BLUES 4, WILD 1
ST. LOUIS -- There was no containing Vladimir Tarasenko this time.
Held to an assist without a shot in a deflating Game 1 loss, Tarasenko responded with his first career playoff hat trick, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Saturday to even their first-round series at a game apiece.
"You need to forget whatever it was. Bad game, good game, doesn't matter," Tarasenko said.
"You need to make a next step. If you think about your success, you'll stop playing."
Tarasenko scored two goals in the first period and an empty-netter with 17 seconds remaining in an impressive performance more in line with his play in the regular season. The dynamic winger ran his playoff total to seven goals in nine games.
"We need him to rise up," Coach Ken Hitchcock said. "For us to have success, our best players have to be significant, and that was a big step today.
"We needed more of that and we got it."
Patrik Berglund stole the puck from Jordan Schroeder at center ice and beat Devan Dubnyk for a two-goal cushion with 1:58 to go, sending the Central Division champions to Minnesota with the momentum for Game 3 on Monday night. It was Berglund's fifth career playoff goal.
"You lose a game and it's frustrating, it's disappointing," Wild Coach Mike Yeo said. "We knew we were going to face their best game.
"We'll find a way to get better."
The Wild trimmed St. Louis' lead to 2-1 when Marco Scandella scored on a slap shot that broke his stick and snuck past Jake Allen at 1:46 of the third. Allen, the first rookie goaltender to win a playoff game for the Blues since 1990, survived a few close calls before the final flurry.
Minnesota had won 13 of its last 14 road games, including a 12-game streak that ended in the regular-season finale in St. Louis after it had clinched a wild card and several regulars were rested.
Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk assisted on both of Tarasenko's goals in the first period, giving him four points in the series.
The Blues made several slick passes to set up Tarasenko's deflection of a shot from the point by Alexander Steen at 13:18.
Tarasenko scored on the Blues' next shot on a power play late in the first. Dubnyk strayed just enough from guarding the post and the Blues' top scorer snuck one in off the goalie's pad from a severe angle at 18:01.
"That's just a mistake by me," Dubnyk said. "It's not a good goal. Make sure it doesn't happen again."
Besides the empty-netter, Tarasenko had two more good chances in the second period, a lunging one-timer and a quality shot on the rush near the buzzer. He set career highs with 37 goals and 36 assists in the regular season.
Thomas Vanek and Charlie Coyle assisted on Scandella's fourth career playoff goal, with all three earning their first point of the series.
Coyle hit the crossbar falling to his knees with just under nine minutes to go, and Blues captain David Backes cleared the puck from the crease.
Allen used much of his body to make a save midway through the second period after a dump-in by Ryan Suter deflected off a seam in the glass. The puck bounced into the crease and ended up inches from the goal line after Allen first tried to wedge it out with a pad and then fumbled with his glove before finally securing it, somehow, under the top of his stick.
"We have some weird glass here," Allen said. "It hit my left pad, hit my right skate and then I turned around and honestly, just saw it and tried to pounce on it."
LIGHTNING 5, RED WINGS 1
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning flexed a little bit of muscle, then went to work on evening their NHL playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings.
Ben Bishop had 23 saves and Tyler Johnson scored two goals, one on them on a power play while two teammates were in the penalty box for roughing, and the Lightning rebounded for a victory in Game 2 of the opening-round Eastern Conference series.
The best-of-seven series shifts to Detroit for Game 3 on Tuesday, with the Red Wings searching for answers on how to generate more scoring opportunities against Bishop.
A big scrum along the boards in front of the Lightning bench led to captain Steven Stamkos and teammate Brian Boyle in the penalty box, along with Detroit's Danny DeKeyser and Kyle Quincey, who tussled with Stamkos and drew a four-minute penalty.
Johnson scored just over three minutes into the game, giving Tampa Bay its first lead of the series. He beat goalie Petr Mrazek again to finish a three-goal flurry that put Tampa Bay up 4-0 after two periods.
Bishop lost his bid for a shutout when Detroit's Tomas Tatar scored at 5:49 of the third period. The 6-foot-7 goalie won a career-best 40 games during the regular season and is one of the reasons the Lightning feel good about their chances of making a deep run in the playoffs.
PENGUINS 4, RANGERS 3
NEW YORK — Sidney Crosby scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins evened their first-round playoff series with the New York Rangers.
The Rangers won Game 1 by making Crosby virtually invisible and keeping Evgeni Malkin out of the danger zone. On Saturday, both of them and the Penguins as a whole showed more jump, possessing the puck and keeping New York off-balance. Forcing turnovers in the decisive second period, shutting down the Rangers’ power play and generally controlling the pace, the Penguins got even. Crosby, naturally, was at the center of the turnaround. He broke a 1-1 tie by knocking in a rebound of Patric Hornqvist’s shot in the second period. Then Crosby made a diving deflection past Henrik Lundqvist of a pass from Chris Kunitz on the right wing boards following a Rangers giveaway in their zone.
Game 3 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.
Sports on 04/19/2015