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Tampa Bay Lightning has a chance to eliminate Carolina Hurricanes, although playing in front of their home team may be the pace Hurricanes need to keep their season. Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche is trying to rediscover its game in Denver after the Vegas Golden Knights performed in games 3 and 4 at T-Mobile Arena.
And last night? The Montreal Canadiens became the first team to hit their ticket to the Stanley Cup semifinals – just as we all predicted, right? – when the New York Islanders pushed the elimination of the Boston Bruins to the brink.
Check out the ESPN NHL Playoffs Daily to follow each day of the day until the Stanley Cup is awarded in July.
Add: Playoff Schedule Playoff Central

Tuesday’s games
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Game 5: Tampa Bay Lightning in Carolina Hurricanes 18:30 ET (Lightning Line 3-1)
Lightning has a chance to shut down the Hurricanes, but PNC Arena is never easy to beat. Canes won 20 regular season out of 28 matches at home and three out of five in the playoffs. For Carolina, it is necessary to stay disciplined because the Lightning Power Game is on fire. Tampa Bay is 6-for-14 (a whopping 42.9%) in this series. Carolina can gain momentum when Nino Niederreiter – who has forgotten all four games in this series – returned to the ice to practice on Monday. Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour sounded more optimistic about Niederreiter than his two other injured strikers, Vincent Trocheck and Warren Foegele, who are still playing time decisions.
“You know it’s not tomorrow. This is it. You have to put everything on the line,” Brind’Amour said. “I’m sure I’ll give everything we have. I have no doubt in this group.”
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Game 5: Vegas Golden Knights at the Colorado Avalanches 21.00 ET (level 2-2)
Colorado’s top row with Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog was combined with six goals and 24 shots in the 1st and 2nd matches. When the series moved to Vegas, the Golden Knights had an answer. Colorado’s top row has scored just one goal since only 12 shots were combined in two matches. Captain Gabe Landeskog hasn’t put the puck in the net in the last two games. Vegas top line Mark Stone, Chandler Stephenson and Max Pacioretty have done a good job closing them down, but even against the second line of the Golden Knights (in the middle of William Karlsson, who is in charge of defensive defense), the Colorado top line is struggling.
“I think they’re frustrated, for sure,” coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s a strict review at the moment. They’re not just dealing with one line, but multiple lines.” MacKinnon, Rantanen and Landeskog can change their property at home, where Avs has the last change.
Last night
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New York Islanders 5, Boston Bruins 4 (Isles lead 3-2)
A wild game in Boston. First, weird: Semyon Varlamov has made six playoff starts. He has scored in one of the first three shots he faced in five of them, including Monday. Varlamov then collected 40 shots as the Bruins used tons of pressure to control 68% of the shot attempts at 5: 5-5 while shooting New York 44-19.
Mathew Barzal scored in the third straight match when the power of Isles (3: 4) made the difference. It didn’t please Boston coach Bruce Cassidy, but more on that below. The Bruins did a late job to almost eliminate the 5-2 deficit and scored two goals from David Pastrnak and a fabulous Brad Marchand, but that wasn’t enough. Cassidy pulled Tuukka Rask third to Jeremy Swayman, but said he was injured after the game. Raskin is expected to be fine in Wednesday’s game 6. Full summary
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Josh Bailey will score in the second season when the islanders beat the Bruins 5-4.
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Montreal Canadiens 3, Winnipeg Jets 2 (OT) (Canadiens wins 4-0)
The Jets played pretty poorly throughout the series. Yes, they were dropped and looked rattling after Mark Scheifele’s four-game suspension, but this was a pretty bad performance. Montreal, in turn, has been honed to a defensive identity to keep this unlikely run alive. The Habit have now won seven consecutive games and have never retreated throughout the second round. It’s wild to think that Cole Caufield was a healthy scratch to start this series. Not only does the 20-year-old paint goals, he can also set some great, like the sequel series winner:
Another review of Caufield’s primary helper and Toffol’s goal. pic.twitter.com/RJGpyfxS1T
Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) June 8, 2021
The Habit are now allowed to rest as they face the winner of the Avs vs. Knights series, tied 2-2 to go into tonight’s match. Full summary
Three night stars
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Tyler Toffoli, LW, Montreal Canadiens
The pier signed a four-year, $ 17 million deal with the Canadiens during the final offseason, and Montreal wouldn’t be where it is today if he wasn’t. Toffoli was perhaps Habs ’best striker this season and got a second-round series overtime winner on Monday.
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Josh Bailey, RW, New York Islanders
With good assistance and an important goal that lifted New York 2-0, the veteran striker appeared when the team needed him the most. Bailey writes his own Islanders legacy, though the following list is just a reminder of how dominant Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier were during the Dynasty era.
Josh Bailey had a goal and help during the second period to record the 14th multipoint game of his career in the second season, which ranks ninth @NYIslanders history. #StanleyCup#NHLStats: https://t.co/c0eD6afrI1 pic.twitter.com/L6nXNBlyjK
NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 8, 2021
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Logan Stanley, D, Winnipeg Jets
The 23-year-old defender took part in Monday’s match with one career NHL goal he scored in the regular season in March. With his team in the back corner, 2-0 down in the second period and on the verge of hitting, Stanley scored a couple of goals to even out the game. Although the Jets fell during overtime, it was a big night for the young blueliner.
Ventilation of the day
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Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy says the islanders have deceived the refs into believing they are a clean team and are urging officials to be better.
Clearing has become the story in these playoffs. It started when Connor McDavid made no calls in four games against the Jets. It has continued with several head coaches – Craig Berube, Rod Brind’Amour and Jon Cooper – expressing their dissatisfaction with their team’s calls (or lack thereof). On Monday, Bruce Cassidy of Boston joined the choir. And he took shots not only of the officials, but also of the islands and their identities.
“We play teams with a highly respected management and coaching staff. But I think they’re selling there a report that it’s more like the New York Saints, not the New York Islanders,” Cassidy said. “They play hard and they play the right way, but I feel like we’re the same way. And the exact calls we’re called for don’t make them call, and I don’t know why.”
The Islanders scored three goals with four power-playing opportunities, which is a huge reason they return home ahead of the 3-2 series. Only two punishments were imposed on the people of Saaremaa.
“They have done a great job selling the clean report,” Cassidy said. “They play hard hockey. But they commit as many offenses as we do. Trust me. It’s [just] thing to call them. “
As Barry Trotz pointed out, New York was the least penalized teams in the regular season. The Isles finished 29th on average in just six minutes, with a 36-second penalty event per game. So ask anyone in hockey and they’ll tell you this: regular season hockey has a different intensity than in the playoffs, and they don’t have the same position.
Statistics of the day
The Islanders started the third period with two goals on Monday night and held on to victory.
Coach Barry Trotz leads the Islanders record for the third season with exactly two goals in the lead:
Suitability of the day
Another David Pastrnak arrived on the field watching the fresh mint, you knew he was set for a big night.
Mint condition. #NHLBruins | @ pastrnak96 pic.twitter.com/MNiXX3Ff22
Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 7, 2021
After one game, after Pasta had found it on a pole in the open net, Pasta saw two goals for Boston.
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