Tip goes to Penguins
Malkin nets winner in 3rd OT; Capitals steal opener vs. Panthers
NEW YORK — Evgeni Malkin scored on a deflection 5:58 into the third overtime, giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.
Jake Guentzel scored twice and Bryan Rust had a goal and two assists for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby also had two assists. Casey DeSmith had 48 saves before leaving the game midway through the second overtime.
Louis Domingue, who appeared in only two games during the regular season, came on and had 17 saves.
On the winning goal, Malkin was positioned in front of the net when he tipped a long shot by John Marino over Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.
Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist, and Adam Fox and Andrew Copp also scored for the Rangers. Mika Zibanejad had two assists. Shesterkin finished with 79 saves, second to the NHL record of 85 saves by Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo in the 2020 playoffs.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is tonight in New York before shifting to Pittsburgh for two games.
Capitals 4, Panthers 2: T.J. Oshie scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, Vitek Vanecek stopped 30 shots and Washington rallied past top-seeded Florida in the opener of an Eastern Conference firstround series in Sunrise, Florida.
Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller also scored for Washington, which trailed 2-1 going into the third period. Teams had been 0-39-1 against Florida in the regular season when trailing after 40 minutes — 0-22-0 when doing so on the Panthers’ home ice.
The Capitals must have ignored those numbers. Kuznetsov tied the game after a Florida turnover with 11:46 left, then Oshie got behind the defense and tapped a pass by Sergei Bobrovsky for what became the winner 2:23 later.
Eller wrapped it up with an empty-netter with 49 seconds left.
Claude Giroux and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, which has not won the opening game of a postseason series since 1997.
Avalanche 7, Predators 2: Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews scored 22 seconds apart in a fivegoal first period, sending Colorado to a win over Nashville in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series in Denver.
The five goals tied the team playoff record for a period and chased Nashville backup goaltender David Rittich from the game with 4:56 remaining in the first. Rittich was stepping in for 38-game winner Juuse Saros, who’s sidelined with a lower-body injury.
Flames 1, Stars 0: Elias Lindholm scored and Jacob Markstrom recorded his second career playoff shutout as Calgary beat Dallas in the opening game of their firstround playoff series in Calgary, Alberta.
Lindholm scored a powerplay goal early in the first period. Markstrom stopped all 16 shots he faced as Calgary earned just its second playoff win at the Saddledome since 2015.