TORONTO — Nikita Kucherov scored the shootout winner to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Monday in Eastern Conference round-robin play.
The teams played 5 minutes of 3-on-3 overtime before going to a shootout because the games for seeding are following regular-season rules.
OILERS 6, BLACKHAWKS 3
EDMONTON, Alberta — Connor McDavid recorded his first playoff hat trick to lead Edmonton to a win over Chicago, tying their best-of-five qualifying series at one game apiece.
McDavid scored 19 seconds into the game, then off an electrifying solo rush just past the four-minute mark, and once more on the power play late in the second period.
HURRICANES 4, RANGERS 1
TORONTO — Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov scored three times for the first postseason hat trick in franchise history and Carolina beat New York for a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup qualifier series.
The 20-year-old Svechnikov beat Henrik Lundqvist for the first goal less than 5 minutes into the game. He followed with a power-play one-timer early in the second off a feed from Sami Vatanen, then buried a third at 14:02 of the third off a feed from Sebastian Aho — who assisted on all three of Svechnikov’s goals.
JETS 3, FLAMES 2
EDMONTON, Alberta — Nikolaj Ehlers scored a power-play goal in the third period, lifting Winnipeg past Calgary as the teams drew even in their qualifying round.
Adam Lowry led the Jets with a goal and an assist in Game 2 of the best-of-five series. Rookie Jansen Harkins also scored for Winnipeg and Jack Roslovic contributed a pair of assists. Vezina Trophy finalist Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the win.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, STARS 3
EDMONTON, Alberta — Will Carrier scored the tiebreaker with 5:12 left, Robin Lehner had 24 saves and Vegas beat Dallas in Western Conference round-robin play.
PENGUINS 3, CANADIENS 1
TORONTO — Sidney Crosby, Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel scored for Pittsburgh in a win over Montreal, tying the best-of-five qualifying series at one game apiece.