UNDATED (AP) — Brandon Tanev scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:36 left and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 5-4 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Jeff Carter scored twice, Kris Letang had a goal and two assists and Jason Zucker also scored for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry stopped 26 shots. Cal Clutterbuck scored twice, Scott Mayfield had a goal and two assists, and Anthony Beauvillier also scored for New York. Semyon Varlamov finished with 22 saves. Game 4 is Saturday at Nassau Coliseum. Tanev capped a wild third period as he swatted the puck out of the air past Varlamov for the winner.
In other playoff action:
— Ryan Lomberg scored on a breakaway 5:56 into overtime to cap a furious comeback and give the Florida Panthers a 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the first-round Central Division playoff matchup. The Panthers cut the Lightning’s lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. The Lightning took a 5-3 lead into the final period. But the reigning Stanley Cup champions couldn’t put the Panthers away, yielding a power-play goal to Patric Hornqvist and Gustav Forsling’s equalizer with 3:07 remaining. Game 4 is Saturday at Amalie Arena.
— Paul Byron broke a tie with a short-handed goal from his knees with 7:16 left and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Thursday night in Game 1 of the first-round series between Original Six rivals. The game was marred by an early collision that sent Toronto captain John Tavares off the ice on a stretcher to a hospital. Tavares crashed into Montreal’s Ben Chiarot 10:29 into the first period and was hit in the head by Corey Perry’s knee as he fell. Carey Price made 35 saves and Josh Anderson had a first-period goal for the Canadiens. William Nylander tied it for Toronto early in the second.
