Howl yeah! Coyotes win playoff opener vs. Predators

Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the first of Arizona’s three first-period goals, a healthy Phil Kessel had two assists and the Coyotes held on to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Sunday to open their Stanley Cup qualifier series.

The Coyotes made the most of their first postseason appearance since 2012, scoring three goals in the opening period on their way to building a 4-1 lead.

The Predators rallied behind two goals by Filip Forsberg, the second midway through the third period, to cut Arizona’s lead to 4-3.

Darcy Kuemper, who stopped 40 shots, held off

Nashville’s late push and the Coyotes snatched momentum heading into Game 2 of the best-of-5 series.

Christian Dvorak, Clayton Keller and Michael Grabner also scored for Arizona. Ryan Ellis also scored for Nashville, and Juuse Saros stopped 33 shots. BLUE JACKETS 2, MAPLE LEAFS0>> Goalie Joonas Korpisalo topped counterpart Frederik Andersen and Columbus opened its Eastern Conference best-of-5 qualifying series against host Toronto with a shutout win.

Cam Atkinson scored early in the third period and Korpisalo took it from there, finishing with 28 saves for the underdogs. It was the first playoff shut out in Blue Jackets history.

Alexander Wennberg scored an empty-net goal in the final seconds to ice the victory.

Andersen stopped 33 of 34 shots for the Leafs. AVALANCHE 2, BLUES 1 >> Nazem Kadri scored a buzzerbeating power-play goal to lift Colorado past defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis in Western Conference round-robin play.

Kadri’s shot crossed the goal line with 0.1 seconds on the clock. The NHL reviewed the play for several minutes before calling it a good goal.

Colorado took an early lead in the seeding race among the top four teams in the West. The Avalanche, Blues, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars have byes into the traditional first round of the NHL playoffs and will each face the winner of a bestof-5 qualifying round series.

David Perron opened the scoring for the Blues in the first period, and Ryan Gravestieditat1onabroken play early in the third.

Phillip Grubauer made 31 saves for the victory. Jordan Binnington stopped 36 shots for St. Louis. FLYERS 4, BRUINS 1 >> Carter

Hart stopped 34 shots, and Philadelphia opened the playoffs seeding round with a victory over Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston.

Hart is 11 days shy of his 22nd birthday in becoming the youngest goalie in Flyers history to win a playoff game. Michael Raffl had a goal and assist, and Nate Thompson, Philippe Myers and Scott Laughton also scored.

NOTES >> Chicago forward Drake Caggiula was suspended by the NHL for today’s Game 2 of the Blackhawks’ qualifying-round series against the Oilers for an illegal check to the head of Edmonton’s Tyler Ennis.