Artemi Panarin scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added an assist to lead the visiting New York Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday and complete the sweep in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Kaapo Kakko, Vincent Trocheck and Jack Roslovic also scored for the Rangers, who are the first team to advance to the second round this postseason. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 23 saves and Mika Zibanejad collected a pair of assists for the Presidents’ Trophy winners as the regular-season champs.
New York will face the winner of the series between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders, which the Hurricanes lead 3-1 with Game 5 set for Tuesday.
Martin Fehervary and Hendrix Lapierre replied for the Capitals, while goalie Charlie Lindgren stopped 19 shots. Washington star captain Alex Ovechkin was held without a point in all four games. He played only 15:26 and did not register a shot on goal in the elimination game.
Canucks 4, Predators 3 (OT)
Elias Lindholm scored at 1:02 of overtime to lift visiting Vancouver to a stunning win over Nashville, allowing the Canucks to grab control of the first-round series.
Vancouver leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 and hosts Game 5 on Tuesday. Brock Boeser had a hat trick, including two goals in the final 2:49 of regulation to force overtime. Arturs Silovs, making his Stanley Cup playoff debut in place of injured Casey DeSmith, made 27 saves for the Canucks.
Mark Jankowski, Gustav Nyquist and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators. Juuse Saros made 16 saves.
Avalanche 5, Jets 1
Valeri Nichushkin had three goals for his first career hat trick and Colorado took a commanding lead in its first-round series with a win over visiting Winnipeg.
Colorado has won the past three games to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference best-of-seven series, with Game 5 on Tuesday night in Winnipeg. The Avalanche have outscored Winnipeg 16-5 since losing the first game, 7-6.
Nate Schmidt scored for the Jets, who are on the brink of elimination. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck continued to struggle, allowing four goals on 30 shots before being replaced by Laurent Brossoit to start the third period.
Oilers 1, Kings 0
Stuart Skinner made 33 saves for visiting Edmonton in a win against Los Angeles in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series.
Edmonton has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series heading into Game 5 on Wednesday night in Edmonton. The Oilers will try to eliminate the Kings in the first round for the third straight season.
Evan Bouchard scored a power-play goal and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl earned the assists for Edmonton. McDavid has 10 points in the series (one goal, nine assists) and Draisaitl has eight points (three goals, five assists). Los Angeles interim coach Jim Hiller elected to start David Rittich in goal for the first time in the series. He finished with 12 saves in his first playoff start in nearly two years and just the second of his eight-year NHL career.
–Field Level Media
