Evan Rodrigues had two of three Florida Panthers goals in the third period as the Eastern Conference champions took a 2-0 lead on the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final with Monday's 4-1 win.

Niko Mikkola also scored and Aaron Ekblad had a game-sealing empty-net goal in the final minutes as the Panthers moved two wins away from the franchise's first Stanley Cup title.

They did so by keeping Connor McDavid and Edmonton's high-powered offence in check for a second straight meeting. After being dealt a 3-0 loss in Saturday's opener of the best-of-seven series, the Oilers managed just seven shots on goal over the first two periods of Game 2 and 19 for the night.

Florida did sustain a key injury in Game 2, however, as captain and top-line centre Aleksandar Barkov did not return after taking an elbow to the head from Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl midway through the third period. 

Mattias Ekholm recorded the lone goal for the Oilers, who will attempt to reverse momentum on home ice when the series shifts to Edmonton for Thursday's Game 3.

Despite Florida owning a 22-7 shot advantage through the first two periods, the teams were locked in a 1-1 tie until Rodrigues stole an attempted clearing pass from Edmonton's Evan Bouchard in the Oilers' end and whistled a shot past goaltender Stuart Skinner 3:11 into the third.

Rodrigues struck again on the power play created by Draisaitl's roughing penalty on Barkov with 9:28 remaining, as he redirected a pass from Anton Lundell into the Edmonton net for a 3-1 Florida lead with 7:34 left.

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch pulled Skinner for an extra attacker with under seven minutes to go, and the move gave Edmonton essentially a two-man advantage when Florida defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson received a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck into the stands with less than five minutes remaining.

The Panthers killed off the infraction, however, then ended any hopes of an Edmonton comeback when Ekblad scored into the vacant net with 2:28 left to play.

Florida had the game's first prime scoring opportunity when Oilers forward Warren Foegele received a five-minute major penalty and an ejection for a knee-to-knee hit on the Panthers' Eetu Luostarinen midway through the first period.

The Panthers couldn't capitalise, however, and the sides were soon 4-on-4 when Ekman-Larsson was called for tripping during the extended power play.

Just 19 seconds after Ekman-Larsson was sent off, Ekholm's shot on a 2-on-1 rush evaded Florida netminder Sergei Bobrovsky to put Edmonton up 1-0 with 8:43 remaining in the opening period.

Florida drew even midway through the second period when Mikkola fired a drop pass from Lundell past Skinner.

Bobrovsky finished with 18 saves, while Skinner stopped 25 of 28 shots.

Barclay Goodrow scored with 5:59 left in overtime to lift the New York Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Friday night, evening the Eastern Conference final at a game apiece.

Goodrow fired a snap shot from between the circles over Sergei Bobrovsky’s right shoulder for his third goal in the last five games.

Vincent Trocheck scored early in the first period and Igor Shesterkin stopped 26 shots as the Rangers avoided losing both home games and now head to Florida for Game 3 on Sunday afternoon with the series tied.

Trocheck’s goal was his seventh of the playoffs and gave him four goals and nine points in seven games this postseason at Madison Square Garden.

Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 23 shots and Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

Carter Verhaeghe also scored and Sam Bennett tallied into an empty net as the Panthers won for the fifth time in their last six playoff games.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers, who have lost three of four after opening the playoffs with seven straight wins.

Game 2 is Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Bobrovsky made five saves in the first period, seven in the second and was at his best in the third with 11 more saves to complete his second career postseason shutout.

He denied Kaapo Kakko on a one-timer with a sliding save 6 ½ minutes into the third and stopped Alexander Wennberg on two attempts in close with seven minutes left.

New York had four shots on goal in the first 1:55 of the second period, and then went nearly 14 ½ minutes without one until Adam Fox’s attempt with 3:42 to play.

Cody Glass recorded his first career hat trick and the Nashville Predators rolled past the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 for their eighth straight victory on Saturday.

