NHL Short Notes

* Team captains Anze Kopitar and Brad Marchand scored the winning goal as the Kings and Bruins picked up road victories Wednesday.

* Jack Eichel became the fastest U.S.-born player in NHL history to reach 30 career playoff points as the Golden Knights defeated the Stars to take a 2-0 series lead home to Las Vegas.

* The Lightning and Islanders will look to earn a first win of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs as their First Round series shift to Tampa and Elmont, respectively, for Game 3 on Thursday.

KOPITAR SCORES FIRST PLAYOFF OVERTIME GOAL SINCE 2012 AS KINGS EVEN SERIES

Anze Kopitar (1-2—3) scored the overtime winner at 2:07 of extra time as the Kings quelled the Oilers’ comeback attempt and pulled even in their First Round series.

* Kopitar scored his third career overtime goal during the Stanley Cup Playoffs and first since Game 1 of the 2012 Final to pass Alec Martinez, Wayne Gretzky and Butch Goring (all w/ 2) for the most in franchise history. The 11 years and 330 days between his overtime goals in the postseason marked the seventh longest such span by a player in NHL history.

EICHEL HELPS LIFT GOLDEN KNIGHTS TO 2-0 SERIES LEAD
Jack Eichel (1-1—2) factored on two goals to reach 30 career playoff points and Noah Hanifin scored the game winner as the Golden Knights defeated the Stars to take a 2-0 series lead. Vegas owns an all-time series record of 4-0 when winning each of the first two contests in a playoff round.

* The Golden Knights became the first team to take a 2-0 series lead against a conference’s No. 1-seeded team since the Lightning versus the Panthers in the 2022 Second Round. Each of the last 14 teams to take a 2-0 lead versus a conference’s top-seeded club have gone on to win the series dating to the 2003 Conference Semifinals between the Mighty Ducks and Stars.

MARCHAND PASSES, TIES NEELY ATOP FRANCHISE LISTS AS BRUINS WIN GAME 3
Brad Marchand (2-1—3) scored a go-ahead goal at 11:53 of the third period and added an empty-netter as Boston beat Toronto to take a 2-1 lead in its First Round series. Wednesday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes on Marchand (55-79—134 in 149 GP), who reached 55 playoff goals in his NHL career to tie Cam Neely (55-32—87 in 86 GP) for the most in franchise history.

QUICK CLICKS

* First Round on ESPN nets up 21% through 12 games
* Sergei Bobrovsky save 'fantastic' for growing game in Florida
* Ducks likely to name captain prior to next season
* David Quinn fired as Sharks coach, no replacement named

* Players receive warm welcome from 12,400 fans in Utah

TAMPA BAY, NEW YORK READY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HOME ICE IN GAME 3

The Lightning and Islanders are set to skate on home ice for the first time in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs as each team looks to cut their series deficit in half against the Panthers and Hurricanes, respectively, during a pair of pivotal Game 3s on Thursday.

* Steven Stamkos (47-51—98 in 125 GP) can record the 100th playoff point of his NHL career and become the third player in franchise history with a three-game goal streak from the start of a postseason – he would join Vincent Lecavalier (4 GP in 2007) and Alex Killorn (3 GP in 2018). Tampa Bay is looking to win a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series after facing a 2-0 deficit for the third time in franchise history after doing so during the 2022 Conference Finals and 2003 Conference Quarterfinals.

* Ilya Sorokin (6-5 in 13 GP) is set to make his first appearance in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and can tie Thomas Greiss (7-8 in 16 GP) for sixth place on the franchise’s all-time postseason wins list. The Islanders (1984 CF, 1976 QF & 1975 QF) are one of five non-Original Six franchises in NHL history to win three best-of-seven series after facing a 2-0 deficit alongside the Penguins (5), Flyers (3), Kings (3) and Avalanche (3) – the latter having done so 25 years ago when New York’s head coach Patrick Roy backstopped Colorado past Detroit.

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.

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