MONDAY, APRIL 25 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
ASSOCIATED PRESSNikita Kucherov and Steven
Stamkos each scored twice and An-
drei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots as
the Tampa Bay Lightning ended
Florida’s franchise-record 13-game
winning streak with a 8-4 victory
over the Panthers on Sunday night
in Sunrise, Fla.
Kucherov had three assists and
Stamkos two.
“We knew the streak they were
on,” said Tampa Bay’s Nick Paul,
who also scored twice. “And we
wanted to come here and be the
ones that ended it.”
Victor Hedman had four assists
for t he Lightning, which re-
mained alive in the race with the
Toronto Maple Leafs for the No. 2
spot in the Atlantic Division.
l^ BRUINS 5, CANADIENS 3:
Erik Haula scored twice as visiting
Boston beat Montreal on the night
the Canadiens paid tribute to the
late Guy Lafleur.
Montreal celebrated the Hall of
Famer, who died Friday at age 70,
with a ceremony before the game.
A video of Lafleur’s goals and of
him lifting the Stanley Cup played
at Bell Centre before fans gave him
a standing ovation that lasted
more than 10 minutes. Canadiens
players saluted Lafleur’s retired
No. 10 following the final buzzer.
Patrice Bergeron had two goals,
including an empty-netter, and an
assist for the Bruins.
l FLYERS 4, PENGUINS 1:
Noah Cates had two goals and an
assist and Martin Jones made
37 saves as Philadelphia beat visit-
ing Pittsburgh.
Morgan Frost added a goal and
an assist for the Flyers, who won
their second straight.
Sidney Crosby scored for the
playoff-bound Penguins.
Pittsburgh has two games re-
maining and would play the New
York Rangers in the first round of
the playoffs by staying in third
place in the Metropolitan Divi-
sion. If the Washington Capitals
jump ahead of the Penguins, Pitts-
burgh would meet the Eastern
Conference-leading Panthers in
the opening round.
l HURRICANES 5, ISLAND-
ERS 2: Max Domi scored the go-
ahead goal early in the third peri-
od, and Carolina boosted its Met-
ropolitan Division lead with a win
in Elmont, N.Y.
The Hurricanes won their
fourth in a row and extended their
edge over the second-place Rang-
ers by four points. Carolina tied
franchise records for victories (52)
and points (112), both s et in
2 005-06 — t he season of the
team’s sole Stanley Cup champi-
onship.
Pyotr Kochetkov made seven
saves on eight shots to earn his
second career win 24 hours after
making his NHL debut. He en-
tered the game in relief of Antti
Raanta, who made 17 saves on
18 shots before appearing to suffer
an injury in the second period.
l BLUES 6, DUCKS 3: Ryan
Getzlaf recorded his final NHL
point with a behind-the-back pass
to Adam Henrique for a goal with
2:41 to play, and the longtime Ana-
heim captain wrapped up a 1 7-year
career spent entirely with the
Ducks in a loss to visiting St. Louis.
Jordan Kyrou, Vladimir Tara-
senko, Ivan Barbashev and Justin
Faulk had a goal and an assist
apiece during a dominant second
period by the Blues, who earned
their 14th win in 16 games.
l WILD 5, PREDATORS 4
(OT): Dmitry Kulikov scored with
1.3 seconds remaining in overtime
to lift M innesota i n Nashville.
Joel Eriksson Ek had two pow-
er-play goals and an assist for the
Wild, which has won five straight.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves.
l BLUE JACKETS 5, OILERS
2: Nick Blankenburg scored his
first NHL goal and added an assist
to help host Columbus break a
five-game losing streak and keep
Edmonton from clinching second
place in the Pacific Division.
Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal
and two assists for the Blue Jack-
ets, and Elvis Merzlikins stopped
33 shots in his 26th win.
l JETS 4, AVALANCHE 1:
Adam Lowry, Blake Wheeler and
Kyle Connor scored in a span of
3:21 in the third period to help
Winnipeg hand visiting Colorado
its season-high fourth straight
loss.
l RED WINGS 3, DEVILS 0:
Alex Nedeljkovic had 17 saves and
Oskar Sundqvist and Tyler Ber-
tuzzi each had a goal and an assist
as Detroit beat New Jersey in
Newark to snap a two-game skid.
NHL ROUNDUP
Florida’s
13-game
win streak
is snapped
LIGHTNING 8,
PANTHERS 4PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES
Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin lies on the ice with an upper-body injury after tripping over Maple Leafs goaltender Erik Kallgren’s stick and slamming into the boards.defenseman Mark Giordano’s
slap shot with his right foot in the
first period, causing the captain
to skate slowly to the bench in
discomfort. Ovechkin didn’t miss
a shift, hopping back onto the ice
after a TV timeout.Better than last time
The Capitals struggled mighti-
ly in their first two games against
Toronto, getting outscored 12-6
with goalie Ilya Samsonov start-
ing each game. He was pulled
from each game, too.
