Stanley Cup playoffs roundup: Things even out for Lightning, Blues and Penguins

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Both the Blues and Lightning evened things up on their home ice in a big way, and the Penguins stole a road victory to even their series with the Rangers. 

The Lightning blasted the Red Wings Saturday in a 5-1 victory, while the Blues finally found their offense in a 4-1 win over Minnesota. Both series head north on Monday. 

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In Saturday's night games, the Penguins rallied for a 4-3 win and the Ducks took a two-game lead in their series with a tough 2-1 win over the Jets. 

Lightning 5, Red Wings 1 (Series tied 1-1)

Tyler Johnson scored the game's first goal on a rebound off a Nikita Kesterov shot. Johnson then added another just before the end of the second period to give the Lightning a 4-0 lead. In between Johnson's goals were scores from Alex Killorn and Andrej Šustr, who took a crossing pass from Valtteri Filppula for the one-timer.

The Red Wings avoided a shutout on Tomas Tatar's third-period tip-in, but Lightning keeper Ben Bishop stopped the other 23 Detroit shots. Filppula added a late power-play goal for the final margin. Power plays were the biggest difference in the game — Tampa was 2 of 4, while the Red Wings went scoreless in four opportunities. 

Blues 4, Wild 1 (Series tied 1-1)

Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice in the first period, both goals on assists from Alexander Steen and Kevin Shattenkirk, to help the Blues right the ship before the series shifts to Minnesota. He added an empty-net goal late in the third for his first career playoff hat trick and the first playoff hat trick for the Blues since 2004. 

Tarasenko redirected a Steen shot for the game's first goal with 6:42 remaining in the first period.

Following a scoreless second period, the Wild climbed back into it when Marco Scandella found the back of the net early in the third. The Wild nearly knotted it up later in the period, but Jake Allen withstood a heavy Wild attack and finished with 24 saves. Before Tarasenko's empty-netter with 17 seconds remaining, Patrik Berglund maneuvered the puck up ice to net the Blues an insurance goal with 1:58 remaining. 

Penguins 4, Rangers 3 (Series tied 1-1)

Sidney Crosby returned to form, scoring two of Pittsburgh's three goals in the second period to rally from a goal down. Crosby had just one goal in his previous 19 playoff games, but his two on Saturday came within five minutes of each other. 

Before Crosby's two goals put the Penguins up 3-1, Brandon Sutter got Pittsburgh on the board midway through the second period with a wrister past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. 

The Rangers tried to rally and got a goal from Derick Brassard, but Chris Kunitz wristed a shot past Lundqvist minutes later to again give the Penguins a multigoal advantage. With Lundqvist pulled, Martin St. Louis scored the final goal for the Rangers with under four seconds remaining. 

Ducks 2, Jets 1 (Ducks lead 2-0)

It wasn't easy, but the Ducks got a pair of third-period goals to take a 2-0 series lead on the Jets. 

While the Ducks outshot the Jets 17-9 in the first period, Winnipeg keeper Ondrej Pavelec stopped every one of them to keep the game scoreless. Pavelec was a stone wall for most of the game, finishing with 37 saves as the Jets were outshot 39-29. 

The Jets took a 1-0 lead on Adam Pardy's wrap-around — Pardy's first goal in over four years. There was a review of the goal because Winnipeg's Lee Stempniak was coming out of the net at the time of the shot, but he had been shoved into the net by Anaheim center Ryan Kesler. 

The Ducks finally solved Pavelec midway through the third on Patrick Maroon's power-play goal. It came on a strange sequence, but Maroon's shot found its way through traffic to get by a distracted Pavelec. The Jets goalie had lost his stick, which was handed back to him by a teammate just before the shot. 

The game appeared to be headed for overtime until Jakob Silfverberg's wrister with 21 seconds remaining broke the tie and gave the victory to the Ducks. 

Three stars

3. Tyler Johnson, C, Lightning: Johnson scored two of Tampa's first four goals as the Lightning built a 4-0 lead. He took six of Tampa's 30 shots on goal, as the Lightning kept the pressure on the Red Wings to head to Detroit with the series tied at 1-1.

2. Sidney Crosby, C, Penguins: Crosby's two goals in the second period helped the Penguins rally from a goal down to take a 3-1 lead after two periods. Crosby had just one goal in his previous seven games against the Rangers. 

1. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, Blues: Tarasenko helped the Blues break out of their offensive funk with a hat trick as the Blues evened their series with the Wild. 

Injury report

Tarasenko and Steen both missed a handful of games with lower-body injuries late in the season and the Blues offense looked sluggish in Game 1 against the Wild. But the duo, along with Shattenkirk, hooked up twice in the first period to spark a Blues victory. 

Penguins defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Derrick Pouliot were held out of Saturday's Game 2 matchup with the Rangers with upper-body injuries. The injuries have caused Ehrhoff to miss the last 10 games and forced Pouliot out of the last three. 

Predators defenseman Shea Weber will not travel to Chicago, and is out for the next two games with a lower-body injury, the team announced Saturday. Weber injured his right leg in the second period of Friday night's 6-2 win.

Nashville forward Mike Fisher incurred a a lower-body injury in Game 1 and did not play in Game 2, but will travel with the Predators and is listed as day-to-day.

Gotta see it

Marco Scandella took a drop pass from Thomas Vanek and wound up for a slap shot, but his stick snapped as he ripped the shot off. He still got enough of it and the changeup fooled Blues goalie Jake Allen. 

Each team with a 1-0 series lead lost Saturday and the Ducks appeared to be headed for the same fate until they got a pair of late goals, including Silfverberg's game-winner with 21 seconds remaining.

Sunday's games

(All times ET)

Capitals at Islanders, noon, series tied 1-1

Predators at Blackhawks, 3 p.m., series tied 1-1

Canadiens at Senators, 7 p.m., Montreal leads series 2-0

Canucks at Flames, 10 p.m., series tied 1-1

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