NHL's Top Stats, Best Highlights, Updated Playoff Picture from Aug. 5 Results

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers are on the verge of being knocked out of the Stanley Cup qualifying round.

The pair of No. 5 seeds dropped results Wednesday to the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively.

Montreal and Chicago need one victory to finish off the best-of-five series, while the Penguins and Oilers need to win two games in a row to advance to the round of 16. 

Three of the four lower seeds in Wednesday's qualifying-round games came out on top. Arizona earned an edge over Nashville with a controlling victory, while Florida clawed back into its series with the New York Islanders but still needs to win two more games to move on. 

Tampa Bay and Colorado moved closer to landing the top seeds in their respective conferences as they took their second round-robin wins. 

NHL August 5 Results, Stats and Highlights

✨ Watch more top videos, highlights, and B/R original content

Florida 3, New York Islanders 2 (New York Islanders lead series 2-1)

Mike Hoffman (FLA): 1 G, 1 A

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (NYI): 1 G

Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA): 20 saves

The Panthers remained alive in the qualifying round behind a pair of third-period goals from Mike Hoffman and Brian Boyle. 

Hoffman broke the deadlock with a power-play tally with 41 seconds off the clock in the third period. Boyle followed that with an unassisted goal two minutes and seven seconds later. 

The 3-1 advantage produced by those two goals marked Florida's first multi-goal lead of the series. The total of three tallies was its highest in a single game this series. 

Brock Nelson added a late goal for the Islanders, but they were unable to put a third past Sergei Bobrovsky, who earned his first playoff victory as a Panther. He had 11 postseason wins with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Next Game: Thursday, August 7 (Time TBD) 

Arizona 4, Nashville 1 (Arizona leads series 2-1)

Taylor Hall (ARZ): 1 G, 1 A

Darcy Kuemper (ARZ): 39 saves

Viktor Arvidsson (NSH): 1 G 

Darcy Kuemper's two highest playoff save totals have come in Arizona's two qualifying round wins over Nashville. The Coyotes goalie added to his 41-save outing from Game 1 with 39 denials of the Nashville Predators in Game 3. 

Kuemper turned away eight shots in the first three minutes and totaled 19 saves in the opening frame, which set a new franchise playoff record, per NHL Public Relations: 

Arizona climbed into the lead in the first period through Christian Dvorak, and that was equalized by Viktor Arvidsson in the second. 

The Coyotes erupted for three goals in the final stanza, as Conor Garland, Taylor Hall and Carl Soderberg found the net. 

Hall produced a goal and an assist in a playoff game for the third time in his career. He has a pair of two-point performances in the series after producing a pair of helpers in the opener. 

Next Game: Friday, August 7 (2:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network)

Tampa Bay 3, Boston 2 (TB: 2-0-0; 4 points, BOS: 0-2-0: 0 PTS)

Tyler Johnson (TB): 1 G, 1 A

Alex Killorn (TB): 1 G, 1 A 

Tuukka Rask (BOS): 32 saves

Tampa Bay extended its strong form against Boston from the regular season into the round-robin games. 

The Lightning benefited from a game-winning goal out of Tyler Johnson to pin the Bruins to the bottom of the East round-robin standings. 

Johnson was one of three Lightning players to score their first goal of the postseason Wednesday, with Brayden Point and Alex Killorn contributing one each in the opening period. 

Charlie McAvoy and Chris Wagner helped the Bruins rally to level the contest, but they still lacked production out of Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron's assist on Wagner's goal is the only point from the three through two games. 

If the Lightning beat Philadelphia in their final round-robin game, they will land the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. 

Boston is unable to land the top seed, but it could move out of the No. 4 spot with a win over Washington and some help.

Next Games: Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia (Saturday, August 8, Time TBD); Boston vs. Washington (Sunday, August 9; Time TBD)

Colorado 4, Dallas 0 (COL: 2-0-0, 4 PTS; DAL: 0-2-0, 0 PTS)

Joonas Donskoi (COL): 1 G, 1 A

Andre Burakovsky (COL): 1 G, 1 A 

Samuel Girard (COL): 2 A

Colorado overwhelmed Dallas for three periods.

The Avalanche pounced for a pair of first-period tallies through Cale Makar and Joonas Donskoi and outshot the Dallas Stars 40-27. 

Vladislav Namestnikov and Andre Burakovsky contributed a goal each in the second and third periods, respectively, to finish off Colorado's second round-robin win. 

Pavel Francouz starred in net by producing 27 saves and a shutout, which made him the first player in franchise history to blank an opponent in his playoff debut, per NHL PR: 

Colorado has outscored its pair of opponents 6-2 in the Edmonton hub and can secure the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference by beating the Vegas Golden Knights. 

In two regular-season wins over Vegas, Colorado outscored the Golden Knights 13-4. 

Next Games: Colorado vs. Vegas (Saturday, August 8; Time TBD); St. Louis vs. Dallas (Sunday, August 9; Time TBD)

Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 3 (Montreal leads series 2-1)

Shea Weber (MTL): 1 G, 2 A

Paul Byron (MTL): 1 G, 1 A 

Patric Hornqvist (PIT): 1 G 

Montreal recovered from a two-goal deficit to change the balance of power in its best-of-five series. 

Jonathan Drouin started the comeback right past the halfway mark of the second period, and Paul Byron followed five minutes later with the equalizer. 

Jeff Petry went top shelf from the left side of the net in third period to push Montreal back into the lead. 

Petry, who won Game 1 in overtime, became the sixth defenseman in Montreal history to record multiple game-winning tallies in one postseason, per NHL PR: 

Montreal's defense did well with containing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who had a combined plus-minus of -3 despite picking up an assist each. Malkin has not scored in the series. 

Next Game: Friday, August 7 (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN)

Chicago 4, Edmonton 3 (Chicago leads series 2-1)

Matthew Highmore (CHI): 1 G, 1 A

Olli Maatta (CHI): 1 G, 1 A

Leon Draisaitl (EDM): 2 G, 1 A

Chicago stunned Edmonton with two goals in a four-minute span late in the third period. 

Matthew Highmore leveled the contest 14 minutes into the final stanza in a game that was dominated in its early stages by Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. 

Connor Murphy produced the game-winning goal with 76 seconds remaining on the clock at Rogers Place. 

Before things went south for the Oilers, Draisatil popped in a pair of tallies and assisted on McDavid's go-ahead goal in the second period. 

The win placed Chicago's season record against Edmonton to 4-2. The Blackhawks have produced at least three goals in each of their four victories. 

Next Game: Friday, August 7 (6:45 p.m. ET, NBCSN)

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Hockey Reference.