The most recent meeting was a
7-3 loss April 14 in Toronto. Sam-
sonov exited after allowing four
goals on 19 shots. Vanecek didn’t
fare any better, giving up three
goals on 13 shots.Snively skating
Forward Joe Snively skated in a
noncontact jersey Sunday morn-
ing, his first appearance with the
team since he had wrist surgery
in early March.
Snively, a 26-year-old rookie,
was having a breakout stretch
after he was called up from Her-
shey of the American Hockey
League. The Herndon native had
four goals and three assists in
12 games.
He is not expected to be a
regular in the Capitals’ postsea-
son lineup.gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead with a
wrister from the left circle at 5:34.
It was Oshie’s 11th goal, and it
came after his linemates, Eller
and Anthony Mantha, won a puck
battle along the boards.
Ilya Lyubushkin tied the score
at 1 at 12:32 with a shot from the
left circle beating a stick-less Van-
ecek. The Capitals had a power-
play opportunity shortly after but
couldn’t connect on their best
chance, when Kuznetsov and Os-
hie passed one too many times on
a mini two-on-zero.
In the second period, each
team scored a goal and each team
had the goal taken off the score-
board via a coach’s challenge.
First, it appeared the Maple
Leafs took a 2-1 lead midway
through the period with Spezza’s
power-play goal, but after a
Washington challenge, it was de-
termined Toronto was offside.
Then late in the period, it ap-
peared Oshie scored again, on a
deflection of an Ovechkin shot on
the power play with a minute to
go. But the goal was overturned
after it was determined defense-
man John Carlson had made a
hand pass.
Here’s what else to know about
the Capitals’ loss:Nearly injured earlier
Ovechkin blocked Maple Leafssaves in there,” Laviolette said.
“There’s times where I think we
can do things better in front of
him, like on the second goal. I
think we gave too much time, too
much space.... We’ve got to do a
better job with that, but I thought
Vitek played well.”
The Capitals, who were coming
off a 3-1-1 road trip, fell to 7-1-2 in
their past 10 games. Washington
(44-23-12) remains in the Eastern
Conference’s second wild-card
spot with 100 points.
Pittsburgh (45-24-11), which
lost, 4-1, at Philadelphia on Sun-
day, is third in the Metropolitan
Division with 101 points and has
two games left. Washington has
three left, beginning Tuesday vs.
the New York Islanders. Boston
(49-25-5) has the first wild-card
spot in the conference after beat-
ing Montreal, 5-3, giving it
103 points with three games to
play.
Toronto was without forward
John Tavares and defenseman
Timothy Liljegren, who took rest
days after Saturday’s overtime
loss at Florida. Forward Michael
Bunting also didn’t play after
leaving that game with a suspect-
ed lower-body injury.
Washington had a solid start,
with Vanecek coming up with an
impressive point-blank save on
Mikheyev. Shortly after, OshieMarcus Johansson on a back-
hander at 4:40 — to grab a 3-1
lead. But Toronto had an answer
to force overtime. Ilya Mikheyev
found some open ice and scored
at 12:36 before Jason Spezza
notched the equalizer with
57.3 seconds left following heavy
pressure from the Maple Leafs
with the extra attacker.
After neither team could solve
things in overtime, Alexander
Kerfoot had the winner in a
seven-round shootout. Evgeny
Kuznetsov, who did a bold stick
twirl mid-attempt, scored the
lone shootout goal for Washing-
ton.
“Just a terrible last eight min-
utes of the game or nine, 10 min-
utes of the game there,” Oshie
said. “We’re getting pretty close
here to where that’s not going to
cut it. I think we’re pretty upset
about it.... We just didn’t expect
ourselves to give away a two-goal
lead to a team that played last
night, no matter how good they
are.”
Vitek Vanecek was excellent in
overtime and finished with
27 saves. He was coming off a
19-save shutout in a 2-0 win
Friday at Arizona. Kallgren made
34 stops.
“[Vanecek] made some bigCAPITALS FROM D1Ovechkin exits with an injury, and Capitals go down in a shootoutC APITALS’ LAST THREEvs. New York IslandersTomorrow7NBCSWat New York IslandersThursday 7NBCSWat New York RangersFriday7NBCSWRadio: WTEM (980 AM)
or WJFK (106.7 FM)l NUGGETS 1 26, WAR-
RIORS 121 : Nikola Jokic scored
37 points and fed Will Barton for a
three-pointer from the left corner
with 8.3 seconds left, helping Den-
ver avoid a series sweep against
visiting Golden State.
Monte Morris’s seven-footer
broke a 121-121 tie with 33.5 sec-
onds left after the Nuggets blew a
17-point lead. Austin Rivers then
stole Otto Porter Jr.’s pass.
Morris finished with 24 points,
including five three-pointers in
the third quarter.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors
with 33 points. Klay Thompson
scored 22 of his 32 points after
picking up his fourth foul in the
final second of the first half. Jor-
dan Poole had 11 after averaging
27.8 in the first three games of the
series.
