Texier breaks 3rd-period tie, Canadiens beat Lightning in Game 5 to take series lead

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alexandre Texier broke a tie 1:06 into the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.

Rookie Jakub Dobes stopped 38 shots to help Montreal move within a victory of advancing for the first time since losing to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021.

Brendan Gallagher got his first goal in his first game this series and Kirby Dach also scored for the Canadiens.

Dominic James scored his first career playoff goal and Jake Guentzel also connected one for the Lightning. They are one loss from being eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season.

FLYERS 1, PENGUINS 0, OT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cam York scored 17:32 into overtime and chucked his stick into the crowd in a wild celebration to send Philadelphia into the second round for the first time in six years with a Game 6 win over the Pittsburgh.

The Flyers are set for second round showdown against Carolina.

Dan Vladar was again sensational in the net and stopped all 42 shots and prevented the Penguins from playing for a shot at playoff history.

Sidney Crosby and the Penguins tried to become just the fifth team in NHL history to win a series after trailing 3-0. They’ve won two straight games to force Game 6.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, MAMMOTH 4, 2 OT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Brett Howden scored a short-handed goal at 5:28 of the second overtime to give Vegas a victory over Utah and put the Golden Knights one victory away from winning the first-round series.

The Golden Knights take a 3-2 lead into their best-of-seven NHL playoffs series on Friday night in Salt Lake City.

Vegas’ Pavel Dorofeyev’s six-on-five goal with 52.7 seconds left in regulation forced overtime and gave him the sixth playoff hat trick in franchise history. Dorofeyev had two goals in 13 career playoff games before this one.

Also for the Golden Knights, Shea Theodore has a goal and assist and Jack Eichel had two assists. Carter Hart stopped 34 shots.

John Marino, Lawson Crouse and Dylan Guenther scored for the Mammoth and Clayton Keller had two assists. Karel Vejmelka made 31 saves.