Columbus, Ohio • Lars Eller scored 9 minutes into the second overtime and the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in Game 3 on Tuesday night to tighten up the their first-round playoff series.
The Capitals won at Nationwide Arena after Columbus won the first two games — both in overtime — in Washington. It was the Capitals' turn to prevail in OT, this time on the Blue Jackets' home ice, to pull to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
On the winner, Eller tapped a rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky for his first goal in the playoff series.
Tom Wilson and John Carlson also scored, and Braden Holtby stopped 33 shots for the Capitals.
Game 4 is Thursday night back here with Game 5 set for Washington on Saturday.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Artemi Panarin scored for Columbus, and Bobrovsky finished with 42 saves after getting 54 in the Game 2 on Sunday.
Jets 2, Wild 0 • St. Paul, Minn., Mark Scheifele scored both goals for Winnipeg and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his seventh shutout this season, as the Jets took a 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Scheifele scored with 28 seconds left in the first period and tacked on an empty-netter with 11 seconds remaining, pushing the Wild to the brink of elimination.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 26 shots for the Wild, who played without star left wing Zach Parise because of a broken sternum suffered in Game 3. After a six-goal outburst in their last appearance, the Wild had trouble generating the same kind of relentless attack and simply couldn't slide any pucks past Hellebuyck.
Now the series shifts back to Winnipeg, with Game 5 on Friday night.