NHL playoffs: Hurricanes, Lightning, Wild win

NHL playoffs: Hurricanes beat Bruins; Lightning pull even with Maple Leafs; Wild win

Carolina Hurricanes' Vincent Trocheck celebrates a goal by Sebastian Aho on Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark.

Associated Press

May 4, 2022 Updated 9:44 PM PT

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter each scored twice and Carolina overcame the early loss of goalie Antti Raanta to beat Boston for a 2-0 series lead.

Jesper Fast also scored and rookie goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov came on in relief of Raanta to finish with 30 saves.

Boston’s David Pastrnak knocked Raanta from the game midway through the first period when he struck the goaltender in the head with a gloved hand as he tried to skate past him.

Already down injured No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen to start the playoffs, Carolina turned to Kochetkov as Raanta exited while bleeding from an apparent mouth injury.

Patrice Bergeron scored twice for Boston.

Game 3 is Friday night in Boston.

Lightning 5, Maple Leafs 3

TORONTO — Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for his first four-point playoff game and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to even the first-round series.

Nikita Kucherov added a goal and two assists and Brayden Point, Corey Perry and Brandon Hagel also scored for two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in a bounce-back performance after the Lightning dropped the opener 5-0.

Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist for Toronto, Michael Bunting and Alexander Kerfoot also scored and Jack Campbell made 29 saves. Auston Matthews had two assists.

Game 3 is Friday night in Florida.

Wild 6, Blues 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kirill Kaprizov had a hat trick, Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice and Minnesota beat St. Louis to tie the series 1-1.

Frederic Gaudreau and Kaprizov scored on the power play for the Wild, who went 0 for 6 with the man advantage in their 4-0 defeat in Game 1 and were 1 for 9 against the Blues over three regular-season losses.

The Blues, who lost defenseman Robert Bortuzzo to injury after he blocked a shot with the side of his face in the first period, didn’t score on Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury until Jordan Kyrou’s rebound midway through the second on a power play. Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist for the Blues.

Game 3 is Friday night in St. Louis.