Ottawa cruises past Lightning

TAMPA, Fla. — Martin Havlat scored his third and fourth goals of the playoffs, and defenseman Wade Redden had a goal and two assists to lift the top-seeded Ottawa Senators to an 8-4 victory Tuesday night over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Ottawa rebounded from a third-period collapse at home two nights earlier and took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven, first-round series in the Eastern Conference.

Redden returned to the Senators after missing Game 2 following the death of his mother.

Antoine Vermette also scored twice for the Senators, who got 35 saves from rookie goalie Ray Emery.

Paul Ranger scored twice and Martin St. Louis once for the Lightning, who closed within 5-2 on Ranger's unassisted goal just 20 seconds into third period.

Dany Heatley and Zdeno Chara pushed Ottawa's advantage to 7-2.

The game featured 139 penalty minutes — 79 for Tampa Bay — five fighting majors, and seven misconducts. Many came during a melee with 2:17 left.

FLAMES 5, MIGHTY DUCKS 2: At Anaheim, Calif., Darren McCarty and Robyn Regehr scored 34 seconds apart in the third period to break open a tight game and lift the Calgary Flames to a playoff victory over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

Calgary took a 2-1 lead in the first-round Western Conference series. Game 4 of the best-of-seven matchup is Thursday night in Anaheim. The teams will return to Calgary to play the fifth game on Saturday night.

McCarty scored his second goal of the series 4:59 into the final period, then Regehr quickly added his first goal of the playoffs on a power play to give the Flames a three-goal pad.

Chuck Kobasew's goal at 15:34 of the second period snapped a 2-2 tie.

Calgary scored five times on only 24 shots against goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Miikka Kiprusoff faced 29 Anaheim shots.

Kristian Huselius had a goal and two assists for Calgary. Daymond Langkow also scored for the Flames.

Defenseman Francois Beauchemin provided all the Ducks' scoring, becoming the first Anaheim rookie to notch two goals in a playoff game.

SHARKS 4, PREDATORS 1: At San Jose, Calif., although the Nashville Predators have muzzled Joe Thornton, the San Jose Sharks still have plenty of grit and goal-scoring talent. Captain Patrick Marleau scored two goals and Vesa Toskala stopped 16 shots in the Sharks' 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 3 on Tuesday night, putting San Jose up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

OILERS 4, RED WINGS 3 (2OT): At Edmonton, Jarret Stoll scored the game-winner in the second overtime to give the Oilers the victory and a 2-1 lead in the series.