Game 1 opportunities missed
Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher couldn’t help but feel like the Senators let an opportunity slip away as the Boston Bruins took Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series 2-1 on Wednesday night.
The Senators dominated play for long parts of the game, but a couple mistakes in the third cost them as Brad Marchand scored the winner late in the third period. Frank Vatrano, playing his first NHL playoff game, also scored for the Bruins. Tuukka Rask was solid, making 26 saves.
“Clearly there was two shifts where we just gave it to them,” said Senators coach Guy Boucher. “The two goals they’re just giveaway, after giveaway, after giveaway.”
Bobby Ryan scored the lone goal for Ottawa as Craig Anderson stopped 23 shots. The Senators had a number of chances and know if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon they will need to find a way to bury them.
“There’s certain games where you know you got lucky in one or they got lucky in one, but this was one of those games where you felt we played pretty solid all the way through,” said Clarke MacArthur. “They got a couple chances and they put them in. That was it. They got two good little breaks there and it’s going to happen.”
Marchand scored the winner on the rebound of a Patrice Bergeron shot with 2:33 remaining in regulation to make it 2-1, shocking the sellout crowd of 18,702 at Canadian Tire Centre.
“I’ve used the word resiliency a lot and I think it’s become a bit of our middle name,” said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. “We’ve gone through quite a bit in game and with some injuries and we find a way. I think this group has a lot of character and it starts with the leadership.”
Trailing 1-0 and not having registered a shot since the first period, Boston had two quick ones and made the second one count as Vatrano beat Anderson from the high slot as Dominic Moore created the screen to tie the game at 4:55 of the third.
The Bruins know they were fortunate to come away with the win, especially after being outshot 12-0 in the second period. Boston is the first team to win a playoff game with no shots on goal in any period since the Washington Capitals on May 7, 1994 did it against the New York Rangers.
PENGUINS 3, BLUE JACKETS 1
PITTSBURGH — Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots in a surprise start in place of injured Matt Murray and the Pittsburgh Penguins opened their Stanley Cup title defence with a victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Murray was scheduled to get the nod in the playoff opener but was a late scratch after suffering a lower-body injury during warmups. Fleury withstood an early push by Columbus, and the Penguins responded by pulling away from the untested Blue Jackets.
Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Nick Bonino and Bryan Rust also scored.
Matt Calvert scored for Columbus in the third period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
RANGERS 2, CANADIENS 0
MONTREAL — Tanner Glass scored in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to help New York beat Montreal in Game 1 of their first-round series. Michael Grabner added an empty-net goal with 1:10 left.
SHARKS 3, OILERS 2, OT
EDMONTON — Melker Karlsson scored early in the first overtime as the San Jose Sharks came back to beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarter-final series.
The game saw the Oilers jump out to a 2-0 first-period lead only for the veteran Sharks to come back and tie the game with just over 15 minutes to play.
Milan Lucic and Oscar Klefbom scored for the Oilers before 18,347 fans at sold-out Rogers Place.
Joel Ward and Paul Martin replied for San Jose in regulation time.