Bruins thump Leafs in opener
David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists as the Boston Bruins thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Thursday.
Brad Marchand and David Krejci, with a goal and an assist each, and David Backes and Sean Kuraly rounded out the scoring for Boston, which got 26 saves from Tuukka Rask. Torey Krug added two assists.
Zach Hyman replied for Toronto, while Frederik Andersen made 35 stops.
Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final goes Saturday night at TD Garden before the series switches to Air Canada Centre on Monday.
The Leafs talked at length ahead of Thursday’s game about how containing the line of Marchand, Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron — a trio that combined for 99 goals in the regular season and is stellar in all three zones — would be crucial.
They have plenty of work to do in that department after a six-point performance in Game 1 that also saw Marchand, Bergeron and their teammates take the body to the young Leafs at almost every opportunity.
Toronto’s Nazem Kadri took exception to an elbow to Mitch Marner from Tommy Wingels in the third period and replied by taking a run at the Bruins forward. He earned a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct.
Boston limited space in the neutral zone at even strength as Auston Matthews, Marner and William Nylander struggled to find room to operate.
Toronto’s power play, which had been operating at 32.2 per cent since the end of January, will also be a point of emphasis after going 0 for 3, while the penalty kill allowed Boston to score three times with the man advantage.
Backes snapped a 1-1 tie on the power play at 15:43 of the second when he chipped a loose puck up and over Andersen at the lip of the crease after Leafs defenceman Ron Hainsey could only get a piece of a pass in front.
The Bruins’ second goal with the man advantage came after the Leafs wasted two power-play chances of their own earlier in the period.
Boston stretched its lead to two with 38 seconds left in the period when Pastrnak took a feed from Marchand out of the corner and zipped a shot past Andersen’s glove.
Marchand was at his agitating best earlier in the period when he nudged Leafs defenceman Nikita Zaitsev into Andersen to draw a crowd after getting caught on television replays appearing to lick the face of Leafs forward Leo Komarov in the first.
Toronto killed off two penalties to start the third, but Kuraly made it 4-1 when he batted the puck out of mid-air after Andersen robbed Pastrnak.
Wingels elbowed Marner in the corner midway through the third, leading to Kadri’s five-minute major and game misconduct.
Krejci made it 5-1 from a horrible angle on the power play at 11:29.
Blue Jackets 4, Capitals 3 (OT)
WASHINGTON — Artemi Panarin scored 6:02 into overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Panarin made an incredible individual move to drive by fellow Russian Dmitry Orlov and went backhand-to-forehand to beat Philipp Grubauer top shelf. Game 2 is Sunday night in Washington. Alexander Wennberg, Thomas Vanek and Seth Jones scored in regulation, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots for Columbus, which got two power-play goals to continue a strong trend since the trade deadline.
Wennberg left the game with an upper-body injury in the third period and didn’t return. Jones, son of former NBA player Popeye Jones, drew a penalty late in the third period, almost put the puck in his own net and tied it on the ensuing power play with 4:26 left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Washington got two power-play goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov on Josh Anderson’s five-minute major penalty for boarding Michal Kempny and an even-strength goal on the rush in the third period by Devante Smith-Pelly. Grubauer, who got the nod to start over 2016 Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Braden Holtby, made 23 saves in his second career playoff start.
Lightning 5, Devils 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay got early goals from four players — none of them named Nikita Kucherov or Steven Stamkos — before holding off New Jersey in Game 1.
Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde scored, helping the Lightning build a 3-0 lead that New Jersey trimmed to one goal before Alex Killorn and Kucherov, who added an emptynetter, finished off the win.
Taylor Hall scored an unassisted goal in the second period, then assisted on Travis Zajac’s power-play goal that cut it to 3-2 midway through third against Andrei Vasilievskiy.
Killorn’s shot over the glove of goalie Kevin Kincaid’s glove restored a two-goal lead before Kucherov, who led the Lightning with 100 points this season, ensured there would be no comeback. Vasilievskiy made 29 saves. Game 2 is Saturday at Amalie Arena.