Predators shake off slow start, blow past Avs 5-2 in Game 1
Filip Forsberg scored twice in the third period and the Predators rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in Nashville in Game 1 of the first-round Western Conference series.
The Predators were ready for a big party having won their first Presidents’ Trophy and looking for the Stanley Cup lost in six games to Pittsburgh last June.
The Avalanche simply wanted a bigwin on a stage their franchise hadn’t seen since 2014, and the youngest roster this postseason outplayed the defending Western Conference champs early, leading 1- 0 and 2-1.
Pekka Rinne made 25 saves, including ahandful on Colorado’s Hart Trophy candidate Nathan MacKinnon.
Austin Watson had a goal and an assist for Nashville, which has won 11 straight over Colorado. Craig Smith and Colton Sissons scored a goal apiece, and Ryan Johansen had two assists.
Nikita Zadorov and Blake Comeau each scored a goal for Colorado.
BLUE JACKETS 4, CAPITALS 3, OT » Artemi Panarin
scored 6:02 into overtime to lift visiting Columbus in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Panarin made an incredible individual move to drive by fellow Russian Dmitry Orlov and went back handto-forehand to beat Philipp Grubauer top shelf.
Game 2 is Sunday night in Washington.
Alexander Wennberg, Thomas Vanek and Seth Jones scored in regulation, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots for Columbus, which got two power-play goals to continue a strong trend since the trade deadline. BRUINS 5, MAPLE LEAFS » Brad Marchand, David Backes and David Krejci each scored a power-play goal, and Tuukka Rask stopped 26 shots to lead host Boston in Game 1 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
David Pastrnak also scored for Boston, and Sean Kuraly bunted one out of the air and into the net over goalie Frederik Andersen to make it 4-1 with seven minutes gone in the third period. Krejci bounced it in off Andersen from behind to make it 5-1 after Toronto’s Nazem Kadri was thrown out of the game and given a five- minute major for an elbow to Tommy Wingels’ head.
Zach Hyman scored Toronto’s only goal, and Andersen made 35 saves. LIGHTNING5, DEVILS2 » The Lightning, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, got early goals from four players — none of them named Nikita Kucherov or Steven Stamkos— in Game 1 of the first-round series in Tampa Bay.
Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde scored, helping the Lightning build a 3- 0 lead that NewJersey trimmed to one goal before Alex Killorn and Kucherov, who added an empty-netter with 1:12 remaining, finished off the win.
Notes
KINGS’ DOUGHTY SUSPENDED » Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty was suspended for one game Thursday for an illegal check to the head of Vegas Golden Knights forward William Carrier during Game 1 of the first-round playoff series. Doughty will miss Game 2 tonight in Las Vegas. He delivered the blow at 9:58 of the third period, sending Carrier to the locker room for the remainder of the game.