Hurricanes & Maple Leafs Pick Up Playoff Wins

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sebastian Aho and Jordan Martinook scored 9 seconds apart late in the third period to help the Carolina Hurricanes complete a comeback from three goals down to beat the New York Islanders 5-3. That gave Carolina a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series in improbable fashion. Aho struck first by redirecting Andrei Svechnikov’s shot at the right post behind Semyon Varlamov with 2:15 remaining to tie the game at 3. Then Martinook scored off Varlamov’s left skate for the 4-3 lead. Kyle Palmieri, Bo Horvat and Anders Lee scored as the Islanders led 3-0 early in the second period. Meanwhile in Boston, Auston Matthews scored on a breakaway to snap a third-period tie and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 to knot their first-round playoff series at one game apiece. Ilya Samsonov stopped 27 shots for Toronto. The Leafs had lost eight straight games to Boston over 534 days dating to November, 2022. Max Domi and John Tavares also scored for the Maple Leafs. They haven’t beaten the Bruins in a playoff series since 1959. Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak scored for Boston. Linus Ullmark started as part of a goalie rotation even though Jeremy Swayman won Game 1 on Saturday. Ullmark made 30 saves.