By Canadian Press

Five things to know about the NHL playoffs

Apr 24, 2023 | 3:14 AM

Don’t expect two 60-goal scorers to drop the gloves tonight when the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning clash in Game 4 at Amalie Arena — that was so yesterday.

The Leafs, looking to grab a commanding 3-1 series lead before heading home, would prefer if Auston Matthews served up offensive punch and stayed out of the penalty box. Tampa’s Steven Stamkos, who downplayed his Game 3 scrap with Matthews, is also hoping to help the Lightning strike on the scoreboard.

Meanwhile in Winnipeg, expect more wild White Noise as the Jets are all in on evening up their best-of-seven series against the favoured Vegas Golden Knights.

Here are five things to know about the NHL playoffs:

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Hands up if you thought the Edmonton Oilers were toast after the first period of last night’s game in Los Angeles, trailing 3-0 with nothing working.

After pushing the reset button between periods, the Oilers changed goalies and strategy, then scored three of their own to tie it 3-3 heading into the third. Matt Roy, with his first of the playoffs, gave the Kings a 4-3 lead in the third and then Evander Kane tied it for the Oilers with three minutes left in regulation.

Zach Hyman scored at 10:39 of overtime to give the Oilers the 5-4 win, tying the series 2-2 and sending the Kings’ fans and Will Ferrell home wondering what happened to their Blades of Glory.

Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist for Edmonton, Connor McDavid had three assists, Evan Bouchard had a goal and two assists and everyone went home with a bruise or cut in a punishing display of playoff hockey.

DÉJÀ VU FOR COOP’S CREW 

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper was quick to remind reporters after his squad dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday that his squad also trailed the Leafs 2-1 last year before winning the first-round series.

He also felt Brayden Point’s disallowed goal should have counted and that Morgan Rielly’s third-period hit on Point wasn’t clean and deserved a harsh penalty of some sort.

Players did their fair share of chirping, too. Leafs’ defenceman Luke Schenn called Bolts’ forward Pat Maroon irrelevant and the Lightning players called Schenn a whole bunch of disrespectful things that kept the mute button-pushers busy.

Expect it to get even nastier tonight.

KRAKEN UNDER PRESSURE?

With the Game 3 hype and history now out of the way at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, the Kraken have to concentrate on beating the visiting Colorado Avalanche tonight to avoid going back to Denver down 3-1 in the series.

The defending Stanley Cup champions got all-star performances from Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in Saturday’s 6-4 win.

The Kraken will need regular-season snipers like Jared McCann and Matty Beniers to start producing or it will be a short series.

SOAKING UP WINNIPEG’S VIBE

Despite being focused on the ice, Jets defencemen Neal Pionk and Nate Schmidt had a few “wow” moments in-between whistles on Saturday while soaking up the Winnipeg Whiteout and the fans’ vibe.

Pionk called it one of the coolest experiences of his life, while Schmidt believed the crowd helped them erase a 4-1 deficit before losing 5-4 in double overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Both players are excited to see a Whiteout replay tonight at Canada Life Centre when the Jets aim to even their series at 2-2 before heading back to Sin City.

BRUINS SWEEP IN SUNRISE

Matthew Tkachuk wanted out of Alberta last year when the Flames couldn’t convince Johnny Gaudreau to re-sign or reside in Calgary. Johnny Hockey ended up in Columbus and Tkachuk flocked to Florida, where he believed sunshine and playoffs would be the norm.

Despite Tkachuk’s best efforts as a playoff agitator, the Panthers haven’t been able to take advantage of a banged-up Bruins’ team in their first-round series and are now one loss away from booking tee times. In fact, Bruins’ netminder Linus Ullmark, not content with just stopping 41 shots on Sunday, also wanted a piece of Tkachuk late in the third before being sent to the showers three minutes early.

Taylor Hall scored two goals and added two assists as the Bruins crushed the hosts 6-2. Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and assist, giving him six points in four games for the Bruins, who will host Game 5 on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023.

The Canadian Press