Edmonton, Alberta — Bo Horvat scored on a breakaway at 5:55 of overtime Friday night to give the Vancouver Canucks a 4-3 victory over the defending champion St. Louis Blues and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference series.
Horvat took a stretch pass from Quinn Hughes and chipped the puck through Jordan Binnington’s legs.
“I’m feeling pretty good about my game, but the most important thing is it takes an entire team to win a hockey game, and we’re pretty solid right now from our goaltending all the way up,” Horvat said. “We’re playing some pretty good hockey right now. We’ve got to keep it going.”
Game 3 of the best-of seven series is Sunday.
St. Louis overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third period to tie it, with Jaden Schwartz tying it with eight seconds left. With Binnington pulled for the extra attacker, Alex Pietrangelo shot the puck from the point, and it was redirected past Markstrom. It was initially waved off as a high stick but ruled a goal on review. David Perron was initially credited with the goal.
“Some people would say that it could help that there are no fans in the stands for that, because if you’re the home team and you score a late goal that building erupts,” Vancouver’s Tanner Pearson said. “We regrouped in the room (before overtime) and came out strong and finished it off.”
Horvat opened the scoring in the first with an end-to-end, short-handed rush. Wheeling and picking up speed in his own faceoff circle, Horvat hit high gear through the neutral zone, blew past Brayden Schenn, turned Jaden Schwartz inside out and fired a wrist shot low past Binnington’s blocker.
Horvat also scored twice in the opener and has six goals in the postseason.
“We’ve just got to be harder on him one on one, simple as that,” Pietrangelo said. “He’s a strong player, gets up the ice well … We’ve just got to find a way to take away his space. We all know that. It’s going to be a collective effort.”
Pearson and Elias Pettersson also scored for Vancouver, and Markstrom made 34 stops. Ryan O’Reilly and Sammy Blais added goals for the Blues, and Binnington turned back 21 shots.
Pearson made it 2-0 on a power-play midway through the second, and O’Reilly countered on another power play late in the period. Pettersson connected in a power play early in the third, and Blais made it a one-goal game with 10:58 to go.
Avalanche 3, Coyotes 2: Andre Burakovsky scored late in the third period, Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in their Stanley Cup playoff series.
The Coyotes were far more aggressive after being tentative against Colorado’s offensive firepower to in the opener.
The Avalanche still found ways to score early in the opening two periods on goals by Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Jost.
Arizona responded each time, tying it on a goal by Clayton Keller in the first and Michael Grabner in the second.
Burakovsky scored with 2:53 left in regulation when a shot by Kazem Kadri hit Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun’s shin pad and left goalie Darcy Kuemper out of position.
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in the Edmonton bubble.
Canadiens 5, Flyers 0: Montreal won this playoff game for its absent coach.
Kirk Muller and the rest of the Canadiens just had to dedicate the Game 2 victory to Claude Julien.
“To Claude, I’m sure you’re listening, this win’s for you,” Muller said.
Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each scored twice, Carey Price stopped 30 shots and the Canadiens rebounded without Julien to rout the Philadelphia Flyers 5-0 on Friday and tie the series at a game apiece.
“We have a job and he would expect that as well,” forward Max Domi said. “So we were just trying to stay focused here and get ready to go. And I think we did a great job of that.”
Julien was home in Montreal a day after a stent was placed in a coronary artery. The team said doctors expect a full recovery.
Julien was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto overnight Wednesday with chest pain. He had surgery Thursday. Because Julien left the NHL bubble in Toronto, he will have to follow quarantine protocol if he wishes to re-enter it. Muller will serve as interim head coach for the rest of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
“Claude steers the ship for us and he guides what we do out there,” defenseman Ben Chiarot said. “We’ll just play as hard as we can for him.”
Game 3 is Sunday night.
Islanders 5, Capitals 2: Long after Brock Nelson scored on a breakaway to restore the New York Islanders’ lead, he and his teammates hemmed the Washington Capitals in their zone for a long shift that can wear an opponent down.
Then Cal Clutterbuck tipped Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s shot past Braden Holtby to break the Capitals’ will. It was the kind of sequence that coach Barry Trotz beamed at and was on display two years ago when he led Washington to the Stanley Cup.
Trotz is on the other side now, and his Islanders beat the Capitals 5-2 Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series. New York played Trotz’s trademark structured, suffocating style perfectly, from responding to a Capitals goal in the first minute to controlling the puck when it mattered most.
“That’s how you win, and guys are committed to that effort,” Trotz said. “We didn’t back off. We just stayed to our game, and we got the result we wanted.”
Given 86% of teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series in NHL history have gone on to win it, Trotz is well on the way to beating the team that let him walk rather than give him a raise after delivering the first title in franchise history. The Capitals instead promoted assistant Todd Reirden to head coach and have not since won a playoff series.
EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND
No. 1 Philadelphia tied with No. 8 Montreal, 1-1
Wednesday, Aug. 12: Philadelphia 2, Montreal 1
Friday, Aug. 14: Montreal 5, Philadelphia 0
Sunday, Aug. 16: Philadelphia vs. Montreal, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 18: Philadelphia vs. Montreal, 3 p.m.
x-Wednesday, Aug. 19: Montreal vs. Philadelphia, TBD
x-Friday, Aug. 21: Philadelphia vs. Montreal, TBD
x-Sunday, Aug. 23: Montreal vs. Philadelphia, TBD
No. 2 Tampa Bay tied with No. 7 Columbus, 1-1
Tuesday, Aug. 11: Tampa Bay 3, Columbus 2, 5OT
Thursday, Aug. 13: Columbus 3, Tampa Bay 1
Saturday, Aug. 15: Tampa Bay vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 17: Tampa Bay vs. Columbus, 3 p.m.
x-Wednesday, Aug. 19: Columbus vs. Tampa Bay, TBD
x-Friday, Aug. 21: Tampa Bay vs. Columbus, TBD
x-Saturday, Aug. 22: Columbus vs. Tampa Bay, TBD
No. 6 N.Y. Islanders leads series vs. No. 3 Washington, 2-0
Wednesday, Aug. 12: N.Y. Islanders 4, Washington 2
Friday, Aug. 14: N.Y. Islanders 5, Washington 2
Sunday, Aug. 16: Washington vs. N.Y. Islanders, noon
Tuesday, Aug. 18: Washington vs. N.Y. Islanders, 8 p.m.
x-Thursday, Aug. 20: N.Y. Islanders vs. Washington, TBD
x-Saturday, Aug. 22: Washington vs. N.Y. Islanders, TBD
x-Sunday, Aug. 23: N.Y. Islanders vs. Washington, TBD
No. 4 Boston tied with No. 5 Carolina, 1-1
Wednesday, Aug. 12: Boston 4, Carolina 3, 2OT
Thursday, Aug. 13: Carolina 3, Boston 2
Saturday, Aug. 15: Boston vs. Carolina, noon
Monday, Aug. 17: Boston vs. Carolina, 8 p.m.
x-Wednesday, Aug. 19: Carolina vs. Boston, TBD
x-Thursday, Aug. 20: Boston vs. Carolina, TBD
x-Sunday, Aug. 23: Carolina vs. Boston, TBD
WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND
No. 1 Las Vegas leads series vs. No. 8 Chicago, 2-0
Tuesday, Aug. 11: Las Vegas 4 Chicago 1
Thursday, Aug. 13: Las Vegas 4, Chicago 3, OT
Saturday, Aug. 15: Las Vegas vs. Chicago, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 16: Las Vegas vs. Chicago, 6:30 p.m.
x-Tuesday, Aug. 18: Chicago vs. Las Vegas, TBD
x-Thursday, Aug. 20: Las Vegas vs. Chicago, TBD
x-Saturday, Aug. 22: Chicago vs. Las Vegas, TBD
No. 2 leads series vs. No. 7 Arizona, 2-0
Wednesday, Aug. 12: Colorado 3, Arizona 0
Friday, Aug. 14: Colorado 3, Arizona 2
Saturday, Aug. 15: Colorado vs. Arizona, 3 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 17: Colorado vs. Arizona, 5:30 p.m.
x-Wednesday, Aug. 19: Arizona vs. Colorado, TBD
x-Friday, Aug. 21: Colorado vs. Arizona, TBD
x-Sunday, Aug. 23: Arizona vs. Colorado, TBD
No. 3 Dallas 1 tied with No. 6 Calgary, 1-1
Tuesday, Aug. 11: Calgary 3, Dallas 2
Thursday, Aug. 13: Dallas 5, Calgary 4
Friday, Aug. 14: Dallas vs. Calgary, 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 16: Dallas vs. Calgary, 2 p.m.
x-Tuesday, Aug. 18: Calgary vs. Dallas, TBD
x-Thursday, Aug. 20: Dallas vs. Calgary, TBD
x-Saturday, Aug. 22: Calgary vs. Dallas, TBD
No. 5 Vancouver leads series vs. No. 4 St. Louis, 2-0
Wednesday, Aug. 12: Vancouver 5, St. Louis 2
Friday, Aug. 14: Vancouver 4, St. Louis 3, OT
Sunday, Aug. 16: St. Louis vs. Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 17: St. Louis vs. Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.
x-Wednesday, Aug. 19: Vancouver vs. St. Louis, TBD
x-Friday, Aug. 21: St. Louis vs. Vancouver, TBD
x-Sunday, Aug. 23: Vancouver vs. St. Louis, TBD