Playoff Results - Wed, Apr 16, 2014

Montreal @ Tampa Bay 5-4 OT - Dale Weise had been in that situation countless times before, but never with so much on the line. Weise grew up a Canadiens fan and couldn't have been happier when general manager Marc Bergevin traded defenseman Raphael Diaz to the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 3 to bring him to Montreal. Bergevin is probably pretty happy he did now as well. Weise's first career goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs came at 18:08 of overtime to give the Canadiens a 5-4 win against the Lightning in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series on Wednesday night. Daniel Briere won a battle behind the Lightning net and got the puck out in front to Weise, who one-timed it under the crossbar and behind goaltender Anders Lindback to give the Canadiens the win and home-ice advantage in the series. Game 2 is set for Friday night at Tampa Bay Times Forum (7 p.m. ET, CNBC, CBC, RDS). Steven Stamkos scored twice for the Lightning, who earned home-ice advantage after edging out Montreal for second place in the Atlantic Division. Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov also scored in their playoff debuts. Lars Elller and Brian Gionta each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who also got goals from Tomas Plekanec and Thomas Vanek. Along with Weise's overtime winner, it gave Montreal a goal from each of its four forward lines. The first playoff game in Tampa since the 2011 Eastern Conference Final began with a pre-game presentation that riled up the crowd, but the Canadiens and Lightning spent the initial period trying to feel each other out with little in the way of typical playoff intensity. That changed at 8:37 of the second period when Lightning rookie Ondrej Palat entered the Canadiens zone with the puck on a play that was whistled dead for an offside, but Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov finished his hit. Stamkos, the Lightning's captain, immediately went charging after Markov, slamming him up against the boards, and a heated scrum ensued. The intensity rose and the hitting and pace increased, which made for an entertaining game that the Canadiens controlled territorially all night, outshooting the Lightning 35-16 through regulation. But the Lightning were opportunistic, scoring four times against Price on their first 14 shots of the game; the Canadiens scored their fourth goal on their 35th shot. Lindback was under considerable pressure starting in place of the injured Ben Bishop and though he allowed five goals, he made 39 saves and spent most of the game with the puck in his zone. The Lightning jumped out to a lead that lasted 19 seconds midway through the first period. Tampa Bay defenseman Radko Gudas was a central figure in each goal. Gudas entered the Montreal zone and let go of a shot from inside the blue line that missed the net high and hit the dasher on the boards behind the net. The puck bounced high in the air, creating some confusion in Montreal's defensive coverage, and Cedric Paquette finally corralled it and got it to J.T. Brown at the faceoff circle. He found Kucherov alone in front and his shot beat Price between the legs at 10:09. Off the ensuing faceoff, Plekanec entered the Tampa Bay zone with speed and faked a shot that caused Gudas to fall, allowing Plekanec to go wide and beat Lindback with a sharp-angle wrist shot at 10:28 to tie the game. The Lightning took the lead at 13:24 on Stamkos' first goal of the game when he went around Brandon Prust in the neutral zone and beat Price to make it 2-1. Plekanec nearly tied it again on the next shift when he was sent in alone on Lindback, but his shot hit the goal post. Gionta got the tying goal three minutes later when Eller sent him on a breakaway shorthanded and he scored on his own rebound at 16:39 of the second. The Canadiens took their first lead of the game at 5:10 of the third when Eller weaved his way into the slot and squeezed a shot through Lindback, but Killorn scored on a turnaround slap shot at 7:11 to make it 3-3. It was Tampa Bay's first shot of the third period. Vanek put Montreal back up 4-3 on a play he started with a cross-ice pass to David Desharnais at the Tampa Bay blue line before driving to the net to accept a return pass and tipping it past Lindback at 11:30. That lead also lasted less than two minutes. Killorn came down on a 2-on-1 break, waited for Markov to slide and put a pass around him right to Stamkos, who tapped it into an open net at 13:27 to tie it.
Columbus @ Pittsburgh 3-4 - The Pittsburgh Penguins came back from two goals down to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 Wednesday in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series. Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was a pivotal piece of the win at Consol Energy Center. He rebounded after allowing two first-period goals to make 31 saves in his 46th playoff victory.
