Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Game 3 of Avs-Stars, while Canadiens, Oilers seek revenge
If the previous games in the three series which continue on Wednesday night are any hint as to their ongoing competitiveness, hockey fans are in for another treat.
Monday night, Game 1 of the Washington Capitals–Montreal Canadiens series went to overtime, as did Game 2 of the Dallas Stars–Colorado Avalanche battle; in the nightcap, the Los Angeles Kings won with a goal in the final minute. Those three matchups will be played again Wednesday:
What are the key storylines heading into the games? Who are the key players to watch?
Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down Tuesday night, and the Three Stars of Tuesday Night from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Montreal Canadiens at Washington Capitals
Game 2 (WSH leads 1-0) | 7 p.m. ET | ESPN
Game 1 was yet another record-breaking night for Alex Ovechkin: By scoring two goals and assisting on the Caps’ other tally, he became the oldest player in Stanley Cup playoff history (39 years, 216 days old) to factor in on all of his team’s goals (minimum of three).
The win is also good news for the Capitals, as teams that win Game 1 in a best-of-seven go on to win the series 68% of the time.
But this contest was all about the unexpectedly close margin, and the fact that it took overtime for the Capitals to earn the victory. The Canadiens’ top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky led the way, accounting for both of Montreal’s goals, and rookie phenom Lane Hutson earned an assist on both goals. A new set of Young Guns?
An injury note for Game 2 and beyond: The Capitals will be without defenseman Martin Fehervary due to knee surgery.
Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche
Game 3 (series tied 1-1) | 9:30 p.m. ET | ESPN
It took 77:46, but the Stars evened the series with their Central Division rivals in Game 2. At stake in Game 3 is a clear jolt of momentum for the winner, and history will also be on their side moving forward: In the 363 prior series that were tied after two games, the winner of Game 3 won the series 66% of the time.
For Colorado, could their first home game of the postseason also be the return of Gabriel Landeskog to the lineup? The Avs’ captain was activated off IR Monday, but did not play in Game 2. His most recent game wearing an Avs sweater was a memorable one, Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, when he skated the Cup around Amalie Arena after the Avs’ 2-1 series-clinching victory.
The Stars have a key player on his (eventual) way back into the lineup as well, as star defenseman Miro Heiskanen skated on Monday but also did not play. A return from Heiskanen would help solve some problems for Dallas, and present a new challenge for Colorado, as the Finnish blueliner was the Stars’ leader in time on ice this season, and a key part of their power play.
Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings
Game 2 (LA leads 1-0) | 10 p.m. ET | TBS
If there are going to be 11 goals every game in this series, sign us up for more!
With their 6-5 victory in Game 1, the Kings became the fourth team in Stanley Cup playoff history to blow a four-goal lead and win in regulation, following the 2022 Calgary Flames, 1978 Boston Bruins and 1972 Bruins.
Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid continue to climb franchise leaderboards with each subsequent game, it seems. Draisaitl’s 18th goal vs. the Kings tied Esa Tikkanen for the Oilers’ career lead in playoff goals against L.A. Meanwhile, McDavid’s four-point game passes Paul Coffey and Glenn Anderson on the Oilers’ career leaderboard for four-point playoff games; he’s now fifth.
The Kings will hope that they can keep momentum going on the power play; they scored twice with the man advantage in Game 1 after going 2-for-14 in the regular season against Edmonton, and 0-for-12 on the power play in the 2024 playoff loss to the Oilers. Monday was the playoff debut for Andrei Kuzmenko, and he responded with a goal and two assists. On the other side of the spectrum are Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty — who have played in 98 and 96 playoff games for L.A., respectively — and who each had one assist in Game 1.
Arda’s three stars from Tuesday night
In his first game back after an injury in the 4 Nations Face-Off, Tkachuk scored two goals and added a helper as the Panthers take Game 1 in the long-awaited Battle of Florida in a 6-2 rout.
The pair of Wild forwards were electric in Game 2, combining for five points as the Wild take the contest by a score of 5-2, and bring the series back home to the Twin Cities tied at 1-1.
Domi scored the overtime game winner over the Senators in Game 2, giving the Leafs their first 2-0 playoff series lead in 23 years (!).
Tuesday’s scores
Carolina Hurricanes 3, New Jersey Devils 1
(CAR leads 2-0)
Game 2 was a better start for the Devils than in Game 1, as Jesper Bratt opened the scoring at 3:51 of the first period, and New Jersey carried that lead into the first intermission. The Canes roared back with two second-period goals (from Shayne Gostisbehere and Jordan Martinook), and that advantage held until Seth Jarvis iced it with an empty-net goal. Full recap.
