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Colorado Avalanche blank Dallas Stars, 4-0, in NHL playoff seeding game

Boston Bruins center Karson Kuhlman, top, hits Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli during the third period Wednesday in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — High-scoring rookie defenseman Cale Makar connected on an early power-play goal, 30-year-old Pavel Francouz recorded a shutout in his postseason debut and the Colorado Avalanche cruised to a 4-0 round-robin win over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

also scored as the Avalanche improved to 2-0 in the three-game round that will determine playoff seeding for the top four teams in the Western Conference.

Francouz stopped 27 shots, including a couple of point-blank whacks from Tyler Seguin on rebounds in the second period.

It was the second career shutout for Francouz. The first was Feb. 21 before the shutdown, the same day he signed a two-year contract extension.

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Tampa Bay Lightning center Blake Coleman, left, fights Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug during the first period of their NHL playoff game on Wednesday in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Lightning 3, Bruins 2

At Toronto on Wednesday, Tyler Johnson scored the tiebreaking goal with 87 seconds left to lead Tampa Bay and send the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins to their second straight loss in the NHL’s playoff seeding round.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots for the Lightning, who improved to 2-0 in the three-game round-robin. Tampa Bay, which was second in the East with 92 regular-season points, would earn the top seed with a victory over Philadelphia on Saturday.

Tuukka Rask made 32 saves for the Bruins, who led the NHL with 100 points before the coronavirus shutdown but can now finish no higher than the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

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Coyotes 4, Predators 1

At Edmonton, Arizona knew it had a big opportunity when their challenge erased Nashville’s go-ahead goal early in the third period.

The Coyotes took advantage by scoring the next three goals.

Conor Garland and Taylor Hall each scored in the third period in the Coyotes’ win.

Now the Coyotes, seeded 11th in the West in the NHL’s restart, can eliminate the sixth-seeded Predators in Game 4 on Friday in this best-of-five qualifying series.

“We all understood the importance of it,” Hall said of the overturned goal. “To go up 2-1 in the series is the same as going up 3-2 in a best-of-seven.”

Christian Dvorak scored on Arizona’s first shot of the game, and the Coyotes scored three in the third for the victory capped by Carl Soderberg’s empty-netter inside the final two minutes.

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Panthers 3, Islanders 2

At Toronto, Brian Boyle and Florida turned the tables on the New York Islanders by playing with more discipline and patience to avoid being swept from the playoffs.

Boyle and Mike Hoffman scored goals 2:47 apart, and the Panthers took advantage of several miscues in beating the Islanders in Game 3 of their best-of-five preliminary round playoff series.

“It’s rewarding for us because we’re putting the work in and a few mistakes have cost us so far,” Boyle said. “We’re not where we want to be in this series, but we can only control today.”

Erik Haula also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 20 shots. The 10th-seeded Panthers trail the best-of-five series 2-1 with Game 4 at the NHL’s Eastern Conference hub city of Toronto on Friday.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Brock Nelson, with 1:27 remaining, scored for the Islanders, the East’s seventh seed. Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 shots.

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