Brock Nelson scored twice Sunday night for the New York Islanders, who took a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals by beating the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2, in Game 4 in Toronto.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period for the sixth-seeded Islanders, who seized a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. New York will attempt to close out the Flyers and advance to the conference finals for the first time since 1993 in Game 5, which is scheduled for Tuesday night.
Goalie Thomas Greiss, making his first start since March 7, made 36 saves.
Sean Couturier and Ivan Provorov scored for the top-seeded Flyers. Goalie Brian Elliott, whose only previous start this month came against the Washington Capitals in round-robin play on Aug. 6, recorded 30 saves.
Golden Knights 5, Canucks 3
Max Pacioretty had two goals, including the game-winner, and one assist to lead Vegas to a victory over Vancouver in Edmonton.
The win gives the Knights a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals.
The Golden Knights had single-goal efforts from Chandler Stephenson, Nate Schmidt and William Karlsson. The Canucks got a goal each from Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat and Tyler Toffoli. J.T. Miller assisted on all three Canucks goals, and Quinn Hughes added two assists.
Stars 5, Avalanche 4
Radek Faksa had a goal and two assists, and John Klingberg and Roope Hintz each added a goal and an assist, as Dallas took a 3-1 lead over Colorado in their best-of-seven series, coming away with a 5-4 victory in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs at Rogers (NYSE:ROG) Place in Edmonton.
Denis Gurianov and Jamie Benn also scored goals and Anton Khudobin finished with 33 saves for Dallas, which can clinch a spot in the Western Conference finals with a win in Game 5 on Monday night.
Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals, Cale Makar had a goal and an assist and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored a goal for Colorado. Andre Burakovsky and Samuel Girard each had two assists and Nathan MacKinnon also had an assist, extending his team record to 12 straight playoff games with a point.
--Field Level Media