killorn having tied Tampa Bay every time. Carolina also owed her success to the strength of her goalkeeper, Petr Mrazek, who made 35 saves, against 24 for her Florida counterpart Andrei Vasilevskiy.
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For its part, in New York, Boston erased its previous defeat on its ice, by also winning after extra time (2-1). The Bruins led a long time after Craig Smith’s early opener, before Mathew Barzal equalized in the third period. It was Brad Marchand who finally offered them the victory, with a close-angle shot. Boston leads 2-1 in this series.
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