MONTREAL — Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos ended his scoring drought and the Lightning’s power-play came to life with four goals – at the expense of the reeling Montreal Canadiens.

Stamkos scored his first goal of the playoffs and Tampa Bay beat Montreal 6-2 on Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

“I don’t know if it was more relief that (Stamkos) scored or the power play scored, so it was kind of the whole compilation of Alka Seltzer,” Lightning Coach Jon Cooper said.

Nikita Kucherov scored twice on power plays, Valtteri Filppula, Victor Hedman and J.T. Brown added goals, and Ben Bishop, a former University of Maine goalie, made 27 saves for the Lightning.

Jeff Petry and Tom Gilbert scored for Montreal. Carey Price allowed the most goals he has all season, finishing with 18 saves.

Game 3 is Wednesday night at Tampa Bay. In Game 1, Tampa Bay won 2-1 in double overtime.

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“I don’t know how much home ice has been an advantage in all the playoffs so far,” Bishop said. “We look forward to going home, but it’s not going to be any easier.”

BLACKHAWKS 4, WILD 1: Patrick Kane scored two goals, Corey Crawford made 30 saves and host Chicago beat Minnesota to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Patrick Sharp had a goal and an assist as Chicago improved to 5-0 at home in this year’s playoffs.

Jonathan Toews also scored in the second period after a big play by Marian Hossa.

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Minnesota.

Defenseman Matt Dumba scored for the Wild, who are winless in eight postseason games at Chicago. Devan Dubnyk finished with 27 saves.


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