Game 1 letdown for Canadian teams
Montreal blanked 2-0; Ottawa loses 2-1; Edmonton falls 3-2 in OT
MONTREAL — Any troubles Henrik Lundqvist has had with the Montreal Canadiens were nowhere to be found in the opening game of the NHL playoffs.
The veteran goaltender survived a shaky first period to post a 31-save shutout as the New York Rangers topped Montreal 2-0 on Wednesday.
It will be up to the Canadiens to come up with an answer in Game 2 on Friday night at Bell Centre, or risk heading to New York down two games in the best-ofseven series.
“We didn’t put out there that Hank (Lundqvist) is going to have a hard time here,” said New York coach Alain Vigneault. “We’ve always had a lot of confidence in his game, and what he did tonight was what we expected.”
Montreal went 3-0-0 against Lundqvist and the Rangers in the regular season, continuing the trend of the last two seasons in which Carey Price has shone against the Blueshirts while Lundqvist laboured.
Tanner Glass scored in the first period and Michael Grabner settled the issue with an empty-net goal with 1:10 left to play.
Montreal coach Claude Julien wants to make “little adjustments” for Game 2.
“We can definitely get better in the board battles,” said Julien. “Little details here and there made the difference.”
BRUINS 2, SENATORS 1
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.
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 need 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 Ottawa’s 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.”
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.
It was the first playoff game in the Oilers’ new downtown arena and the team’s first NHL postseason game in almost 11 years.
The Sharks played without star centre Joe Thornton, who is day-to-day with a left knee injury.
However San Jose centre Logan Couture returned to the lineup, albeit in a full-face cage. He missed seven games after having his mouth and teeth smashed by a deflected puck.
Klefbom scored the Oilers first playoff goal since 2006 when he took a cross-ice pass in the high slot from Jordan Eberle and fired the puck low between the pads of Sharks goalie Martin Jones at 6:44.
Game 2 goes Friday in Edmonton.