TORONTO — The Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated Columbus from the Stanley Cup playoffs in five games Wednesday, overcoming a late two-goal deficit and beating the Blue Jackets 5-4 on Brayden Point’s goal 5:12 into overtime.
Point also delivered the winner in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, a five-overtime thriller that wound up being the fourth-longest game in NHL history.
Kevin Shattenkirk and Anthony Cirelli scored in the final eight minutes of regulation to wipe out a 4-2 deficit. Columbus scored four consecutive times to overcome an early two-goal deficit of its own.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots for Tampa Bay, which was swept from the first round by the Blue Jackets last season.
Joonas Korpisalo had 20 saves for Columbus. Point took a pass from Nikita Kucherov in the slot before backhanding the winner past the goaltender.
Tyler Johnson and Blake Coleman scored in a 1:01 span to give the Lightning an early 2-0 lead that Columbus answered with goals by captain Nick Foligno, playoff newcomer Kevin Stenlund and Alexander Wennberg, who put the Blue Jackets ahead 3-2 with 15.8 seconds remaining in the second period.
Oliver Bjorkstrand’s third goal of the series made it 4-2 early in the third. Tampa Bay rallied, with Shattenkirk beating Korpisalo from the top of the right circle and the Lightning pulling even when the puck glanced off Cirelli’s left skate into the net with 1:38 remaining in regulation.
BRUINS 2, HURRICANES 1
Patrice Bergeron broke a tie with 3.5 seconds left in the second period, David Pastrnak returned with two assists and Boston beat Carolina to win the first-round playoff series in five games.
The Bruins trailed 1-0 entering the final 5 minutes of the second period before scoring twice on the power play, first from David Krejci with 4:40 left after Bergeron drew a penalty on a breakaway chance.
Then came Bergeron’s score as the teams appeared headed to the second intermission tied at 1. He tracked down a loose rebound from Pastrnak that hit the boards, then quickly sent the puck back toward the net from the left side. The puck slipped under a standing Petr Mrazek, bounced off his left skate and straight into the net.
Jaroslav Halak had 23 saves for Boston, which swept Carolina in the Eastern Conference finals last season.
Haydn Fleury’ scored for Carolina.
The Associated Press
