National Hockey

New York Islanders (32-17-7, fourth in the East Division during the regular season) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (36-17-3, third in the Central Division during the regular season) Tampa, Florida; Tuesday, 8 p.m.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Semyon Varlamov and the New York Islanders are on a roll.

LAS VEGAS — From the Manitoba prairie to the Mojave Desert, from largely empty arenas to a capacity crowd: not a lot about Monday's Stanley Cup semifinal opener in Las Vegas will be familiar to the Montreal Canadiens.

MONTREAL — Marc Bergevin has every reason to smile these days. The Montreal Canadiens general manager assembled a team that is making a deep playoff run and is now preparing to face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

(AP) -- If the teams left in the NHL playoffs are sick and tired of facing the same opponents over and over, they are in luck in the semifinals.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Experience is an invaluable ally in the Stanley Cup playoffs. There’s little the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning haven’t encountered during deep postseason runs five of the past seven years.

MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens could be on the cusp of getting some key pieces back in the lineup as they prepare for their toughest challenge yet — the Vegas Golden Knights.

New York Islanders (32-17-7, fourth in the East Division during the regular season) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (36-17-3, third in the Central Division during the regular season) Tampa, Florida; Sunday, 3 p.m.

When the Montreal Canadiens were one goal away from being eliminated in the first round, and then again when they were one goal away from reaching the Stanley Cup semifinals, Cole Caufield set up the overtime winner each time.

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask will have surgery to repair a previously undisclosed torn labrum in his hip, he said Friday, two days after the team was eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Islanders.