TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy wrapped up a series with a Game 6 shutout for the second straight time, stopping 29 shots in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
Vasilevskiy also shut out the Dallas Stars last year to win the Stanley Cup.
The Lightning advanced to face the Carolina-Nashville winner in the second round. Tampa Bay advanced to the second round for the fifth time in the past seven years.
The Panthers have not won a playoff series since the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals.
Steven Stamkos scored his third goal of the series and Pat Maroon added his first. Brayden Point added his fourth of the series in the third period and Alex Killorn had an empty-net goal with 1:42 left.
Rookie Spencer Knight, back in net for Florida after his strong playoff debut in Game 5, finished with 20 saves.
ISLANDERS 5, PENGUINS 3
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Brock Nelson scored twice in New York’s three-goal second period and the Islanders beat Pittsburgh in Game 6 to advance to the second round.
The Islanders will face Boston in the next round, and fans chanted “We want Bos-ton! We want Bos-ton!” in the closing minutes.
Anthony Beauvillier had a goal and two assists, and Kyle Palmieri and Ryan Pulock also scored to help the Islanders beat the top-seeded Penguins in the first round for the second time in three years. Josh Bailey and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two assists.
Ilya Sorokin stopped 34 shots to move to 4-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average in the series. He had seven saves in the first period, 15 in the second and 12 in the third to finish with 150 in his four starts.
Jason Zucker had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel also scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 19 saves.
WILD 3, VEGAS 0
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist in the third period to break open a scoreless game, Cam Talbot had his second shutout of the series and Minnesota beat Vegas to again stave off elimination.
The first-round series moves back to Las Vegas for the decisive Game 7 on Friday night. The Colorado Avalanche, who tied the Golden Knights for the best regular-season record in the NHL, await after sweeping the St. Louis Blues.
Ryan Hartman scored first and Nick Bjugstad tacked on the last goal in support of Talbot, who made 23 stops. He had 38 saves Monday night to help the Wild steal Game 5 while being outshot 40-14.
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