Glass opened the scoring with 4:42 left in the opening period and gave Nashville a 2-1 lead with 5:34 to play in the second. He completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Tommy Novak had a goal and an assist and Juuse Saros stopped 25 shots for the Predators, who tied the second-longest winning streak in franchise history. They won 10 in a row from mid-February through early March 2018.

Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone goal for Colorado, which dropped to 2-5-1 in its last eight road games.

MacKinnon’s goal extended his point streak to nine games, during which he has five goals and 11 assists.

Bobrovsky lifts red-hot Panthers

Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 21 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and Sam Reinhart scored his 42nd goal as the Florida Panthers continued their surge with a 4-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

Bobrovsky notched his 42nd career shutout to win for the ninth time in his last 10 starts.

Brandon Montour had a goal and two assists and Evan Rodrigues added a goal and an assist to help the Panthers improve to 14-2-0 in their last 16 games.

Florida, which won its league-best 21st road game, moved into sole possession of the Eastern Conference lead, two points ahead of Boston and the Rangers.

Detroit lost its second straight after six consecutive wins.

Maple Leafs beat Rangers in shootout

Max Domi scored the deciding goal in the shootout on his 29th birthday to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers.

John Tavares, William Nylander and Mitch Marner scored in regulation for the Maple Leafs, who have won nine of their last 10 games to pull within six points of second-place Boston in the Atlantic Division.

Vincent Trocheck had a pair of goals for the Rangers, including the tying goal with 67 seconds to play in regulation.

New York lost for just the second time in 13 games (11-1-1) and is two points behind Florida for the Eastern Conference lead.

Sam Reinhart had two goals and Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner with 6:23 remaining to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 win over the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers on Friday.

Aleksander Barkov recorded three assists to tie a franchise all-time record in that category and help the Panthers to a third straight victory. The Florida captain now has 415 career assists, matching former teammate Jonathan Huberdeau for the most in club history.

The Rangers rallied from an early two-goal deficit to draw even at 3-3 when Mika Zibanejad scored short-handed with 7:45 left to play. The deadlock was short-lived, however, as Verhaeghe whipped a wrist shot past New York goaltender Jonathan Quick just 1:22 later to put the Panthers back in front. 

Florida's Evan Rodrigues had the lone goal of the first period, and Reinhart increased the lead to 2-0 with just over seven minutes elapsed in the second before the Rangers got goals from Artemi Panarin and Will Cuylle less than 90 seconds apart.

Reinhart sent the Panthers back ahead before the end of the second, however, by redirecting a shot from Barkov past Quick with Florida on a power play. 

Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves for Florida, while Quick stopped 28 shots in just New York's second loss in its last seven games.

Stars' Hintz completes hat trick with overtime winner

Roope Hintz finished off a hat trick by scoring with 7.9 seconds left in overtime to give the Dallas Stars a thrilling 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Dallas bounced back from blowing a two-goal third-period lead when Hintz knocked home a feed from Jason Robertson with time winding down in overtime. The hat trick was the fifth of the standout centre's career.

Robertson finished with two assists, while Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski each had a goal and an assist as the Stars improved to 6-1-1 over their last eight games.

Tyler Johnson had two goals for Chicago, including a power-play tally with 2:36 remaining in regulation that tied the game at 4-4.

Johnson also scored the game's first goal, three minutes before teammate Cole Guttman converted a pass from Lukas Reichel midway through the first period for a 2-0 Blackhawks' lead.

Dallas then recorded the next four goals, beginning with Hintz's first of the night that came under a minute after Guttman's tally. Hintz and Pavelski both scored in the second period to put the Stars ahead before Benn extended the lead to 4-2 with just over two minutes elapsed in the third.

Jason Dickinson later brought the Blackhawks back within one by beating Dallas goaltender Scott Wedgewood with 11:02 left in the third.

Petr Mrazek had 30 saves for Chicago, which has now dropped seven of its last nine games (2-6-1). Wedgewood recorded 25 saves for the Stars.

