Pens best Caps in series opener

Sidney Crosby scored twice in a 52-second span of the second period and Nick Bonino added the winning goal in the third as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the host Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference second-round playoff series Thursday.

Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for Washington.

“I think we can play better,” Bonino said. “There’s no perfect games. I think we weathered their storm there. I think we’re happy to get the win, but they played a great game and we know they’re going to get better too, so we’ve got to match that.”

Game 2 is Saturday in Washington.

Senators 2, Rangers 1:

Erik Karlsson scored with 4:11 left in the third period as host Ottawa beat New York in the East second-round series opener. “Just wanted to get the puck in there and hope for a good bounce and got a great bounce,” Karlsson said. “Those are always nice to get.” Game 2 is Saturday in Ottawa.

Sidelined:

Predators forward Kevin Fiala broke his left leg in Game 1 of a Western Conference second-round series with the Blues on Wednesday and is recovering from surgery to repair his femur, the team said Thursday. He was injured when he was hit by defenseman Robert Bortuzzo and went hard into the boards.

Briefly:

Stars forward Mattias Janmark, who missed the past season because of a knee injury, signed a $700,000 contract for next season . ... The NHL announced that Blue Jackets left wing Nick Foligno, Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf and Flames defenseman Mark Giordano are the top three vote-getters for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. The winner will be revealed June 21 at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas.