Islanders eliminate Penguins, will play Bruins in second round
Islanders #Islanders
Brock Nelson scored twice in New York’s three-goal second period and the Islanders advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 on Wednesday night at Uniondale, N.Y.
The Islanders will face Boston in the next round, and fans chanted “We want Bos-ton! We want Bos-ton!” in the closing minutes.
Boston and New York met eight times over the course of the regular season, with the Bruins finishing 3-3-2 against the Islanders, with a pair of overtime losses. Four of the eight games were decided by one goal.
Anthony Beauvillier had a goal and two assists, and Kyle Palmieri and Ryan Pulock also scored to help the Islanders beat the top-seeded Penguins in the first round for the second time in three years. Josh Bailey and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two assists.
Ilya Sorokin stopped 34 shots to move to 4-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average in the series. He had seven saves in the first period, 15 in the second, and 12 in the third to finish with 150 in his four starts.
Jason Zucker had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel also scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 19 saves.
Zucker put the Penguins ahead, 3-2, with their third lead of the game as he tipped a point shot by Evgeni Malkin past Sorokin at 1:53 of the second period.
The Islanders then took the lead with two goals 13 seconds apart. They tied it at 8:35 as Beauvillier brought the puck up the ice, pass to Josh Bailey on the right side. Bailey sent a cross-ice laser pass to Nelson on the left side and he quickly beat Jarry.
Off a faceoff in the right circle in the offensive zone, Pageau sent the puck back to Pulock at the right point and he fired a slap shot through traffic past Jarry to give New York its first lead of the night.
The Islanders made it 5-3 less than 3 minutes later as Beauvillier brought the puck up the middle, dropped a pass back to Nelson, who fired it past Jarry for his second of the night with 8:26 left in the middle period to draw a thunderous roar from the crowd.
The Penguins got on the scoreboard first, just 1:27 into the game. On a rush, Kasperi Kapanen found Carter streaking up the middle and he beat Sorokin through the five-hole for his fourth of the series.
Lightning advance past Panthers
Andrei Vasilevskiy wrapped up a series with a Game 6 shutout for the second straight time, stopping 29 shots in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-0 home victory over the Florida Panthers.
Vasilevskiy also shut out the Dallas Stars last year to win the Stanley Cup.
The Lightning advanced to face the Carolina-Nashville winner in the second round. Tampa Bay advanced to the second round for the fifth time in the past seven years.
The Panthers have not won a playoff series since the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals.
Steven Stamkos scored his third goal of the series and Pat Maroon added his first. Brayden Point added his fourth of the series in the third period and Alex Killorn had an empty-net goal with 1:42 left.
Rookie Spencer Knight, back in net for Florida after his strong playoff debut in Game 5, finished with 20 saves.
The Lightning grabbed the early lead when Tyler Johnson raced past Anton Stralman to negate an icing call, picked up the puck behind the net to feed a backhand pass in front. After the puck initially bounced, Maroon was able to get a whack at in the air to backhand it past Knight at 6:16 of the first period.
The Lightning had to kill off two power play chances in the second period to protect the one-goal lead before Florida’s Sam Bennett took an undisciplined penalty at 12:53. Bennett, who took a costly penalty in Game 1 that led to the tying goal that resulted in a suspension for Game 2, put Lightning defenseman David Savard in a headlock and then ripped his helmet off. The roughing penalty led to Tampa Bay’s second power-play chance of the game and second goal.
In a familiar looking play, Nikita Kucherov fed the puck up high to Victor Hedman, who one-touched a pass over to Stamkos at the left circle for a one-timer at 13:27 of the second period.
Point put it away at 14:36 of the third, dancing around MacKenzie Weegar down low and drawing Knight to the ice before tucking the puck around the goaltender’s left pad.
Holland decries comments
Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland said any racist comments directed to First Nation defenseman Ethan Bear are “totally unacceptable” and “disgusting.”
Holland said he was told about the issue by teams staff just before his season-ending address to the media Wednesday.
Bear’s girlfriend, Lenasia Ned, posted on social media that the defenseman “received numerous racist messages and comments” in the aftermath of the Oilers’ four-game first-round series loss to Winnipeg.
The Jets tied Game 4 at 3 after a turnover by Bear, with Winnipeg eventually winning in triple overtime.
“He’s a tremendous role model for all young athletes, especially in the Indigenous community,” Holland said. “He gives time to the community. He’s popular in the locker room. … I feel sick for him, I feel disappointed for him that he would he would get this kind of abuse. I think we’ve made strides, but there’s a long way to go to create a world where we’re where everybody feels safe and they don’t get this kind of racism and abuse.”
Bear, with Ned at his side, addressed the situation with a statement in a two-minute video posted to social media later Wednesday.
“I know this doesn’t represent all Oilers fans or hockey fans, and I greatly appreciate your support and love during this time. I’m here to stand up to this behavior, to these comments. I’m proud of where I come from, I’m proud to be from Ochapowace first nation. I’m not just doing this for myself, I’m doing this for all people of color, I’m doing this for the next generation, to help make change to love one another, to support one another, to be kind to each other. There’s no place for racism in our communities, in sports or our workplace.
“I call on all of us to make change and end racism.”
Kadri will make appeal
Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri will have a Zoom hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday to appeal the eight-game suspension he was given by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday for an illegal check to the head of St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk in Game 2 of their series. Kadri served the first two games of the suspension in Games 3 and 4 of Colorado’s sweep … Turner Sports has reached a multi-year agreement with Wayne Gretzky to be a studio analyst when its coverage of the National Hockey League begins in October.