NHL Blues get jump on Wild, win in OT
Joel Edmundson scored for St. Louis at 17:48 of overtime, Jake Allen made a career-high 51 saves and the Blues sneaked into Minnesota to win Game 1 of their first-round series from the Wild with a 2-1 victory Wednesday.
The Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko was quiet for most of the night until he drove into a crowd and threaded a pass through the Wild defense to Edmundson, who knocked in the second postseason goal of his career.
Zach Parise tied the game with 22.7 seconds left in regulation for the Wild, whose dominance was thwarted by a stellar performance from Allen.
He made the most saves ever recorded against the Wild in their 16-season history.
Allen, the catalyst for the midseason turnaround by the Blues after Mike Yeo became head coach, sure didn’t lose his touch. Diving, reaching and sliding for pucks from start to finish, the 26-year-old was oh, so close to his first career postseason shutout. Parise spoiled it with his one-timer off a tic-tactoe feed from Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund
Penguins 3, Blue Jackets 1: MarcAndre Fleury stopped 31 shots in a surprise start in place of Matt Murray, and Pittsburgh opened its Stanley Cup title defense with a home victory over Columbus. Murray was to get the nod in the playoff opener, but suffered a lower-body injury during warm-ups. Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Nick Bonino and Bryan Rust also scored, and Evgeni Malkin assisted on Rust’s and Kessel’s goals in his first game back after missing the final three weeks with an upper-body injury. Matt Calvert scored for Columbus. Game 2 is Friday night in Pittsburgh.
Rangers 2, Canadiens 0: Tanner Glass scored in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to help visiting New York beat Montreal in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night at Bell Centre. Michael Grabner added an empty-net goal with 1:10 left to play.
Bruins 2, Senators 1: Brad Marchand broke a tie with 2:33 left and visiting Boston beat Ottawa in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Marchand scored off the rebound of Patrice Bergeron’s shot. Game 2 is Saturday in Ottawa. Frank Vatrano added a goal for Boston in his first NHL playoff game, and Tuukka Rask made 26 saves. Bobby Ryan scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson stopped 23 shots.
Briefly: Dallas will introduce Ken Hitchcock as its head coach Thursday, replacing the fired Lindy Ruff. In a previous stint, Hitchcock coached the Stars to a Stanley Cup championship in 1999 . ... The Islanders named Doug Weight their head coach, three months after he replaced Jack Capuano on an interim basis.