Home-ice advantage seems to be a real thing so far in the NHL playoffs

Home-ice advantage hasn t really existed over the past couple of years in the Stanley Cup playoffs In and visiting teams won more games than the home teams did That s not the circumstance so far in Entering Wednesday home teams were - in this postseason And the teams at home on Thursday in the NHL Tampa Bay Ottawa St Louis and Minnesota are surely hoping that trend continues The Senators are down - to Toronto the Blues are down - to Winnipeg the Lightning are down - to Florida and the Wild can take a - lead in their series over Vegas if they successfully protect home ice on Thursday It s not must-win time for any of them but there s certainly various urgency I know it s been a long time coming for Sens fans Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk reported looking ahead to what will be the first home playoff match for the Senators since May We re going to really need them and I m looking forward to getting out there in Encounter in front of our fans St Louis had chances it led Battle in the third period and went into the third period of Contest tied The Blues hope being at home provides the little extra boost that wasn t there for Games and in Winnipeg We re going to have the last line change now Blues coach Jim Montgomery stated We re going to go home We re going to be in front of our frenzied crowd And we re going to have an opportunity to hold serve at home The Lightning are trying to avoid dropping Games and of a series at home for the first time since Round in when they were the top overall seed but wound up getting swept by Columbus and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who now stars for Florida The bottom line is we lost Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper disclosed after Challenge Whether you lose - or you lose - in overtime we lost the competition Turn the page and move on Minnesota can take a - series lead after a - win in Match at Vegas The NHL commented when a best-of-seven playoff series has been tied - of the Challenge winners have eventually won the series Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning When Where to Watch Championship p m EDT TBS truTV Max Series Panthers - Florida got Matthew Tkachuk two goals one assist back for Encounter a - road win on Tuesday that gave the Panthers the early upper hand in the series Don t tell Panthers coach Paul Maurice that it ll mean much going into Meeting Don t mean to be a downer here but not a huge believer in momentum Really not Puck drops That s your opportunity to change momentum and it s going to happen at the opening face-off Both teams will look at the contest and find things they can do better Tampa Bay did a lot of things right in Championship particularly hold Florida to shots Concern was only of them got stopped Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators When Where to Watch Encounter p m EDT ESPN Series Maple Leafs - Toronto is in total control of the Battle of Ontario This is the th time first since that the Maple Leafs grabbed a - series lead by winning Games and on home ice In the previous instances Toronto went on to win the series And there s this Ottawa has never won a series when trailing - It has happened nine previous times the Senators lost all nine of those matchups To their credit the Senators are not panicking We ve got to play a little better next competition coach Travis Green revealed Vegas Golden Knights at Minnesota Wild When Where to Watch Meeting p m EDT TBS truTV Max Series Tied - If the Wild s top line has been dominant through the first two games of this series the opposite is true for the Golden Knights The line of Jack Eichel Ivan Barbashev and Mark Stone has not registered a point Eichel didn t even have a shot on goal in Tuesday night s - loss to the Wild He had just two in the opener a - Vegas success They re elite world-class players and they ve got to get going Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy mentioned We ve got to help them We re trying to help them Cassidy believes they could still make a strong impact So does Minnesota Their top line frustrated a little bit but they re special players Wild forward Marcus Foligno explained They re going to find tactics We ve got to respect them but not too much and play the way we ve been playing Winnipeg Jets at St Louis Blues When Where to Watch Battle p m EDT ESPN Series Jets - St Louis has successfully come back from a - series deficit in a best-of-seven once before against Minnesota So it is workable The Blues have to be encouraged that Games and were close But finding a way to beat the Jets four times in five games will be daunting And Winnipeg is vowing to keep a simple effective approach going into Encounter It s just about beating the man across from you competing every single shift Jets forward Kyle Connor explained A likely boost for the Jets Gabriel Vilardi will be with the company in St Louis Vilardi missed the final games of the regular season with an upper-body injury he had goals for Winnipeg this season AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this record Information from The Canadian Press was also utilized AP NHL https apnews com hub nhl Source