Thursday NHL playoffs: Hamilton helps Carolina beat Boston 3-2, tie series 1-1

Detroit News

Toronto – This is what Dougie Hamilton was hoping for while he waited out the pandemic shutdown that put the NHL season on hold, and then waited some more after injuring himself in practice when the Hurricanes returned to the ice.

The Carolina defenseman scored the game-winner with 11:30 left in the third period on Thursday night to lead the Carolina to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins – the team that drafted him, and then gave up on him – and tie their playoff series at one game apiece.

“For seven months you’re thinking about that kind of stuff: Playing a game, scoring a goal,” said Hamilton, who missed the last 21 games of the regular season and the qualifying round series against the Rangers with separate injuries. “That’s what fuels you.”

One day after Boston won the delayed, double-overtime opener, Carolina’s No. 2 goalie James Reimer stopped 33 shots to beat the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist, Teuvo Teravainen also scored, and Martin Necas had two assists for the Hurricanes.

David Krejci and Brad Marchand scored for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 23 saves. The Bruins, who swept Carolina in the Eastern Conference finals last season, pulled the goalie for an extra attacker and had a chance when Reimer lost his stick in the final 10 seconds, but couldn’t convert.

Game 3 is Saturday.

Las Vegas 4, Chicago 3/OT: Reilly Smith scored in overtime, Robin Lehner made 22 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 on Thursday to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 35 of the 39 shots he faced in a losing effort. Crawford and Lehner were teammates with Chicago until the trade deadline.

Paul Stastny, Tomas Nosek and Mark Stone scored for Vegas.

Chicago got goals from rookies Kirby Dach and Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome.

Patrick Kane assisted on all three Chicago goals in the second period. Crawford made 16 of his saves in the third period.

Game 3 is set for Saturday night.

Columbus 3, Tampa Bay 1: 

Two days after making an NHL-record 85 saves in a five-overtime loss, Joonas Korpisalo stopped 36 more shots to help the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 on Thursday to even the series at a game apiece.

Ryan Murray and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in the first period for Columbus, both goals set up by Pierre-Luc Dubois. Alexander Wennberg added another in the third.

“We’ve all seen him play this past season,” Dubois said about Korpisalo. “He’s an All-Star, then he gets injured and then he comes back. Another break (for the coronavirus), but we all know what he’s capable of. We all know in the dressing room that he’s one of the best goalies in the NHL, and he’s feeling really good right now.”

Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves. The Tampa Bay goalie had 61 stops Tuesday in a 4-3 victory in the fourth-longest game in league history.

Both teams looked sluggish at the start Thursday, especially Columbus, which took more than half the first period to get any offensive push going.

Kucherov grabbed a carom off the back boards and banked in a shot off Korpisalo’s back to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead 5:24 into the game. Columbus tied it when Dubois fed Murray with a perfect pass from behind the goal line with 7:08 left in the first.

The Blue Jackets took the lead on Bjorkstrand’s one-timer from the right circle on a late first-period power play. Columbus’ goals came on just six shots in the period.

“We lost our mojo a little bit when we gave up the lead,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

Early in the third period, Columbus defenseman Seth Jones – who had 65:06 of ice time Tuesday, the most since the league started tracking ice time – chased down Barclay Goodrow on a breakaway and disrupted what would have been a doorstep shot.

Then, with 8:33 left in the game, Wennberg drove in hard from the right and beat Vasilevskiy. Korpisalo then withstood the last 3:41 of a Lightning 6-on-5 attack.

“I don’t think we’re frustrated at all,” Tampa Bay center Anthony Cirelli said. “We’re getting pucks to the net. We’re getting good looks. We’ve got to bury our chances when we get them.”

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella downplayed the effort by his team to rebound on the heels of losing a heart-breaker in the Game 1 marathon.

“It’s what we do,” Tortorella said. “It’s what pros are supposed to do. I don’t think it’s anything special. I think it’s the proper way of going about your business. And we’ve had a lot of opportunities with the ups and downs, especially the past couple of weeks, to work at that.”

Tortorella pointed to the Columbus penalty kill that came after the Lightning had taken a 1-0 in the first period as a turning point.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 Philadelphia leads series vs. No. 8 Montreal, 1-0

Wednesday: Philadelphia 2, Montreal 1

Friday: 3 p.m.

Sunday: 8 p.m.

Tuesday: 3 p.m.

x-Aug. 19: TBD

x-Aug. 21: TBD

x-Aug. 23: TBD

No. 2 Tampa Bay tied with No. 7 Columbus, 1-1

Tuesday: Tampa Bay 3, Columbus 2, 5OT

Thursday: Columbus 3, Tampa Bay 1

Saturday: 7:30 p.m.

Monday: 3 p.m.

x-Aug. 19: TBD

x-Aug. 21: TBD

x- Aug. 22:TBD

No. 3 Washington trails series vs. No. 6 N.Y. Islanders, 0-1

Wednesday: N.Y. Islanders 4, Washington 2

Friday: 8 p.m.

Sunday: Noon

Tuesday: 8 p.m.

x-Aug. 20: TBD

x-Aug. 22:TBD

x-Aug. 23: TBD

No. 4 Boston leads series vs. No. 5 Carolina, 1-0

Wednesday: Boston 4, Carolina 3, 2OT

Thursday: Carolina 3, Boston 2

Saturday: Noon

Monday: 8 p.m.

x-Aug. 19: TBD

x-Aug. 20: TBD

x-Aug. 23: TBD

WESTERN CONFERENCE

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 Las Vegas leads series vs. No. 8 Chicago, 2-0

Tuesday: Las Vegas 4 Chicago 1

Thursday: Las Vegas 4, Chicago 3, OT

Saturday: 8 p.m.

Sunday: 6:30 p.m.

x-Aug. 18: TBD

x-Aug. 20: TBD

x-Aug. 22: TBD

No. 2 Colorado leads series vs. No. 7 Arizona, 1-0 

Wednesday: Colorado 3, Arizona 0

Friday: 2 p.m.

Saturday:  3 p.m.

Monday: 5:30 p.m.

x-Aug. 19: TBD

x-Aug. 21: TBD

x-Aug. 23:TBD

No. 3 Dallas trails series vs. No. 6 Dallas, 0-1 

Tuesday: Calgary 3, Dallas 2

Thursday:10:30 p.m.

Friday:10:30 p.m.

Sunday: 2 p.m.

x-Aug. 18: TBD

x-Aug. 20: TBD

x-Aug. 22: TBD

No. 4 St. Louis trails series vs. No. 5 Vancouver, 0-1

Wednesday: Vancouver 5, St. Louis 2

Friday: 6:30 p.m.

Sunday: 10:30 p.m.

Monday: 10:30 p.m.

x-Aug. 19: TBD

x-Aug. 21: TBD

x-Aug. 23: TBD

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