"It's fun. It's stressful. It's a great feeling to get the win, though, in the end," Fleury said. "I did [have nerves]. I think most guys do when the playoffs start. I just went in and it was a rough start, a little bit. They got two goals in the first, but I was able to stay calm and stay with it, and the more the shots came, the more comfortable I felt."
Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 28 saves in his eighth Stanley Cup Playoff appearance, has yet to win a postseason game. Columbus has not won in five playoff games in its history. It was Pittsburgh's sixth win in as many games against Columbus this season. The Penguins went 5-0-0 in the regular season. After Penguins defenseman Paul Martin forced a turnover in the neutral zone, forward Beau Bennett slid a pass to Brandon Sutter, creating a 2-on-1. Sutter elected to keep the puck and wristed a shot past sliding defenseman Fedor Tyutin and Bobrovsky at 8:18 of the third period to give Pittsburgh its only lead of the game. Pittsburgh rearranged its lines throughout. One change was moving Bennett from the first line to the third, alongside Sutter.
"I thought, as a line, we were pretty good tonight," Sutter said. "I thought we created some good chances, and obviously when you get a break like that, you prefer to at least get a shot off. It's the game we expected. They played hard, they're a balanced team and have a great goaltender. It's going to be a tough series."
Game 2 of the best-of-7 is here Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS, FS-O, ROOT). Columbus seemed to take control of Game 1 with a shorthanded goal 43 seconds into the second period. With Blake Comeau in the penalty box, Derek MacKenzie forced Kris Letang to turn over the puck and wristed a shot past Fleury on a breakaway to put the Blue Jackets up 3-1. But the Penguins got back within one goal on the same power play. Bennett deflected a Matt Niskanen slap shot past Bobrovsky at 1:34 for his second playoff goal. Pittsburgh didn't take long to tie the game. Forward Evgeni Malkin, who returned to the Penguins' lineup after missing the final 11 games of the regular season with a foot injury, picked up his second assist of the game by feeding Niskanen, who snapped a shot through Bobrovsky's five-hole at 2:19.
"There were a lot of responses from our team," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "They got the first goal, they got up by two goals, they got a shorthanded goal. Our team had to respond in this game, and our power play had to respond and it did. I think that was the thing I like most from our team tonight."
Fleury made several acrobatic saves throughout the remainder of the second period to keep the game 3-3, including a poke check on a Matt Calvert breakaway in the final minute. The Blue Jackets had never held a postseason lead entering Wednesday. Jack Johnson changed that by scoring the first goal. Brandon Dubinsky carried the puck through the neutral zone and juked around Martin before spinning off of Sidney Crosby and one-handing a pass to Johnson at the inner edge of the left faceoff circle. Johnson deked to the left before bringing the puck back to the right and pushing it around Fleury's left pad 6:20 into the game.
"I don't think anybody tested the waters. I thought our guys jumped right in," Dubinsky said. "It's a good team over there, but it's a long series and it's just one game. We'll get better. We'll use [the two days between games] to improve. We'll use it to get ourselves prepared. We'll be ready."
Columbus' lead lasted almost 11 minutes before Jussi Jokinen tied the game. Malkin threaded a pass through three Blue Jackets to Jokinen driving toward the net. Jokinen wristed a shot past Bobrovsky's glove with 2:47 left in the period. The Blue Jackets answered with a power-play goal 45 seconds later. After Johnson whacked the puck off Fleury's pads, it bounced to Mark Letestu to the right of the net. The former Penguin took a shot that deflected off Fleury's glove as he stretched for a save attempt and into the net for his first playoff goal with 2:02 remaining.
"I liked the way that we started," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "That was one of my concerns going into the game with a lot of young players, it being their first time. I think the hype of the game too, I think coming in, energy-wise that affected us."
Dallas @ Anaheim 3-4 - The sting of last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs was a talking point for the Anaheim Sucks in training camp. It was referenced liberally this week and literally worn on their sleeves in the form of "Unfinished Business" T-shirts. They followed through Wednesday with a 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of their Western Conference First Round series at Honda Center. The Ducks, the Western Conference regular-season champions, blitzed the Stars with a three-goal first period, and rookie goalie Frederik Andersen won his NHL playoff debut. Game 2 is Friday at Honda Center (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS, FS-W, FS-SW), and the Sucks' immediate concern is captain Ryan Getzlaf, who took a Tyler Seguin slap shot to the face with 16 seconds left and went to the dressing room.
