WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Alex Ovechkin scored on a laser of a shot off a faceoff, Logan Thompson made some spectacular saves among his 28 and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of their first-round series Wednesday night to advance in the NHL playoffs.
It鈥檚 the Capitals鈥 first series win since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2018, and they clinched at home for the first time since 2015. They in the second round with a spot in the final at stake.
with his power-play goal 11 minutes in, setting off chants of 鈥淥vi! Ovi!鈥 from the juiced up crowd. Pierre-Luc Dubois delivered a perfect pass to Jakob Chychrun, who beat Jakub Dobes just over two minutes later. Tom Wilson provided a valuable insurance goal late in the second period.
Fans expressed their appreciation for Thompson with chants of 鈥淟T! LT!鈥 when he turned aside Kaiden Guhle on a three-on-one rush and with under two minutes left when he flashed his glove to rob Nick Suzuki with Dobes pulled for an extra attacker. Brandon Duhaime sealed it with an empty-netter with 25.6 seconds left.
PANTHERS 6, LIGHTNING 3
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) 鈥 Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists to lead Florida to a victory against Tampa Bay and advance Florida to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves as the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers defeated their in-state rival in five games in the first round .
Panthers will play the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, which
JETS 5, BLUES 3
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) 鈥 Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists and Winnipeg beat St. Louis to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
The teams play Game 6 on Friday in St. Louis, where the Blues won the two previous games while extending their home record to 14 consecutive victories.
The Jets were without star centre Mark Scheifele after the first period after he was crushed into the boards by Brayden Schenn early in the opening period.
Vladislav Namestnikov, who replaced Scheifele on the top line, had a goal and an assist. Nino Niederreiter also had a goal and assist. Dylan DeMelo and Adam Lowry had goals while Mason Appleton had three assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves for Winnipeg, which had top-line winger Gabriel Vilardi back in action after missing 15 games with an upper-body injury.
