Irresistible, the Tampa Bay, Lightning double defending champion, made short work of the Florida Panthers (5-1) Sunday at home and found themselves one victory away from the Eastern Conference final of the NHL play-offs .
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Tampa Bay leads 3-0 and it’s hard to see how Florida could turn the situation around, especially with a fourth game on Monday, again at its rival and neighbor.
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Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos were instrumental in the success of the Lightning: the first had three assists and one achievement, the second split a double. Corey Perry and Erik Cernak scored the first two goals. Sam Reinhart had equalized for Florida.
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It’s the fifth time Tampa Bay has led 3-0. The club of Pierre-Édouard Bellemare (11 minutes), ended up winning the four previous series. The last time was against the Montreal Canadiens in the final, last year (4-1).
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The New York Rangers wake up
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In New York, the Rangers reduced the gap to two wins to one against Carolina, winning (3-1). Mika Zibanejad, also author of an assist, Chris Kreider and Tyler Motte were the New York scorers. Nino Niederreiter reduced the score for the Hurricanes.
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Finally in the West, Edmonton took a 2-1 lead in its series against Calgary, thanks to a clear victory on home rink (4-1), with a hat-trick from Evander Kane and a goal from Zach Hyman. Oliver Kylington reduced the score late in the game for the Flames
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