The first-round series shifts to
San Francisco for Game 5 on
Wednesday night, with the War-
riors up 3-1.Nets rule out Simmons
Ben Simmons was ruled out of
Game 4 of Brooklyn’s playoff series
against Boston, making it possible
he won’t play at all this season.
The Nets listed Simmons as out
Sunday on the injury report for the
game Monday night, when they
will be trying to avoid a sweep by
the Celtics.
Simmons has been working his
way back from a herniated disk in
his back.
l 76ERS: Center Joel Embiid
has a ligament tear in his right
thumb and will have surgery after
the playoffs, but for now the NBA
scoring leader w ill continue to
play with a brace or heavy tape.hitting his final five shots of the
first half to lead the turnaround.
Atlanta’s Trae Young scored
only nine points with five assists
and five turnovers as he was shut
down by Miami’s defense for the
second time in four games. Young
was held to eight points in Miami’s
115-91 Game 1 win.
De’Andre Hunter led the Hawks
with 24 points.
Miami ended Atlanta’s six-
game home winning streak de-
spite playing without point guard
Kyle Lowry, who was held out with
a left hamstring strain.straight start with Khris Middle-
ton out, and the Bucks beat the
Bulls for the 19th time in 21 games.
Zach LaVine led Chicago with
24 points and 13 assists.
l HEAT 110, HAWKS 86 : Jim-
my Butler scored 13 of his
36 points in a dominant second
quarter, and Miami won in Atlan-
ta to take a 3-1 series lead.
Miami can wrap up the first-
round Eastern Conference series
in Game 5 on Tuesday night in
Miami.
Butler overcame a slow start.
He made only 1 of 7 shots beforein Milwaukee in January.
Teammates have since started
having fun with the boos, letting
him hear it at practices and film
sessions, on the bus and at the
hotel. And now, they’re doing it in
games, too.
“They have so much fun,” Allen
said, laughing. “I think it’s funny. I
think it’s honestly hilarious.
They’ve kind of turned it into a fun
thing. It makes hearing it out there
during the game a lot easier, too,
because they think it’s so funny.”
Bobby Portis added 14 points
and 10 rebounds in his secondFROM NEWS SERVICESGrayson Allen again responded
to the boos from the fans and even
his teammates by making shot
after shot.
By the time he was finished, he
had his highest point total in a
postseason game. And the Mil-
waukee Bucks walked away with
another lopsided win.
Allen set playoff career highs
with 27 points and six three-point-
ers, Giannis Antetokounmpo had
32 points and 17 rebounds, and
visiting Milwaukee beat the Chica-
go Bulls, 119-95, on Sunday to take
a 3-1 lead in their first-round se-
ries.
Jrue Holiday scored 26, and the
defending champion Bucks came
away with another easy win after
two shaky performances at home.
They have outscored the Bulls
by a combined 54 points over the
past two games. That includes a
111-81 romp Friday that was the
most lopsided home playoff loss in
franchise history.
The Bucks led by 22 early in the
third quarter and steadied them-
selves after a push by Chicago. The
defending NBA champions will
try to wrap up the series in Mil-
waukee on Wednesday night.
Allen, in his first season in Mil-
waukee, has a bad-boy image from
his time at Duke. He is particularly
unpopular in Chicago, where fans
are upset about a hard foul that
resulted in a broken wrist for Bulls
guard Alex Caruso during a gameNBA ROUNDUPAfter all the boos, Bucks’ Allen has final wordBUCKS 119,
BULLS 95NAM Y. HUH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis knows who did the heavy lifting in Game 4: Grayson Allen with 27 points.Maple Leafs 4, Capitals 3 (SO)
TORONTO .......................... 1 021 —4
WASHINGTON ................... 1 020 —3
TORONTO WON SHOOTOUT, 2-1
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, Washington, Oshie 11 (Mantha), 5:34. 2,
Toronto, Lyubushkin 2 (Marner, Matthews), 12:32.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 3, Washington, Eller 13 (Fehervary, Carlson),
3:32. 4, Washington, Johansson 9 (Sheary, Schultz),
4:40. 5, Toronto, Mikheyev 20 (Dahlstrom, Engvall),
12:36. 6, Toronto, Spezza 12 (Mikheyev, Matthews),
19:02.
SHOOTOUT
Toronto 2 (Spezza G, Matthews NG, Nylander NG,
Mikheyev NG, Marner NG, Engvall NG, Kerfoot G),
Washington 1 (Kuznetsov G, Backstrom NG, Oshie NG,
Mantha NG, Carlson NG, Johansson NG, van Riemsdyk
NG).
SHOTS ON GOAL
TORONTO .......................... 7 9122 —30
WASHINGTON ................. 13812 4— 37
Power-play opportunities: Toronto 0 of 2; Washington 0
of 3. Goalies: Toronto, Kallgren 7-4-1 (37 shots-34
saves). Washington, Vanecek 20-11-6 (30-27). A: 1 8,573
(18,277). T: 2:47.