Montreal: Nikita Kucherov scored at 2:06 of the second overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Kucherov took a pass in the slot from Valtteri Filppula and beat goalie Carey Price with a wrist shot on the first shot of the period.
Kucherov was involved in a controversial call 3 minutes into the first overtime. His shot on a breakaway was stopped and he bumped into Price as the puck went into the net, although it appeared Price dragged the puck in himself. After review, it was ruled Kucherov interfered with Price.
Tyler Johnson opened the scoring for Tampa Bay early in the third with his playoffs-leading seventh goal. Ben Bishop made 43 saves for the Lightning, coming off a Game 7 victory over Detroit on Wednesday night.
Max Pacioretty tied it with 5:13 left on a wrist shot off the rush down the left side that Bishop caught, but couldn’t squeeze with his glove. Price stopped 33 shots for the Canadiens.
In Chicago, Teuvo Teravainen broke a tie with his first playoff goal and Chicago beat Minnesota in Game 1 of the Western Conference semi-final series.
The Blackhawks, trying to knock out Minnesota for the third straight year, struck first after taking out Nashville in six games in the opening round. Game 2 is Sunday night in Chicago.
The 20-year-old Teravainen came through with 58.2 seconds left in the second period after Chicago blew a 3-0 lead. Held out of the final four games of the first round, he scored from a difficult angle.
Brandon Saad scored 1:15 into the game. Patrick Kane and Marcus Kruger added goals just over 2 minutes apart in the first period. Corey Crawford made 30 saves for the Blackhawks.
Zach Parise had a goal and an assist for Minnesota, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund also scored, and Thomas Vanek had two assists. Devan Dubnyk stopped 31 shots.
