The Washington Capitals defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in Game 2 on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena, to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference First Round playoff series. Canadiens’ forward Christian Dvorak scored early in the second to give Montreal a 1-0 lead, but the Capitals’ Connor McMichael and Dylan Strome replied in the second with goals one minute apart to put the Capitals on top, and later sealed the victory with an empty-net goal by McMichael. The series now shifts to Montreal with Game 3 set for Friday at the Bell Centre.

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The Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in an overtime win on Wednesday in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena on Wednesday.  Tyler Seguin scored at 5:31 of overtime to give the Stars the win; with Jamie Benn also scoring, and Mikko Rantanen with an assist for Dallas, while Jake Oettinger made 27 saves.  The Stars lead the best-of-7 series 2-1; Game 4 will take place in Denver on Saturday.

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The Los Angeles Kings took a 6-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday, extending their series lead to 2-0. Adrian Kempe had two goals and two assists, with Anze Kopitar adding a goal and three assists. Brandt Clarke and Andrei Kuzmenko each scored on the power play for the Kings, and Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves. Game 3 of the best-of-7 series will be in Edmonton on Friday.

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