Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (40) makes a glove save as Tampa Bay Lightning center Blake Coleman (20) and Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) look on during the second period of an NHL Stanley Cup playoff hockey game in Toronto, Ontario, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

TORONTO (AP) — Tyler Johnson scored the tiebreaking goal with 87 seconds left to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 victory over Boston on Wednesday and send the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins to their second straight loss in the NHL’s playoff seeding round.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots for the Lightning, who improved to 2-0 in the three-game round-robin. Tampa Bay, which was second in the East with 92 regular-season points, would earn the top seed with a victory over Philadelphia on Saturday.

“At this point, I don’t think anyone’s really thinking about what happened in the pandemic-shortened regular season,” Johnson said. “This is a whole new thing for us and we’re trying to play the best hockey we can.”

Tuukka Rask made 32 saves for the Bruins, who led the NHL with 100 points before the coronavirus shutdown but can now finish no higher than the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

“That part sucks, I’m not going to lie to you,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “But that’s the situation this year with the stoppage of play. We knew the rules going into it.

“We’re just trying to win a hockey game right now,” Cassidy said. “Would I rather be the No. 1 seed? Absolutely. But that’s not going to happen.”

Charlie McAvoy and Chris Wagner scored to help Boston rally from a 2-0 deficit. But in the final minutes Yanni Gourde received a long pass at the blue line and shot it off Rask’s left skate.

The puck was sitting there for Johnson to flick it in.

“We’re treating it as if it’s do or die right now,” Lightning forward Blake Coleman said. “Seeding still matters, and obviously the teams that are competing in the qualifiers are going to be ready. It’s really on us to treat it the right way, and if you don’t you’re going to be behind the eight ball.”

The first period was all Tampa Bay.

Brayden Point backhanded a loose puck in front through Rask’s legs about 7 1/2 minutes into the game to make it 1-0. Then just 13 seconds into a Boston penalty for too many men on a defensive pairing change, Victor Hedman’s shot from the blue line went off Sean Kuraly’s stick and then Alex Killorn redirected it with his skate into the net to make it 2-0.

But the Bruins cut the deficit to one goal with three minutes left in the second when Bergeron won a faceoff, tapping it back to Torey Krug at the point. He slid it over to McAvoy, who slapped it past Vasilevskiy.

Wagner tied it early in the third when Zdeno Chara’s shot from the blue line got through Vasilevskiy but hit the post and sat there in the crease before Wagner reached in to tap it in.

Canadiens 4, Penguins 3, OT

TORONTO (AP) — Jeff Petry scored 5:33 into the third period as the Montreal Canadiens rallied from two goals down and beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in Game 3 on Wednesday night, pushing the Penguins to the brink of elimination in the best-of-five series.

Shea Weber had a goal and two assists for Montreal, Paul Byron added a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Drouin also scored. Ben Chariot also had had assists.

Carey Price stopped 30 shots for the Canadiens — the 12th seed in the Eastern Conference as part of the NHL’s 24-team restart to its pandemic-delayed season. Montreal can advance to the normal first round with 16 teams with win in Game 4 on Friday.

Patric Hornqvist, Jason Zucker and Teddy Blueger scored for fifth-seeded Pittsburgh, which led 3-1 after Blueger’s goal 5:34 into the second. Matt Murray finished with 27 saves.

Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher suited up after briefly leaving the Penguins’ 3-1 victory in Game 2, but was clearly laboring at times with an undisclosed lower-body injury.

Drouin pulled the Canadiens to 3-2 at 10:13 of the middle period when he redirected Chiarot’s point shot past Murray.

Byron tied it with 4:10 left in the period, just seconds after a penalty on Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin expired. Byron deftly moved Nick Suzuki’s rebound from his skate to his stick and sneaked a second-effort wraparound just over the goal line.

Avalanche 4, Stars 0

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — High-scoring rookie defenseman Cale Makar connected on an early power-play goal, 30-year-old Pavel Francouz recorded a shutout in his postseason debut and the Colorado Avalanche cruised to a 4-0 round-robin win over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

Joonas Donskoi, Vladislav Namestnikov and Andre Burakovsky also scored as the Avalanche improved to 2-0 in the three-game round that will determine playoff seeding for the top four teams in the Western Conference.

“We’re certainly trying to give ourselves every advantage we possibly can going into the playoffs and home ice is one of them even though we’re playing in Edmonton,” coach Jared Bednar said. “I like to see our team get rewarded through all their hard work through the regular season and get the top seed and then we reset and start over for a seven-game series.”

Francouz stopped 27 shots, including a couple of point-blank whacks from Tyler Seguin on rebounds in the second period.

Coyotes 4, Predators 1

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes knew they had a big opportunity once their challenge erased Nashville’s go-ahead goal early in the third period.

The Coyotes took advantage by scoring the next three goals.

Conor Garland and Taylor Hall each scored in the third period and the Coyotes beat the Predators 4-1 Wednesday.

Now the Coyotes, seeded 11th in the West in the NHL’s restart, can eliminate the sixth-seeded Predators in Game 4 on Friday in this best-of-five qualifying series.

Christian Dvorak scored on Arizona’s first shot of the game, and Coyotes scored three in the third for the victory capped by Carl Soderberg’s empty-netter inside the final two minutes.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 39 saves for the victory in his third start in four games and second in as many days. Arizona coach Rick Tocchet called it a terrific performance.

Viktor Arvidsson scored Nashville’s lone goal.

Panthers 3, Islanders 2

TORONTO (AP) — Brian Boyle and the Florida Panthers turned the tables on the New York Islanders by playing with more discipline and patience to avoid being swept from the playoffs.

Boyle and Mike Hoffman scored goals 2:47 apart, and the Panthers took advantage of several miscues in beating the Islanders 3-2 in Game 3 of their best-of-five preliminary round playoff series on Wednesday.

Erik Haula also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 20 shots. The 10th-seeded Panthers trail the best-of-five series 2-1 with Game 4 at the NHL’s Eastern Conference hub city of Toronto on Friday.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Brock Nelson, with 1:27 remaining, scored for the Islanders, the East’s seventh seed. Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 shots.

The Panthers put aside their disappointment following a 4-2 loss in Game 2 a day earlier, in which they squandered a pair of one-goal leads, and allowed the Islanders to convert two of seven power-play opportunities.