Standing room only: Packed penalty boxes are all the rage early in the NHL playoffs

Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens

When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Friday, 7 p.m. ET (TNT) Series: Tied 1-1 Cooper said he and the Lightning are in a fun series right now after winning Game 2, with both games going to overtime. “Nobody said it’s going to be easy," said Tampa Bay winger Corey Perry, who has appeared in five of the past six Stanley Cup Finals and has a ring from Anaheim's title run in 2007. “Two teams that match up well against each other. This is what the playoffs are all about. There’s somebody new every single night making a name for themselves.” On Tuesday night, that was teammate J.J. Moser, who beat Jakub Dobes to be the OT hero. It was Slafkovsky in Game 1 when the Montreal winger completed his hat trick against Andrei Vasilevskiy. The scene now shifts to Bell Centre. Asked about the atmosphere his players are about to experience, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said simply: “They’ll be ready. They know they have the support from the fans. They’ll be ready.”

Vegas Golden Knights at Utah Mammoth

When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Friday, 9:30 p.m. ET (TBS) Series: Tied 1-1 The first NHL playoff game in Salt Lake City is a party unto itself, coming just over two years since the team moved there from Arizona and just under one since it became known as the Mammoth. Commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to be in attendance, and the city is buzzing for its first playoff game by a Big Four franchise since the NBA's Utah Jazz lost to Dallas on April 23, 2022. "You obviously want the city to do well with what they did for me and what they did for that group bringing in a fresh team and welcomed them with open arms,” said Josh Doan, who played in Utah last season and is in the playoffs now with Buffalo following a summer trade to the Sabres. "They deserve it, and it is fun to watch from the outside.” After the Golden Knights rallied to take the series opener, the Mammoth punched back in Game 2. "Obviously they’re a skilled team," Vegas forward Mitch Marner said. “We’ve got to do a better job of slowing down their speed.”

Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Ducks

When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Friday, 10 p.m. ET (TNT) Series: Tied 1-1 Long removed from the core of Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer hoisting the Cup nearly two decades ago, the Ducks are set to host the first playoff game in Anaheim since 2018. “It’s been a long time,” veteran coach Joel Quenneville said. “(The fans are) passionate. They’ve won. They know what it feels like. They know what playoff hockey’s all about, and they get a couple big games here.” Quenneville's team has so far kept three-time MVP Connor McDavid off the scoresheet, and the Oilers captain appeared to injure his right leg or ankle in the Game 2 loss that evened the series. While Edmonton made plenty of self-inflicted mistakes, the plucky Ducks also showed the spotlight isn't too bright by responding at important moments. Goaltender Lukas Dostal said 32-year-old defenseman Jacob Trouba keeps saying the team is “young and dumb a little bit” but in a good way. “The guys, we have always believed,” Dostal said. “We have so many comebacks in the third period this year, so we just know we can just keep going. I think we show it the whole year that we’re basically never out of a game.” \\\_ AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia and Mark Anderson in Las Vegas and AP freelance writer Erik Erlendsson in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report. \\\_ AP NHL playoffs: and