Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 3: Roope Hintz’s hat trick highlights three bounce back games from teams down 0-1

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 3: Roope Hintz’s hat trick highlights three bounce back games from teams down 0-1
Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

It was another entertaining night of playoff hockey, with an excellent overtime game, a couple blowouts from teams that needed to get back in their series’, and we – almost – got another comeback win for the Kings. Let’s dive into the action.

Fast’s scores OT winner in back-and-forth 4-3 win for Canes

The Carolina Hurricanes looked to be carrying the momentum from Game 1 early on, with Paul Stastny and Sebastian Aho giving the Canes a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the game. Oh, but it wasn’t the Canes’ Sebastian Aho scoring for them, it was New York Islanders’ Sebastian Aho that scored on his own net in a weird play.

However, the Isles stormed back with goals from Kyle Palmieri, Mat Barzal, and Brock Nelson, and took a 3-2 lead and with the way Ilya Sorokin was playing, it may have been the Isles chance to tie the series. But, the Canes struck back, with Jaccob Slavin scoring with less than 8 minutes to go to tie the game and send it to overtime, which needed all of five minutes before Jesper Fast secured the 4-3 win and the 2-0 series lead for the Canes. It wasn’t all good news for Carolina though, as Teuvo Teravainen suffered a massive injury in the third period, and is now out indefinitely with a broken hand.

Panthers surprise with 6-3 win in Boston

In Game 1, the Florida Panthers looked to dominate the play, but Linus Ullmark bailed out the Boston Bruins while Alex Lyon made a few mistakes that ultimately took the Panthers out of the game. In Game 2, it was the other way around, as the Bruins held the edge in shots and shot attempts, but Lyon kept the Panthers in it early on while Ullmark struggled and allowed the Panthers to get the 6-3 win.

It was back-and-forth in the second, but the Panthers always had the lead, and then four unanswered goals in the third put the game well out of reach. Brandon Montour continues his momentum from the regular season and put up two goals in the game, while Alex Lyon stopped 34 of 37 in the win, with one of those goals against coming in garbage time.

Hintz hat trick leads Stars in 7-3 blowout over Wild

It’s safe to say that with Joe Pavelski out of the lineup, the Dallas Stars would need a little bit more out of the rest of their stars (no pun intended) if they wanted to get this series tied against the Minnesota Wild. They got just that from Roope Hintz, who got three goals and an assist on the night to catapult the Stars to a 7-3 win. There was a bit of a concern when two goals in 11 seconds from the Wild cut a 4-1 lead to a one-goal game, but three unanswered from the Stars put the game back out of reach. Evgenii Dadonov also got two goals, while Miro Heiskanen got four assists in the win.

Perhaps the most interesting choice was the decision to start Marc-Andre Fleury for Game 2 after the performance of Filip Gustavsson in Game 1. Apparently it was to give Gustavsson some rest after the double overtime win, and while some respect is deserved for trying a tandem situation in the playoffs, Fleury could not replicate the performance of Gustavsson, allowing seven goals on 31 shots in the loss.

Oilers stave off another Kings comeback with 4-2 win in Game 2

It just about went bad to worse in Oil country. Much like Game 1, the Edmonton Oilers were in control early on, with Derek Ryan and Leon Draisaitl notching a goal each to make it 2-0, and not even giving up a shot until the later stages of the period. But, Joonas Korpisalo kept the Los Angeles Kings in it, it never got to 3-0, and that set the stage for a second period comeback thanks to goals from Phillip Danault and Gabriel Vilardi. Another blown lead on home ice, and if the Kings complete this one, it’s going to be an ugly series for the Oilers.

Thankfully, Klim Kostin had other plans, as he scored just 2:20 into the third period to regain the lead for the Oilers, and this time they’d hang onto it. Stuart Skinner shut the door for the Oilers in the third, and Evander Kane sealed the deal with an empty net goal to give the Oilers the 4-2 win. Surprisingly, Connor McDavid still remains contained, with just an assist through two games thanks to setting up the 2-0 goal in this game, which is either a good sign that the Kings know how to keep him quiet, or a bad sign that they’re only tied 1-1 and we haven’t seen peak McDavid yet.

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