Horvat scores in OT, Canucks beat Blues for 2-0 series lead

AP Published 6:08 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2020 | Updated 1:34 a.m. ET Aug. 15, 2020

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Bo Horvat scored on a breakaway at 5:55 of overtime Friday night to give the Vancouver Canucks a 4-3 victory over the defending champion St. Louis Blues and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference series.

Horvat took a stretch pass from Quinn Hughes and chipped the puck through Jordan Binnington’s legs.

Game 3 of the best-of seven series is Sunday.

St. Louis overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third period to tie it, with Jaden Schwartz tying it with eight seconds left. With Binnington pulled for the extra attacker, Alex Pietrangelo shot the puck from the point, and it was redirected past Markstrom. It was initially waved off as a high stick but ruled a goal on review. David Perron was initially credited with the goal.

Horvat opened the scoring in the first with an end-to-end, short-handed rush. Wheeling and picking up speed in his own faceoff circle, Horvat hit high gear through the neutral zone, blew past Brayden Schenn, turned Jaden Schwartz inside out and fired a wrist shot low past Binnington’s blocker.

Horvat also scored twice in the opener and has six goals in the postseason.

Pearson and Elias Pettersson also scored for Vancouver, and Markstrom made 34 stops. Ryan O’Reilly and Sammy Blais added goals for the Blues, and Binnington turned back 21 shots.

Pearson made it 2-0 on a power-play midway through the second, and O’Reilly countered on another power play late in the period. Pettersson connected in a power play early in the third, and Blais made it a one-goal game with 10:58 to go.

CANADIENS 5, FLYERS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each scored twice, Carey Price stopped 30 shots and Montreal rebounded without coach Claude Julien to rout Philadelphia and tie the series at a game apiece.

Julien was home in Montreal a day after a stent was placed in a coronary artery. The team said doctors expect a full recovery.

Julien was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto overnight Wednesday with chest pain. He had surgery Thursday. Because Julien left the NHL bubble in Toronto, he will have to follow quarantine protocol if he wishes to re-enter it. Kirk Muller will serve as interim head coach for the rest of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Game 3 is Sunday night.

The Canadiens roughed up Flyers goalie Carter Hart, who turned 22 on Thursday, and scored four goals through two periods to send him to the bench.

Joel Armia also scored for Montreal.

The Canadiens continued their sensational surge through Toronto hockey and bounced back fine after a 2-1 Game 1 loss. Montreal was the last team in the East to qualify for the expanded playoffs, and then needed four games to win its best-of-five series over Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

ISLANDERS 5, CAPITALS 2

TORONTO (AP) — Brock Nelson scored the go-ahead goal on a second-period breakaway 15 seconds after Alex Ovechkin tied it, and New York beat Washington to take a 2-0 series lead.

Barry Trotz’s Islanders played his trademark structured, suffocating style against the team he coached to the Stanley Cup in 2018 and was unwilling to give him a raise. Trotz’s fingerprints were all over this game, from New York responding after allowing the game’s first goal to hemming the Capitals in their own zone late in the third period, leading to an insurance goal.

The Capitals started fast, with Ovechkin getting the first of his two goals 56 seconds in. It was his first point in five games since the NHL resumed.

Nick Leddy Matt Martin, Cal Clutterbuck and Anders Lee also scored for New York, and Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves.

Game 3 is Sunday.

AVALANCHE 3, COYOTES 2

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Andre Burakovsky scored late in the third period, Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 shots and Colorado beat Arizona to take a 2-0 series lead.

Burakovsky scored with 2:53 left in regulation when a shot by Kazem Kadri hit Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun’s shin pad and left goalie Darcy Kuemper out of position.

The Avalanche scored early in the opening two periods on goals by Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Jost. Arizona responded each time, tying it on a goal by Clayton Keller in the first and Michael Grabner in the second.

Game 3 is Saturday.

FLAMES 2, STARS 0

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Mikael Backlund scored Calgary’s second short-handed goal in as many nights, Cam Talbot stopped 35 shots in his second shutout this postseason and the Flames beat Dallas to take a 2-1 series lead in their Western Conference playoff series.

The goal by Backlund in the second period hit the stick of goalie Anton Khodobin, who couldn’t get the puck in his glove before it fell back onto the pads of his left leg, hanging there briefly before falling to the ice and rolling over the line.

TJ Brodie scored on a 50-foot slap shot through traffic midway through the third period for Calgary.

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday.

Khodbin, who stopped 21 shots, was pulled with just over 3 minutes left so the Stars could have an extra skater.

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