The President's Trophy winners are in trouble. The Florida Panthers, resilient regular season champions, have a tough task ahead of them to win their first playoff series in 26 years. They were beaten Saturday afternoon by the Washington Capitals 6-1, giving the 2018 Stanley Cup champions a 2-1 series lead.
Defending champion Tampa, regular season winners Florida down 2-1 after three games
The Panthers scored first at Capital One Arena after scoring five goals in their Game 2 win. But that's all they got as new Washington goaltender Illya Samsonov took them stopped the rest of the way. While alarm bells may not be ringing in Sunrise due to Florida's hard work this season, a dormant power play takes away one of their biggest weapons from this impressive regular season. Florida's physical play hasn't derailed a Capitals team without Tom Wilson, with Game 4 scheduled for Monday in the nation's capital.
Alex Ovechkin had an assist on T.J. Oshie's first-period goal and added a power-play goal in the third that all but sealed the win. He scored it as he was left wide open in his "office", the left face-off circle, which, maybe you shouldn't do this, Florida:
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The other Florida team is also struggling in the NHL playoffs. Taking down the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round always seemed like a huge undertaking for the Maple Leafs, even with their powerful offense. Still, the Lightning defense couldn't hold Toronto at bay Friday night.
The Maple Leafs reclaimed the series lead with a 5-2 victory over Tampa in Game 3 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series.
Toronto scored the first three goals in the game and fended off a Lightning comeback after cutting Toronto's lead to one. It was then that a pair of goals from Ilya Mikheyev ended the competition. Tampa now must win three of the next four games to avoid elimination, with just one more home game guaranteed the rest of the series.
The winning team has scored five goals in every game in this series so far. Advantage Toronto, which has scored 13 playoff goals so far. Tampa's Sunday Game 4 must be considered a must win for the Lightning. A loss almost guarantees that they will no longer successfully defend their title.
While Tampa suffered at home, Atlantic Division rival Boston showed life for the first time in its series against Carolina, winning 4-2 and now trailing the Hurricanes two games to one overall. During the second period, the game was delayed several minutes when a section of glass outside the penalty area fell on NHL off-ice official Joe Foley.
Play was stopped with 5:07 remaining in the second period as medical personnel rushed onto the ice to attend to Foley, who was carried on a stretcher. An NHL spokesperson said Foley was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for observation.
Friday night's other two games were blowouts, with Edmonton taking a 2-1 lead over Los Angeles by scoring eight goals in Game 3. Leon Draisaitl was the only Oilers player to score in the game who didn't. not done several times. time. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman each scored two goals, while Evander Kane had a postseason hat trick. Edmonton has scored 14 goals in the last two games and has completely overpowered the Kings since a 4-3 loss in Game 1.
Minnesota won its second straight game against the St. Louis Blues. The Wild scored twice in the first 40 seconds of a period to jump on the Blues and quickly gain all the momentum they had. Five different Wild players scored in the game as they looked more like their regular season selves.
