Karlsson goal gives Game 1 to Sens

OTTAWA (CP) — Erik Karlsson scored the goahead goal late in regulation as the Ottawa Senators snatched Game 1 from the New York Rangers 2-1 on Thursday night.

The Senators captain beat fellow Swede Henrik Lundqvist on an innocent shot from just above the goalline — one that pinged off Rangers centre Derek Stepan and into the back of the net.

“Just wanted to get the puck in there and hope for a good bounce, and got a great bounce,” said Karlsson. “Those are always nice to get. And I think that the amount of pucks that we put at the net we deserved one of those.”

It was Karlsson’s first goal and seventh point of the playoffs. The 26-year-old, who’s playing with a foot injury, also logged more than 28 minutes in the win, which put Ottawa ahead 1-0 in the best-ofseven second-round series.

Lundqvist had been superb to that point for New York and finished with 41 saves.

Craig Anderson stopped 33 shots, beaten only by Ryan McDonagh. Ryan Dzingel also scored for Ottawa, with Game 2 set for Saturday.

The Sens had plenty of opportunities to take the early lead. Ottawa drew three power plays in the opening 20 minutes, but failed to score on any of them.

“I think the players didn’t want to get swept in four,” said Senators head coach Guy Boucher.

“We heard from everybody how good they are. It’s all you could hear is how much they’re going to crush us.”

That could explain the surprising number of empty seats for the series opener. Attendance was not announced, but the official game sheet said 16,744 fans were in the 19,153-seat arena.

PENGUINS 3, CAPITALS 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored two goals in 52 seconds, Nick Bonino had the winner in the third period and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Thursday.

In a high-profile showdown of Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, Washington’s captain also scored and Evgeny Kuznetsov had the goal that tied it in the third. But Marc-Andre Fleury made 15 of his 32 saves in the third period to help Pittsburgh to the win.

Crosby was a threat to score just about every time he touched the puck and beat Braden Holtby with his first two shots of the second period.

Holtby stopped 18 shots, but allowed Bonino’s goal with 7:24 left.