"I think he's going to be OK, but he's probably going to have a little nasty cut on the side of his mouth," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "As far as I know, nothing else is there. But I'll know more tomorrow."
Andersen, who got the nod over veteran Jonas Hiller and fellow rookie John Gibson, justified coach Boudreau's decision to start him by making 32 saves. The Ducks revived their underachieving power with two scores in a statement playoff game, their first since they were eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 of the conference quarterfinals last year.
"I think it was us just being excited," forward Corey Perry said. "[We were] back on a big stage, and everybody wants to play and everybody wants to win. You're going to have ups and downs in the playoffs, but if you can keep an even keel, you're going to be all right."
Anaheim will need to work on avoiding those ups and downs after Dallas turned a 4-0 game into a one-goal nail biter and had a chance to get even in the final minutes. The Ducks had trouble taking care of the puck in the second half of the game and were charged with 13 giveaways. That will probably be a teachable moment for Game 2.
"I'm sure we didn't put the fear of God into them tonight, and [Dallas] probably gained some confidence," Boudreau said.
Dallas played its first playoff game since May 19, 2008, and looked ill-equipped to handle Anaheim's skill and depth at the start in a pumped-up arena. But Jamie Benn scored during a two-man advantage at 16:36 of the second period, and Colton Sceviour beat Andersen on a quick snap shot at 18:11 to pull the Stars to 4-2 after two periods. Seguin made it 4-3 with a tip of Trevor Daley's shot at 13:53 of the third, but the Stars couldn't get even despite a combined 15 shots by Benn's line in the game.
"The way we finished was how we want to play the full game," Seguin said. "I'm not saying I don't think we had a good start. I thought the first 10-12 minutes, we played pretty well. We didn't capitalize on some opportunities, even though they did. I definitely liked our no-quite attitude out there and performance."
Andersen made a point-blank save on Benn right after the Stars made it 4-2. He also stopped Cody Eakin late in the third. Asked what he takes away from the game, Andersen said, "A win. That's definitely what I wanted out of this game. But now it's over with, the first game. I think we can settle in like we want to. Hopefully it's going to be a really long playoffs for us - two months - but we'll take it in steps."
Anaheim built a 3-0 lead on 10 shots in the first period. Mathieu Perreault capped it with a crisp-moving power play goal, a one-timer off Patrick Maroon's threaded cross-ice pass through Jordie Benn's legs at 18:30. Speed figured to be a factor in the series, and the Ducks showed theirs by beating the Stars in transition for their first two goals. Getzlaf finished a rush with a tap-in of Matt Beleskey's rebound at 12:49, after a blocked shot at the other end. Kyle Palmieri opened the scoring 1:53 into the game when he backhanded a great saucer pass by Nick Bonino over a diving Aaron Rome and past Kari Lehtonen. Anaheim had eight players on the score sheet in the first 20 minutes and went to the dressing room to a standing ovation. Dallas' power play went 0 for 3 in the first period, with two shots total.
"We had a tough start," Jamie Benn said. "They came out hot in their building. They are really good in this rink. I thought we battled back pretty good there, but it just wasn't enough."
The Stats' frustration with their inability to curb Anaheim's speed and skill and penetrate Andersen manifested itself when Ryan Garbutt took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with a snow shower of Andersen midway through the second period. Francois Beauchemin converted it into Anaheim's second power-play goal, a slap shot off Beleskey's hip at 9:04 for a 4-0 lead. It was the first time Anaheim scored more than one power play goal since it went 6 for 11 in a 9-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Jan.15. Beleskey left the game with a lower-body injury, and Boudreau said he's been dealing with it prior. Dallas defenseman Brenden Dillon was scratched with a lower-body injury. Andersen became the third rookie goaltender in Ducks history to play in a playoff game. Tom Askey (1999) and Ilya Bryzgalov (2006) were the others.