Ducks power past Flames to open series
Jakob Silfverberg scored the tie-breaking power-play goal late in the second period, and captain Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist in the Ducks’ 3-2 victory over Calgary in Anaheim in their firstround playoff series opener Thursday night.
Rickard Rakell scored the tying goal after Calgary made a horrendous line change in the second period, and John Gibson made 30 saves for the Ducks.
Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett scored and Brian Elliott stopped 38 shots for the wild-card Flames. Calgary is winless in Anaheim since April 25, 2006, when the Flames won a playoff game in a series won by the Ducks.
Game 2 is Saturday night at Honda Center.
With their fans’ chants of “You can’t win here!” echoing down from the rafters, the Ducks kept up their improbable home mastery of the Flames despite falling behind in the second period.
Getzlaf was dominant while he became the first Ducks player to score 100 playoff points. He capped his night with an enormous third-period check on Calgary captain Mark Giordano, who is reviled in Anaheim after injuring All-Star defenseman Cam Fowler with a knee-onknee hit last week.
Anaheim capped the win by killing two power plays, including a 5-on-3 disadvantage for 1:17 in the waning minutes. Gibson was shaky at times, but he denied Johnny Gaudreau in the crease with 18 seconds to play.
With Calgary’s loss, the NHL’s Canadian teams fell to 0-5 in their playoff openers this season.
Predators 1, Blackhawks 0: Pekka Rinne made 29 saves, Viktor Arvidsson scored in the first period and visiting Nashville beat Chicago in Game 1. Rinne’s second career postseason shutout sent Nashville to just its second playoff win in Chicago in seven tries. The Predators did not have a 1-0 victory during the regular season. Corey Crawford had 19 saves for Chicago. Game 2 is Saturday night at the United Center. Capitals 3, Maple Leafs 2: Toronto native Tom Wilson scored his first NHL playoff goal 5:15 into overtime and host Washington survived a scare to beat the Leafs in Game 1 of their first-round series. The topseeded Capitals came back from a two-goal deficit. Justin Williams scored twice in regulation, and Washington showed it could handle
the adversity of falling behind. Braden Holtby was up to the task in goal, stopping 35 of 37 shots. Toronto counterpart Frederik Andersen made 41 saves before being beaten by Wilson scored on a long wrist shot from a difficult angle. Mitch Marner and Jake Gardiner scored in the first period for Toronto. Game 2 is Saturday night in Washington.
Gallant to Vegas: Five months before their inaugural training camp, the Vegas Golden Knights introduced Gerard Gallant as their first head coach. Gallant, a former NHL player, most recently was head coach of the Florida Panthers, who fired him Nov. 28 after the team stumbled to an 11-10-1 start. Gallant previously served as a Columbus Blue Jackets coach for parts of three seasons from 2004 to 2006. The Blue Jackets hired Gallant as an assistant in 2000, giving the veteran of 11 NHL seasons as a player his first major opportunity as a pro coach.