With Steven Stamkos out of the Tampa Bay lineup, Nikita Kucherov is the go-to sniper for the Lightning.

He's filled Stamkos' shoes quite well so far, as evidenced by his two goals in Game 1 versus the Detroit Red Wings.

Kucherov's snipes have garnered the attention of many in the Tampa area, so much so he's getting billboard treatment.

That's dedication to your team.

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Sidney Crosby will remember Tom Sestito as a Penguin - even though Sestito played only four games with Pittsburgh.

Crosby signed a stick for Sestito's newborn son, leaving him an awesome message:

At 6-foot-5 and almost 250 pounds, Sestito won't be remembered for his goal-scoring exploits. He has 10 goals and nine assists in 141 NHL games for the Blue Jackets, Flyers, Canucks, and Penguins.

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After three blown leads, and five goals on 26 shots, Roberto Luongo's playoff debut with the Florida Panthers did not go according to plan.

The Panthers fell victim to John Tavares' three-point effort in a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders in Game 1.

Luongo, who hasn't won a playoff contest since he recorded a shutout in Game 5 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, thought the Panthers played well enough in front of him, but that he wasn't as sharp as required.

"I think we played well in general, carried much of the play," Luongo told George Richards of the Miami Herald. "We had some breakdowns, but when that happens, I have to come up with some saves. I didn't do that enough. We just have to come back with the same attitude and I have to be better and make some saves."

Although Luongo feels responsible for the loss, Florida head coach Gerard Gallant isn't pointing fingers at his netminder.

"I thought our defensive game was bad and some of the shots were great," Gallant said. "I'm not going to blame (Luongo). He's been our key guy all year long."

Luongo went 35-19-4 in the regular season with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage en route to an Atlantic Division title.

Fortunately for Luongo and the Panthers, there's an early chance at redemption, as Game 2 is set for Friday night in a rare postseason back-to-back.

Despite the consecutive games, Luongo is expected to start Friday, and used an IV after Game 1 to prepare for the quick turnaround.

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Jonathan Drouin put all that time off to good use.

The Tampa Bay Lightning forward was a force in Wednesday's Game 1 against the Detroit Red Wings, playing 17:39, firing three shots on goal, throwing two hits, and picking up two penalties. He went to the net, and he was involved in post-whistle scrums. Detroit - especially Justin Abdelkader - took notice.

For Drouin, it was by design. The Lightning suspended the 21-year-old earlier in the season after he left Tampa Bay's minor-league team to await a trade, but he wasn't sitting at home playing video games. Instead, Drouin was in the weight and video rooms.

"I was looking at my tape during my time off, and I was on the outside a little bit too much," Drouin said, according to the Tampa Bay Times' Joe Smith. "I was more on the perimeter. I want to go to those dirty areas."

He did. And head coach Jon Cooper noticed. Drouin's ice time was second among all Tampa Bay forwards, and his 17:39 was the third-most he's played in the NHL all season.

Drouin's clearly playing with something to prove. Whether that's to himself, the Lightning, or a future employer is uncertain. But Cooper put him in a top-six offensive role, and sent him out against Detroit's best players.

"Coach wanted me to prove I can do that," Drouin said about lining up across Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. "It was great."

Drouin's played three games - two in the regular season and one in the playoffs - since being recalled by the Lightning after captain Steven Stamkos was lost to a blood clot. The sample size is small, but Drouin, with two goals and nine shots in those games, is showing why he was a third overall pick.

The talent's there. It always has been. It's up to Drouin to make the most of it, and it seems he may finally be ready to do that.

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Over his career with the Washington Capitals, Braden Holtby has been solid, but come playoff time, the 26-year-old is a rock.

After entering the playoffs on a downward trend - by his standards at least - Holtby blanked the Philadelphia Flyers in the Caps' Game 1 victory Thursday night.

It shouldn't come as a surprise. Holtby has been stellar every year in the playoffs with the Capitals. In fact, he's been the best out of any goalie in the league.

Those sparkling numbers come in 35 postseason appearances, and rank him ahead of noted playoff veterans such as Marc-Andre Fleury, Jonathan Quick, and Henrik Lundqvist.

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Travis Hamonic may be biased, but he isn't afraid of sharing his opinion.

After watching his New York Islanders teammate and captain John Tavares carve up the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of their first-round series, Hamonic was straight and to the point.

"Best player in the league," the defenseman said, according to Newsday's Mark Herrmann, about Tavares, who had a goal and two assists and was a force all night, making highlight-reel plays and throwing three hits.

"I've said that a lot," Hamonic added. "I see him every day and I'm glad he's on our side. He's a heck of a player. The last handful of games he's been carrying us and (Thursday) was no different."

Tavares is a man on a mission right now. Going back to the regular season, he has points in five straight games and seven of eight. More impressive: The Islanders weren't a lock for the playoffs until the final hours of the regular season, and Tavares got them there, the club going 3-0-1 in the final week of the regular season.

Tavares has scored in each of his past five games, and has 12 points over that span. If the Panthers want to win the series, they're going to have to figure out a way to stop No. 91.

One of the NHL's quietest superstars, Tavares had a down season by his standards, his 0.90 points per game his lowest since 2010-11, when he was 20 years old and only in his second season.

Still only 25, Tavares may have been saving himself for the spring. He's never made it past the first round of the playoffs.

"We obviously put up a really good fight in both (previous playoff defeats)," Tavares said Thursday night. "But we want to come out on the right end of this one."

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Joe Pavelski scores big goals. It's what he does.

The San Jose Sharks forward led the NHL with 11 game-winning goals during the regular season, and he was up to his old tricks in Game 1 of the playoffs, scoring two goals to lead his club to a huge 4-3 road win over the Los Angeles Kings.

"He's our captain for a reason," Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said after the game, according to Yahoo Sports' Josh Cooper. "He scores a lot of key goals ... he's been clutch like that for us all season."

The "captain" comment is interesting for a couple of reasons. Joe Thornton was stripped of the captaincy after the 2013-14 season. No one wore the "C" in 2014-15, and Pavelski was named captain ahead of this season, with Thornton named an alternate, in DeBoer's first season behind San Jose's bench.

The returns suggest it's all worked out for the best. Thornton had his best statistical season since 2009-10, becoming a point-per-game player again and finishing second in the NHL with 63 assists. Pavelski had 78 points, one off his career high, but if you take his 11 game winners into account, it's not a stretch to say 2015-16 was the best season of his career, at 31.

Making things even more interesting: The decision to go with no captain last season was made after the Sharks won 51 games in 2013-14, but blew a 3-0 first-round series lead to the Kings, losing in a heartbreaking seven games.

Pavelski admitted he felt nervous before puck drop, describing the vibe in the Sharks' dressing room as "loose ... not overly loose, not overly excited." However the Sharks prepared, it worked, as they erased deficits of 1-0 and 3-2 to earn the win.

Pavelski's second goal - at 17 seconds of the third period - was the eighth game-winner of his playoff career, and the earliest a Sharks player has ever scored a goal in any period in the playoffs.

San Jose was the NHL's best road team this season, winning a remarkable 28 games. They lived up to their road warriors status Thursday.

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LOS ANGELES - Joe Pavelski broke a tie with his second goal early in the third period, and the San Jose Sharks opened their playoff return with a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.

Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks in their first postseason game since losing four straight to the Kings in 2014, completing a seven-game flop in the first round. Los Angeles rode the momentum to its second Stanley Cup title, but both California rivals missed the playoffs last year.

San Jose's Martin Jones made 19 saves against his former Los Angeles teammates in his first career playoff start.

Trevor Lewis scored a short-handed goal and Jonathan Quick stopped 19 shots for the Kings.

Game 2 is Saturday night at Staples Center.

Jake Muzzin and Jeff Carter also scored, but Los Angeles struggled to keep up for long stretches of the two-time champs' return to the postseason.

The fourth playoff meeting in six seasons between these familiar foes got off to a thrilling start, with both teams trading huge hits and erasing early deficits within seconds of falling behind.

San Jose dominated long stretches of play, but Los Angeles kept it close with two goals banked in off the Sharks' defense.

San Jose got another monster offensive game from Pavelski, their captain and a 38-goal scorer. He put the Sharks ahead 17 seconds into the third period, circling the net with the puck and holding off Anze Kopitar before firing home a wraparound goal.

Burns had a goal and an assist, and Joel Ward contributed two assists as the Sharks carried the play for most of the game.

The Kings led the Pacific Division for most of the second half of the season, and they led Winnipeg 3-0 late in the second period of their season finale before blowing the game and the division banner. Los Angeles' defensive struggles continued in the postseason, giving up six goals in a 66-minute span dating to the regular season.

But the Staples Center fans hadn't cleared all of the confetti from Kobe Bryant's 60-point career finale out of their seats before Muzzin put the Kings ahead, adroitly banking in a puck off Hertl's skate. Pavelski evened it with a one-timer on a power play moments later, getting his 27th playoff goal.

Burns put the Sharks ahead early in the second with a long wrist shot, but Carter tied it 40 seconds later with a power-play goal that banked in off Paul Martin.

Lewis put the Kings back ahead late in the second with a long rush and an exceptional toe-drag for a short-handed goal, but Hertl tied it off a scrum 30 seconds later.

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