COLIN BLACKWELL

Corey Perry and Ondrej Palat also scored, and Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov each had two assists for the Lightning. William Nylander scored twice and Jake Muzzin also had a goal for the Maple Leafs. Tampa Bay put the finishing touches on a dominant performance with empty-net goals by Palat and Colton in the final 5:20. They were all over the Maple Leafs from the start Sunday night, with Stamkos beating Campbell from just inside the blue line exactly one minute into the game. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, were 0 for 2 in man-advantage situations before finally breaking through against Vasilevskiy with the first of Nylander’s two goals at 2:27 of the third.

Ross Colton scored twice, Andrei Vasilevskiy had 22 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a fast start and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 in Game 4 to even their first-round playoff series.

Brandon Tanev scored his second goal into an empty net with 1:21 left, and the Seattle Kraken held off the Nashville Predators 4-3 Thursday night for the first victory in the expansion franchise’s second game.

The other semifinal Saturday will pair defending champion Finland and Germany, which stunned Switzerland 3-2 in a shootout. The U.S. beat Canada 5-1, and Finland edged Germany 2-1. Peter Cehlarik put Slovakia on the board in the second period, but Blackwell scored his second goal of the game later in the period. Russia, which finished first in Group A, opened the scoring at 14:32 of the second period when Yevgeni Timkin put a pass from defenseman Dmitri Orlov into an open net. Tom Kuhnhackl cut the Swiss lead to 2-1 in the final three minutes of the second period.

(AP Photo/Sergei Grits) (Sergei Grits)RIGA, Latvia — (AP) — Colin Blackwell and Conor Garland scored two goals apiece Thursday, and the United States advanced to the semifinals of hockey's world championship with a 6-1 victory over Slovakia. German provided a quarterfinal stunner with a 3-2 victory over Switzerland in the second of the four quarterfinals. Boyle, Blackwell and Garland scored in the first period to stake the Americans to a 3-0 lead. Peter Cehlarik got Slovia on the board in the second period, but Blackwell got his second of the game later in the period. Tom Kuhnhackl cut the Swiss lead to 2-1 in the final three minutes of the second period.

Colin Blackwell and Conor Garland scored two goals apiece Thursday, and the United States beat Slovakia 6-1 to advance to the semifinal showdown with Canada in hockey’s world championship.

(AP Photo/Nick Wass)WASHINGTON – Capitals players and coach Peter Laviolette sounded as if they'd lost after holding on to beat the New York Rangers 5-4 Sunday. Washington has won 10 of 11 games to move two points up on the second-place New York Islanders and looks primed for another deep playoff run. “If there’s a trend, we want to address it,” said Wilson, who has five points in four games since returning from a seven-game suspension. And their best players are producing: Ovechkin has 11 goals in 11 games and leads the team with 18; Kuznetsov has 12 points in 10 games and Jakub Vrana picked up his first point in five games. Keith Kinkaid made 17 saves for the Rangers, who have lost back-to-back one-goal games after a three-game winning streak.

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his first goal of an NHL hockey game during the third period against New York Rangers defensemen Ryan Lindgren (55) and Adam Fox (23), Friday, March 19, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)WASHINGTON – Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the final seven minutes to continue his goal streak and rally the Washington Capitals to a 2-1 victory against the New York Rangers on Friday night for their seventh win in a row. Ovechkin tied it on a rebound with 6:42 left and put the Capitals ahead on a nearly identical play with 3:33 remaining. He has scored in five consecutive games and has seven goals in the past seven. I can’t be missing seven games.