The second night of the NHL postseason has two teams winning on the road – the New York Islanders and San Jose Sharks. Menawhile, the Dallas Stars dominated the Minnesota Wild while the Washington Capitals were stingy in their victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Philadelphia Flyers 0 Washington Capitals 2 (Capitals lead series 1-0): The Capitals won with excellent defense on penalty kills and taking advantage of the power play. Braden Holtby stopped all 19 shots coming his way, John Carlson and Jay Beagle both scored goals while Marcus Johansson picked up two assists, and the best team in the regular season is off to the start they were hoping for.
New York Islanders 5 Florida Panthers 4 (Islanders lead Panthers 1-0): Three times the Panthers took the lead. Three times the Islanders came back, and eventually grabbed the game by its ears and never let go. John Tavares had one goal and two assists, Kyle Okposo finished with a goal and an assist. Tavares was the one who evened things at 3-3, while Okposo scored the goal that finally put them in the lead.
Minnesota Wild 0 Dallas Stars 4 (Stars lead series 1-0): After a physical but uneventful first period, the Stars took over, kicking things off with a Radek Faksa goal, finishing with a dominant performance. Kari Lehtonen stopped everything coming his way (22 saves), while Jamie Benn finished with a goal and two assists.
San Jose Sharks 4 Los Angeles Kings 3 (Sharks lead series 1-0): The Kings led 1-0 and 3-2, but a Tomas Hertl goal at the end of the second period seemed to kill the Kings’ momentum. Joe Pavelski scored 17 seconds into the third period and from there it was good defense that set up the home court advantage poaching. Pavelski finished the game with two goals.
Next up: Game 2 in four series: Red Wings vs Lightning, Islanders vs Panthers, Blackhawks vs Blues & Predators vs Ducks.