JACCOB SLAVIN

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid ran away in the voting to win his second Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after leading the league in points.

Lightning Hurricanes Hockey Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin (74) and Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Alex Killorn (17) chase the puck during the first period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, June 8, 2021. Vasilevskiy finished with 29 saves and stumped the homesteading Hurricanes for the third time in as many series games at PNC Arena. Then, after a wild Game 4 in Florida that saw each team score four second-period goals, Vasilevskiy turned away all shots to help the reigning Stanley Cup champions advance. Hurricanes forward Warren Foegele remained sidelined with a shoulder injury suffered in a Game 3 hit. STORM WARNINGCarolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule sounded the storm-warning siren for the Hurricanes to take the ice for the third period.

Brayden Point and Ross Colton scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy controlled the crease, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 on Tuesday night to win the second-round playoff series in five games.

Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos each had two goals and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 to open a commanding lead in their second-round playoff series.

Lightning Hurricanes Hockey Carolina Hurricanes' Jaccob Slavin (74) checks Tampa Bay Lightning's Alex Killorn (17) off the puck during the second period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, June 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker) (Karl B DeBlaker)RALEIGH, N.C. — (AP) — Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli scored while Andrei Vasilevskiy was strong in net once again, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Tuesday night for a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series. Killorn got the Lightning on the board 7:09 into the second period when he whipped a straightaway shot past Alex Nedeljkovic. The Lightning didn't generate much offense otherwise. Tampa Bay was without defenseman David Savard for a second straight game due to an upper-body injury.

Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli scored while Andrei Vasilevskiy was strong in net once again, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 for a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.

And they got it all covered off.”When the best-of-seven series opens Sunday, both the Hurricanes and the Lightning will be coming off a six-game first-round series. He was sharp right away with three goals and eight assists in the Florida series. “It took a few games for me to adjust to the speed and physically adjust to the game,” Kucherov said. The Hurricanes won the other, beating Washington in Game 7 of a 2019 first-round series on Brock McGinn's double-overtime winner. ___AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall in Tampa, Florida, and AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno in Washington contributed to this report.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning open their second-round playoff series Sunday.

Sebastian Aho scored his second goal of the game 1:06 into overtime to send the Carolina Hurricanes to the second round with a 4-3 comeback victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night in Game 6.

It's a good thing the Carolina Hurricanes' penalty kill did, too. That's why they are up 2-0 in their first-round playoff series on the Nashville Predators. Nedeljkovic finished with 32 saves to lead a perfect showing for Carolina's kill, helping the Hurricanes beat the Predators 3-0 on Wednesday night. “We obviously know the power play has got to be better. As for Saros, he had to make some big stops even when Nashville was on the power play.

Sebastian Aho scored twice and Alex Nedeljkovic was sharp in net to lead a perfect showing for Carolina’s penalty kill, helping the Hurricanes beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series.

Jordan Staal scored twice and Nino Niederreiter beat Juuse Saros for the go-ahead goal early in the third period, helping the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators in the first game of the teams' first-round playoff series.

The Carolina Hurricanes and the Nashville Predators begin their Stanley Cup playoff series Monday.

Carolina Hurricanes' Martin Necas (88) shoots the puck past Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) for an overtime goal in an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)RALEIGH, N.C. – Rod Brind’Amour got the tough and determined performance he wanted from his Carolina Hurricanes as they returned from a pause due to COVID-19 concerns. Martin Necas beat Andrei Vasilevskiy at 1:12 of overtime and Petr Mrazek had 32 saves to help the Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 on Thursday night after having four straight games postponed. “That was a goaltending duel tonight,” Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point said. Tampa Bay goaltender Curtis McElhinney remained the only Lightning player on Thursday's list.

(AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The Colgate men’s basketball games this weekend at Army have been postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test result within Army’s Tier 1 personnel. ___The Tennessee Tech men’s basketball team has its first schedule change of the season because of COVID-19 issues. ___Michigan State is planning to resume competing later this week after postponing three straight games due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the men’s basketball program. Staal said he was “the first guy to test positive” and said he was “as surprised as anyone else – really in shock” after finding out. He said he was trying to be safe and follow health protocols before testing positive.

For Peter Laviolette, his Washington Capitals will keep playing for the next week without four prominent players who broke the rules. There's no indication the Capitals are being shut down, though they will have to play the next four games without captain Alex Ovechkin, No. The NHL defers to local authorities, and the minimum four games for the Capitals players relates to the District of Columbia's quarantine regulations. The Hurricanes have so far had three games postponed because of their outbreak and won't play for at least a week. I think that’s really what we’re going to find out.”___AP Sports Writers Aaron Beard and Stephen Hawkins contributed.

Five players from the Carolina Hurricanes also are on the list and that team’s games were called off by the league through “at least” Saturday. The postponements were announced Wednesday, a day before the Hurricanes were set to host the Florida Panthers in their home opener. This is the first instance this season of Capitals players appearing on the NHL’s COVID-19 list, which could include those who test positive, have a potential exposure or face quarantine requirements. The league didn’t specify which team prompted that night’s postponement, although four Hurricanes players — Warren Foegele, Jordan Martinook, Jaccob Slavin and Teuvo Teravainen — were added to the daily COVID-19 list later Tuesday afternoon. Their past five games have been postponed during a stretch in which six Wizards players tested positive for the illness caused by the coronavirus and three others were sidelined after contact tracing determined they might have been exposed.