Capitals rally to beat top-seeded Panthers

T.J. Oshie scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, Vitek Vanecek stopped 30 shots and the Washington Capitals rallied past the top-seeded Florida Panthers 4-2 in the opener of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla.

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 score 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 emptynetter 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. Bobrovsky stopped 34 shots for the Panthers, the Presidents’ Trophy winners after an Nhl-best 122 points in the regular season — and saw the home-ice advantage slip away in their playoff opener.

Game 2 is Thursday, in Florida. PENGUINS 4, RANGERS 3 (3OT) » Evgeni Malkin scored on a deflection 5:58 into the third overtime, lifting Pittsburgh in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series in New York. 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 in the regular season, came on and had 17 saves.

AVALANCHE 7, PREDATORS 2 » Nathan Mackinnon (two goals) and Devon Toews scored 22 seconds apart in a five-goal first period, sending host Colorado to an easy win in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. The five goals tied the team playoff record for a period and chased Nashville’s backup goaltender David Rittich from the game with 4:56 remaining in the first.

FLAMES 1, STARS 0 » Elias Lindholm scored in the first period and Jacob Markstrom made 16 saves in a shutout to lead host Calgary in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

ONE-GAME SUSPENSION FOR TORONTO’S CLIFFORD » Maple Leafs forward Kyle Clifford was given a one-game suspension for a boarding incident in Toronto’s playoff-opening win over Tampa Bay. The NHL’S department of player safety issued the suspension following a hearing with Clifford. It described Monday’s incident as a forceful hit to a defenseless player who is no longer in possession of the puck.

REINHOLD MATAY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom, right, and T.J. Oshie celebrate the latter’s go-ahead goal in the third period of Game 1of their series.