Kraken edge Flyers in OT to extend point streak

Justin Schultz's goal with 2:25 left in overtime extended the surging Seattle Kraken's winning streak to four games with Friday's 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Schultz slid a pass from Oliver Bjorkstrand past Flyers goaltender Carter Hart in extra time shortly after Seattle secured an eighth consecutive game with at least one point (6-0-2), which ties a franchise record. 

Joey Daccord allowed a short-handed goal to Philadelphia's Travis Konecny in the first period, but kept the Flyers off the board thereafter in a 27-save effort.

Hart, who also finished with 27 saves, had a shutout going until Vince Dunn scored on a power play 5:45 into the third period to tie the game at 1-1.

Philadelphia has now lost three of its last four games but is now 6-0-3 over a nine-game point streak on the road.

Evan Bouchard's second goal of the game broke a tie early in the third period and sent the resurgent Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday.

Edmonton won its sixth consecutive game and improved to 8-3-0 under Kris Knoublach, who replaced Jay Woodcroft as head coach on Nov. 12 after the Oilers got off to a 3-9-1 start.

Bouchard added an assist and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had four assists to help the Oilers battle back twice from one-goal deficits. Stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each contributed a goal and an assist to back 17 saves from Stuart Skinner.

The Wild were outshot by a 40-20 margin but kept it close throughout behind 36 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury.

After Draisaitl's power-play goal late in the second period forged a 3-3 tie, Bouchard also converted a power-play chance 1:32 into the third to put Edmonton in front.

Bouchard's first of the night gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead after one period, but Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek each scored in the opening minute of the second to send the Wild ahead. 

McDavid answered just 40 seconds after Eriksson Ek's goal, but Minnesota regained the lead on Connor Dewar's one-timer with 8:02 left in the second.

The Wild have now lost two straight after winning their first four games since John Hynes replaced Dean Evason as head coach on Nov. 28.

Bobrovsky, Panthers extend Penguins' losing streak

Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves and Eetu Luostarinen scored the deciding goal in the third period as the Florida Panthers came through with a 3-1 win over the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Aleksander Barkov also had goals to help the Panthers move to 4-1-1 over their last six games.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has now lost four straight (0-2-2) after failing to hold on to a 1-0 lead provided by Reilly Smith's goal 8:05 into the second period.

The Panthers drew even when Ekman-Larsson knocked in a rebound late in the second period, then took a 2-1 edge when Luostarinen sent a loose puck past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry with 6:10 elapsed in the third.

After Florida killed off a late Pittsburgh power play, Barkov sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining.

Jarry stopped 30 of 32 shots for the Penguins, who went 0 for 3 on the power play and have now gone 13 straight games without a man-advantage goal.

Greaves stars in NHL debut as Blue Jackets top Blues

Jet Greaves stopped 41 shots to win his first NHL game as the Columbus Blue Jackets pulled away for a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Yegor Chinakhov had two of three Columbus goals in the third period to support an outstanding debut from Greaves, called up from the minors Thursday after the Blue Jackets placed regular goaltender Elvis Merzlikins on injured reserve.

The 22-year-old rookie came up with 23 saves alone in the third period, during which Chinakhov scored twice in a span of under six minutes to stretch Columbus' lead to 4-1.

Chinakhov also assisted on Kirill Marchenko's goal that put the Blue Jackets ahead just 1:42 in, though Robert Thomas tied it for St. Louis later in the first period with the first of his two goals.

Adam Fantilli put Columbus back ahead with a shot past Blues goaltender Joel Hofer with 2:59 left in the opening period.

Thomas scored again with 2:22 remaining to get St. Louis within 4-2, but Alexandre Texier's empty-net goal in the final seconds ended any Blues' comeback hopes.

Columbus snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Blues have now dropped three of four. Hofer stopped 17 of 21 shots in defeat.