TORONTO (AP) — Brayden Point scored 10:27 into the fifth overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday in the fourth-longest game in Stanley Cup playoff history.
Point scored from just above the left circle, beating Joonas Korpisalo after the goaltender made an NHL-record 85 saves. Point also scored way back in the first period of Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.
Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy was outstanding for Tampa Bay, making 61 stops. The teams combined for 151 shots — most in a NHL game since the league began officially tracking the statistic in 1955-56.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored on the power play and Oliver Bjorkstrand added a goal late in the second period to give Columbus — the No. 7 seed in the East — a pair of short-lived leads in regulation.
Yanni Gourde had the other goal for the second-seeded Lightning.
The five-overtime thriller led the NHL to postpone the playoff opener between Boston and Carolina to Wednesday. The Bruins and Hurricanes were supposed to play at Scotiabank Arena after the Blue Jackets-Lightning game.
FLAMES 3, STARS 2
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Rasmus Andersson snapped a tie after Dillon Dube scored twice in the first period, leading Calgary to the victory in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Andersson scored on a rush with four minutes left in the second period, with the defenseman taking a strong shot and the puck skirting over the top of defenseman Andrej Sekera’s stick blade on its way to the net.
Cam Talbot stopped 24 shots for the Flames, including a power-play attempt by Joe Pavelski with 10 seconds left in the game.
Game 2 is Thursday.
Dallas got even in the second when Denis Gurianov and captain Jamie Benn scored in a nine-second span. Anton Khudobin had 23 saves for the Stars.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, BLACKHAWKS 1
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Shea Theodore and William Carrier scored 2:17 apart midway through the second period, Robin Lehner made 19 saves against his former team, and Vegas beat Chicago in Game 1 of the teams’ Stanley Cup playoffs first-round matchup.
Reilly Smith scored twice in the third period as the top-seed in the Western Conference maintained its high scoring ways. The Golden Knights scored 15 goals in the three seeding games and didn’t slow down against the Blackhawks.
Game 2 is Thursday.
David Kampf scored short-handed for the Blackhawks in the second period thanks largely to the work of Brandon Saad forcing a turnover, but that was the extent of Chicago’s scoring.
Photo credit – Frank Gunn / The Canadian Press via AP / Toronto, ON