NHL roundup: Andrei Svechnikov’s hat trick leads Hurricanes past Rangers; Jets, Oilers win

Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov scored three times for the first postseason hat trick in franchise history and the Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Monday for a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup qualifier series.

The 20-year-old Svechnikov beat Henrik Lundqvist for the game’s 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.

“I think he’ll get a few more (hat tricks) before his time’s over in his career,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He’s a gamer, too. this guy is one of those players in this break that worked on this game, he wanted to get better. I think you’re seeing that.”

Jordan Martinook also scored for the Hurricanes, following Svechnikov’s second goal 71 seconds later for a 3-1 lead in a sequence that put Carolina ahead for good.

Petr Mrazek added 23 saves for the Hurricanes, including big glove stops on Brett Howden and Mika Zibanejad in the first period. The one on Zibanejad, a 41-goal scorer in the regular season, came with the Rangers having a chance to take a 2-1 lead late in the period.

Teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-5 are 55-1 in those series, though the NHL hasn’t had one since 1986.

“We’ve got to reset our minds and get focused on winning one hockey game,” Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said. “That’s all you can do at this point.”

Artemi Panarin scored for the Rangers, beating Mrazek in the closing seconds of a 5-on-3 power play midway through the first. Lundqvist finished with 30 saves, but lost for the second time in the postseason against the Hurricanes after going 3-0 against them in the regular season.

Winnipeg 3, Calgary 2

Nikolaj Ehlers scored a third-period power-play goal to give the Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday and draw even in their qualifying-round series.

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.

Elias Lindholm and Sam Bennett scored for the Flames. Calgary starter Cam Talbot stopped 23 shots in the loss.

Calgary won Saturday’s opener 4-1.

Tampa Bay 3, Washington 2

Nikita Kucherov scored a goal in the first period and the winner in the shootout to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 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 follow regular-season rules. Tampa Bay’s win puts it in a tie with Philadelphia at two points apiece in the Eastern Conference race, while Washington is third with one and Boston fourth with zero.

“All around, I thought that was a playoff game,” Lightning winger Patrick Maroon said. “Obviously we’re trying to get as many points as we can to seed ourselves in a good position.”

Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped two of the three Capitals players he faced in the shootout after making 31 saves in regulation and overtime.

Before OT, Capitals winger Tom Wilson and Lightning center Anthony Cirelli exchanged some words and shoves at the third-period buzzer. These teams can’t meet again until at least the second round, if not the East final.

“We were in their face,” Maroon said. “That was the kind of team we need to be, just to have the mentality to push back and not let them run around.”

After Kucherov’s goal opened the scoring, Mitchell Stephens made it 2-0 Lightning in the second. The Capitals follow their regular-season blueprint by digging out of a hole and tying it on goals by Richard Panik and Evgeny Kuznetsov before intermission.

“We were down 2-0 and we came back, so we showed our character,” Panik said. “Just from now on bring the `A’ game, bring our physicality and I think we’re going to be good.”

Captain Alex Ovechkin played over 21 minutes and put three shots on net. Asked how he felt, this season’s co-Rocket Richard Trophy winner put the focus on his team and what’s ahead.

“We know we can play better,” Ovechkin said. “It’s kind of a wake-up call. That’s why we play those three games. Every game is going to be much harder and harder.”

Vegas 5, Dallas 3

Will Carrier scored the tiebreaker with 5:12 left, Robin Lehner had 24 saves and Vegas beat Dallas in Western Conference round-robin play.

Carrier backhanded a rebounded shot through the legs of Stars goaltender Ben Bishop and the Knights rallied from a 3-1, third-period deficit. Vegas scored three times in 5:02 and added an empty-netter with 21 seconds left.

Chandler Stephenson, Mark Stone, Nate Schmidt and William Karlsson also scored for the Knights.

Before the game, two players from each team knelt in support of Black Lives Matter and other social causes.

Joe Pavelski, Jamie Oleksiak and Corey Perry scored for Dallas, and Bishop had 28 saves.

Pittsburgh 3, Montreal 1

Sidney Crosby, Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel scored for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night, tying the best-of-five qualifying series at one game apiece.

Crosby beat Montreal’s Carey Price early in the first period and Zucker scored with about five minutes left in the third. Guentzel sealed the win with an empty-net goal.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi ended Matt Murray’s shutout bid with 2:09 left.

The Penguins controlled the early offensive play and Price had to be sharp right away, denying Zucker after he was sent in alone a few minutes into the game.

Pittsburgh kept the pressure on and was rewarded when Guentzel’s cross-ice pass found Crosby streaking down the left wing. The Penguins’ captain snapped the puck between Price’s legs at 4:25.

It was the 188th playoff point of Crosby’s NHL career, moving him into an eighth-place tie with Joe Sakic and Doug Gilmour.

The Canadiens, who were outshot 14-7 in the first period, nearly scored on a Brett Kulak wrap-around attempt midway through the stanza.

Edmonton 6, Chicago 3

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.

Game 3 is Wednesday night.

Olli Maatta, Patrick Kane and defenseman Slater Koekkoek scored for the Blackhawks.

Chicago’s top line of Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad, and Dominik Kubalik, which torched the Oilers for 10 points in Saturday’ win, were held in check.