The two visiting teams both came up victorious in Game 2s on Thursday. Let's break down what happened.

Lightning 2, Panthers 1 (Lightning lead series 2-0)

This game was about to go to overtime, and then just like that it didn't. Ross Colton scored with just 3.8 seconds left in regulation to secure Tampa wins in their first two road games.

THAT'S ROSS GOAL-TON TO YOU 🫵 pic.twitter.com/cH9UyQ0Znq

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) May 20, 2022

The behind-the-back pass from Nikita Kucherov to Colton was sublime, but the main point of discussion will be how both Panthers defensemen were behind the net eyeing Kucherov while Colton was able to score unimpeded. The Lightning might be considered worn out and injured, yet they continue to find ways to win with their fourth consecutive victory in the playoffs. The Bolts as a team blocked 24 shots on Thursday, including 15 in the third period alone.

Here's a montage of TB injuries, blocked shots, etc they fought through tonight. Put together by our excellent crew. pic.twitter.com/MiqtHD3r8z

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 20, 2022

The Lightning were once again without Brayden Point for Game 2, opting to use 11 forwards and seven defensemen. This is a practice that seems to be used more often these days.

Since the Lightning haven't been considered a top-tier Stanley Cup favorite this season, we may now be finally truly appreciating Andrei Vasilevskiy for what he's worth. The Bolts netminder stopped 36 of 37 shots in registering his fourth consecutive win and third consecutive quality start. Vasilevskiy has allowed just one goal in each of his last three games, forcing some potent offenses in Toronto and Florida to dry up. His save percentages over those three games are .968, .971, and .973.  

One of the most surprising stats of the playoffs: The Panthers are the only playoff team that has yet to score a power-play goal in the playoffs. After going 0-for-4 in Game 2, the Panthers power play is now 0-for-25 and counting. This was a team that had the fifth-best power play during the regular season (24.4%), so lack of power-play conversion has suddenly emerged as an issue. A team's most important penalty killer is its goalie, and Vasilevskiy may continue to make life difficult here. Florida will need to figure him out on Tampa home ice; otherwise, their season will end sooner than they hope.

Carter Verhaeghe was a game-time decision, but he was able to suit up. After exploding for 12 points in the six games against Washington, Verhaeghe has been held without a point over these two games.

Blues 4, Avalanche 1 (series tied 1-1)

Even though they were badly outshot in Game 1 (54-25), the Blues were able to hang around long enough in that game to give them the confidence that they could keep up with the Avalanche where it matters most: the scoreboard. They were able to carry that over to Game 2, where they were able to keep Colorado to 31 shots and even take 32 of their own.

David Perron helped fantasy leaguers win championships (hello), and now he's doing his part for playoff poolies in their quests. Perron scored a pair of goals to give him seven goals in the playoffs, tying him for second in that category. He's turning 34 years old next week, and it seems like he's been around forever since he jumped into the NHL at age 19 straight out of the draft. Perron is proof that the aging curve is not the same for every player, as his best seasons have taken place over the last five years.

David Perron with his second of the night and seventh of the playoffs. 🙌#StanleyCup | #stlblues pic.twitter.com/UuzcWebFg8

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 20, 2022

Jordan Binnington is doing his best 2019 Winnington impersonation. Binnington made 30 saves, giving him his fifth consecutive quality start of the playoffs. In fact, that's all that Binnington has done in the playoffs, having allowed three goals just once (his 51-save effort in Game 1). Only Jake Oettinger has a better save percentage than Binnington (.948 SV%) among goalies that have played at least two games.

Binnington's sudden hot streak after a subpar regular season means that the Blues are more likely to let Ville Husso move on as a UFA, though we will still have to see how the offseason plays out. Prior to that, the Blues had to be thinking about a way to move on from Binnington with a trade or perhaps even a buyout. Although Husso’s larger sample size of regular-season success could factor in, Binnington has five more years at $6 million per. Not an ideal contract to move.

This series is worth paying attention to because the second round has almost been to Colorado what the first round has been to Toronto. The Avs have lost in the second round three consecutive seasons entering this season. As much as they appear to be the more talented team in this series, they are facing their own psychological hurdle, already facing a bigger challenge than Nashville presented.

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That was quite a Battle of Alberta Game 1 on Wednesday night, wasn't it? You might have bet the over on total goals, but you probably didn't think the goal total would reach 15. This isn't the first game we've seen this season with that many goals, but it's been a while since a playoff game had that many goals.

This was the first NHL playoff game with 15+ goals since the Kings beat the Flames 9-6 in Game 6 of first round in 1993.

— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) May 19, 2022

Expect these teams to tighten things up for Game 2, as I imagine that neither coach was impressed with the number of goals allowed (can you imagine Darryl Sutter being ecstatic, even though his team won?) Calgary finished the regular season as the league's sixth-best offense (3.55 GF/GP), while Edmonton had the seventh-best offense (3.48 GF/GP). One team had the league's top scoring line (Johnny Gaudreau/Elias Lindholm/Matthew Tkachuk), while the other has two of the league's top four scorers (Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl). That's a recipe for goals.

The scores of their regular season games? 5-2 Edmonton, 5-3 Edmonton, 3-1 Calgary, 9-5 Calgary. Extrapolate that to a playoff series, and I don't see a lot of low-scoring games.

After being pulled in the first period of Game 1, Mike Smith is expected to start Game 2. The really bad start (three goals allowed in just over six minutes) was his first of the playoffs.

Jacob Markstrom allowed the same number of goals in Game 1 (six) as he had from Games 1-5 combined in the Dallas series. Although he looked the part in the really bad start, assume he will play better in Game 2.

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The Jack Adams Award finalists were announced on Thursday: Andrew Brunette, Gerard Gallant, and Darryl Sutter. Whether they are the three best candidates for the award is certainly up for debate, but all three seemed to perform a tremendous job with their teams this season.

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History was made on Thursday by my local WHL team.

With the 268th-overall selection in the 2022 #WHLDraft, the @WHLGiants select Chloe Primerano of @BWCAcademy.

Congratulations to Chloe, the first woman skater chosen in any @CHLHockey selection draft! pic.twitter.com/HdFZrlIWRA

— The WHL (@TheWHL) May 19, 2022

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Tomorrow and Sunday, I'll discuss my worst fantasy draft picks of the season and why they went wrong. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.