Four games on tap today including some daytime action, and we could see the first team to exit tonight as the Senators look to avoid the sweep against the Leafs!
LAST NIGHT'S ACTION
MONTREAL CANADIENS 6 WASHINGTON CAPITALS 3 (Caps lead series 2-1)
Coming off a heartbreaking OT loss in Game 2, the Habs felt they were close, and maybe the friendly confines of the Bell Centre could help them get back into this series. Boy, did it ever! After trading goals in the first, the Canadiens jumped out to a 2-1 lead on a goal from Nick Suzuki, only to have Jacob Chychryn tie it two minutes later. A goal from Cole Caufield with just nine seconds left in the second frame. The lead didn't last for long though as Alex Ovechkin tied it early in the third. That's when Montreal cranked it up, and exploded for three in the third for a 6-3 win and their first win of the series, giving them a shot at heading back to Washington with the series tied if they can pull off another win tomorrow. It's gonna be interesting to watch, as both teams had their starting goaltenders leave to injury, and we'll have to see if either Sam Montembault or Logan Thompson are good to go for Game Four.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS 3 CAROLINA HURRICANES 2 (2 OT) (Canes lead series 2-1)
In another game where the home team was looking to avoid going down 3-0 in the series, Simon Nemec scored at 2:36 of the second overtime to give the Devils a 3-2 win over Carolina. Dawson Mercer's goal early in the third had given the Devils a 2-0 lead, but PPG's from Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho helped the Canes send it to OT. Game Four goes tomorrow afternoon.
EDMONTON OILERS 7 LOS ANGELES KINGS 4 (Kings lead series 2-1)
The Kings entered the third with a 4-3 lead, then gave up a goal to Evander Kane, but Kings coach Jim Hillier inexplicably decided to challenge for goaltender interference. They lost the challenge, then lost the game ten seconds later when Evan Bouchard's PPG sealed it. Honestly, that's gotta be one of the most frustrating ways to watch a team lose a game. Game Four goes tomorrow night in Edmonton.
TODAY'S ACTION
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (0-2) vs FLORIDA PANTHERS (2-0)
AMERANT BANK ARENA, SUNRISE, FL
10:00 AM PST/ 1:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET
The defending champs will be on home ice looking to put a stranglehold on this series in the next installment of the Battle of Florida. It's been pretty one-sided so far, though. And while you probably shouldn't count out the Bolts, the Panthers look very much like last year's Cup winners so far. Tampa will be without Brandon Hagel, who was suspended for one game after a late hit in Game Two on Aleksander Barkov, who should be good to go. The Cats will also get Aaron Ekblad back, coming off his 20 game suspension for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3
1 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS
Florida leads best-of-7 series 2-0
Lightning projected lineup
Jake Guentzel -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Nick Paul -- Anthony Cirelli -- Gage Goncalves
Conor Geekie -- Yanni Gourde -- Mitchell Chaffee
Zemgus Girgensons -- Luke Glendening -- Cam Atkinson
Victor Hedman -- J.J. Moser
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Nick Perbix -- Emil Lilleberg
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
Scratched: Darren Raddysh
Injured: Oliver Bjorkstrand (lower body)
Suspended: Brandon Hagel
Panthers projected lineup
Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Brad Marchand
Evan Rodrigues -- Nico Sturm -- Jesper Boqvist
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola -- Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt -- Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich, Jaycob Megna, Uvis Balinskis, A.J. Greer
Injured: None
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (1-2) vs MINNESOTA WILD (2-1)
XCEL ENERGY CENTER, SAINT PAUL, MN
1:00 PM PST/ 4:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, SPORTSNET ONE
After dropping Game One of this series, the Wild have been maybe the biggest surprise of the first round so far, and they have a chance to head back to Vegas with a 3-1 lead if they can manage another win on home ice. The Golden Knights have been struggling to deal with the Wild's suddenly potent offensive attack, and it will probably be the biggest upset of the round if Minnesota can pull this off.
Western Conference First Round, Game 4
4 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, SNP, SNW, SN1, TVAS
Minnesota leads best-of-7 series 2-1
Golden Knights projected lineup
Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel -- Mark Stone
Brandon Saad --Tomas Hertl -- Pavel Dorofeyev
Victor Olofsson -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Brett Howden -- Nicolas Roy -- Keegan Kolesar
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin -- Alex Pietrangelo
Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud
Adin Hill
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Alexander Holtz, Ben Hutton, Kaedan Korczak, Tanner Pearson, Akira Schmid, Cole Schwindt
Injured: None
Wild projected lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno -- Ryan Hartman -- Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin -- Marco Rossi -- Justin Brazeau
Jonas Brodin -- Brock Faber
Jacob Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Zeev Buium -- Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Jon Merrill, Declan Chisholm, Vinnie Hinostroza, Devin Shore, Jesper Wallstedt
Injured: None
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (3-0) vs OTTAWA SENATORS (0-3)
CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE, OTTAWA, ON
4:00 PM PST/ 7:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
While most had the Leafs pegged to win this series, I don't know if anyone had them pulling off the sweep. It's not a domination, needing overtime to pull out wins in Games Two and Three, but a sweep is still a sweep, and the Ottawa Senators are going to need to see more from their entire lineup if they hope to force a Game Five. We'll slot the lineups in when they become available, but I wouldn't expect any changes from either team.
COLORADO AVALANCHE (1-2) vs DALLAS STARS (2-1)
AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, DALLAS, TX
6:30 PM PST/ 9:30 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, SPORTSNET ONE
Like the Wild, the Stars dropped the series opener before coming back to win two straight, and can head back to Denver leading the series 3-1 with a win tonight. Also benefactors of two straight overtime wins, they have done a fantastic job of neutralizing Cale Makar in this series. If Makar can't be a difference maker, this one's gonna be over fairly soon.
ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS (1-1) vs TUCSON ROADRUNNERS (1-1)
ABBOTSFORD CENTRE, ABBOTSFORD, BC
7:00 PM PST/ 10:00 PM EST
TV: FLOHOCKEY.TV
It's winner take all tonight in Abbotsford as the Canucks look to move on to the second round in the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs. Abbotsford took Game One 4-3 on Wednesday night, then dropped a 4-1 decision in Game Two the following evening. Arturs Silovs has been in goal for both games, so maybe we'll see Nikita Tolopilo get the crease tonight?
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
German thrashers SPACE CHASER have a new one out, and I dig what I hear so far off this one. Here's the title track off 'Ignite The Skies', available now on Metal Blade Records.
Enjoy the games, fight fascists, fuck Trump, VOTE ON MONDAY and Go Canucks Go!