0:53
Martinook sends Canes fans into a frenzy with go-ahead goal
Jordan Martinook gives the Hurricanes their first lead of the game with a short-handed goal vs. the Devils.
Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Ottawa Senators 2 (OT)
(TOR leads 2-0)
The Maple Leafs got off to another strong start, scoring another pair of first-period goals off the sticks of Morgan Rielly and John Tavares. But this time, the Senators scored the next two — one each from Brady Tkachuk and Adam Gaudette — to send the game to overtime. Max Domi played the hero for the home fans in Toronto, scoring the game winner just 3:09 into OT. Full recap.
1:18
Max Domi nets OT winner for Maple Leafs
Max Domi finds the net in overtime to secure a 2-0 series lead for the Maple Leafs vs. the Senators.
Florida Panthers 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 2
(FLA leads 1-0)
The Battle of Florida was the last first-round series to get started, and it was worth the wait — particularly for Panthers fans. Playing in his first game since a lower-body injury sustained in the 4 Nations Face-Off, Matthew Tkachuk scored two power-play goals and added an assist on the final goal of the game (off of Nate Schmidt‘s stick) to make it 6-2. Full recap.
0:48
Matthew Tkachuk scores through chaos for Panthers
Matthew Tkachuk scores his second power-play goal of the second period to give the Panthers a 5-1 lead over the Lightning.
Minnesota Wild 5, Vegas Golden Knights 2
(series tied 1-1)
After a thorough defeat in Game 1, the Wild are not going away quietly. Kirill Kaprizov brought his offensive wizardry to the proceedings, assisting on Matt Boldy’s first-period goal that seemed to set the tone for the contest, scoring a nifty goal of his own in the second period, and sealing the deal with an empty-net goal in the third. Full recap.
0:40
Kirill Kaprizov squeezes the Wild’s 4th goal past Adin Hill
Kirill Kaprizov scores his first goal of the series with a shot that trickles in between goaltender Adin Hill’s legs.
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hit two homers in an 11-5 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, emphatically ending the three-time MVP’s longest homer drought since joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with his 24th homer, hammering Landen Roupp‘s fourth pitch 419 feet deep into the right-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 110.3 mph.
The slugger had been in a 10-game homer drought since June 2, going 10-for-40 in that stretch with no RBIs, although he still had an eight-game hitting streak during his power outage.
Ohtani led off the sixth with his 25th homer, sending Tristan Beck‘s breaking ball outside the strike zone into the bleachers in right. He also moved one homer behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the overall major league lead.
Dodgers fans brought him home with a standing ovation as Ohtani produced his third multihomer game of the season and the 22nd of his career.
Ohtani reached base four times and scored three runs in his first four at-bats, drawing two walks to go with his two homers.
Ohtani hadn’t played in 10 straight games without hitting a homer since 2023 in the final 10 games of his six-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels.
Ohtani had slowed down a bit over the past two weeks after he was named the NL Player of the Month for May with a formidable performance, racking up 15 homers and 28 RBIs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
BOSTON — Hunter Dobbins had quite the week.
First, he said last weekend that he would rather retire than pitch for the Yankees because his father was drafted by New York twice before being traded.
Then, he went out and beat the Yankees.
A few days after his comments about never wanting to pitch for New York, he had to defend his dad’s story about being drafted by the Yankees in response to a New York Post article that cited multiple official databases and the Yankees’ own records that couldn’t confirm Lance Dobbins ever played with the organization.
On Saturday night, Dobbins (4-1) followed up by going six shutout innings in Boston’s 4-3 victory over New York, his second win over the Yankees in less than a week.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m more worried about just the win column, whether it’s against them or anybody. My job is to try and help this team win as many ballgames as we can, and pitch in meaningful playoff baseball games. That’s what I’m more focused on.”
But he realizes what it means to the fan base in this longtime rivalry, with the Red Sox fans heard chanting about the Yankees outside the park before he spoke in an interview room.
“Yeah, I love being able to perform and get those wins for the fans here,” he said. “They deserve it. It’s a great city, passionate fan base, so being able to get those wins — especially twice in one week — means a lot and looking forward to trying to build on that going forward.”
In his victory over New York last Sunday, Dobbins held the Yankees to three runs over five innings, two on a first-inning homer by Aaron Judge.
On Saturday night, Judge went 0-for-3 against him, striking out twice on curveballs.
“It was just kind of scouting,” Dobbins said of his game plan against New York’s slugger after Garrett Crochet struck him out three times in the series opener Friday.
“Crochet has an electric fastball. I can throw it hard, but the shape isn’t quite as elite,” he said. “So we knew we had better weapons to go at him with, so I felt like we did a good job of kind of keeping a balanced attack throughout the order.”
Dobbins struck out five and gave up only two singles Saturday.
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