WASHINGTON – Brock Nelson scored twice, Josh Bailey and Ryan Strome added goals, Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves, and the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series Wednesday night.
Nelson, Bailey and Strome had never scored in the playoffs. All were first-round draft picks by New York, none is older than 25, and they entered Wednesday with these combined playoff numbers: seven games, zero goals, three assists.
That didn't matter one bit on this night. Nor did Halak's struggles down the stretch in the regular season. The goalie who stymied Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals while playing for eighth-seeded Montreal in a 2010 first-round upset, was mostly superb, allowing only Marcus Johansson's goal in the final minute of the first period.
Game 2 is Friday night.
Canadiens 4, Senators 3
MONTREAL (AP) — Brian Flynn scored a tie-breaking goal late in the second period and the Canadiens held on in a wild opening game of their first-round playoff series.
Flynn also had two assists for the first three-point game of his career.
Tomas Plekanec and Torrey Mitchell scored 15 seconds apart in a frenetic second period that saw five players get goals in less than five minutes. Lars Eller scored short-handed as part of the barrage.
Mika Zibanejad and Kyle Turris got power-play goals in the middle period for the Senators. Milan Michalek was credited with the game's first goal, which Montreal's Andre Markov tipped into his own net 12 minutes in.
Canadiens star defenseman P.K. Subban was given a five-minute major and game misconduct after slashing Ottawa rookie Mark Stone in the wrist midway through the second period.
Game 2 is Friday night
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