Patrice Bergeron scored 1:13 into the second overtime as the Boston Bruins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Wednesday in the first game of their Eastern Conference first-round series in Toronto — a contest delayed a day by one of the longest games in NHL history.
Bergeron shot from the right side just inside the left post past goaltender Petr Mrazek, after receiving a pass from David Pastrnak that went through the legs of Hurricanes defenseman Joel Edmundson. Bergeron’s first goal of the postseason gave the Bruins their first victory since the NHL restart earlier this month.
Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and David Krejci also scored for the Bruins, who swept the Hurricanes in last year’s Eastern Conference finals. Boston goalie Tuukka Rask made 25 saves. Edmundson, Brock McGinn and Haydn Fleury had goals for the Hurricanes, and Mrazek stopped 36 shots.
Game 1 was rescheduled from Tuesday night because the Tuesday afternoon game between Columbus and Tampa Bay, played on the same ice in Scotiabank Arena, went into a fifth overtime. Rather than a late-night start, the NHL pushed Game 1 of the Carolina-Boston series to an 11 a.m. ET start Wednesday.
Islanders 4, Capitals 2
New York scored four goals in a span of less than 13 minutes bridging the second and third periods and came back to stun Washington 4-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Toronto.
Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee scored the first two goals for the Islanders before Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier produced the go-ahead and insurance goals. Bailey scored the go-ahead short-handed goal at 6:52 of the third. Goalie Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves.
T.J. Oshie scored a pair of power play goals in the second period for the Capitals to forge a 2-0 lead. Goalie Braden Holtby recorded 23 saves. Game 2 in the series is Friday night.
Avalanche 3, Coyotes 0
Third-period goals 10 seconds apart by Nazem Kadri and J.T. Compher broke a scoreless game, and Colorado beat Arizona to claim its Stanley Cup playoff series opener in Edmonton.
Mikko Rantanen added a third goal just 73 seconds after Compher’s tally for the favored Avalanche.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer needed to make only 14 saves for the shutout victory, his second career playoff goose egg. Darcy Kuemper finished with 37 saves for the Coyotes.
Flyers 2, Canadiens 1
Joel Farabee’s quick-response, go-ahead goal in the second period lifted Philadelphia to a win over Montreal in the opening game of a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series in Toronto.
Farabee’s rebound goal came 16 seconds after Montreal tied it. Jakub Voracek also scored for the Flyers, the top seed in the East, and Carter Hart made 27 saves.
Shea Weber scored for the Canadiens, the eighth seed. Carey Price stopped 29 of 31 shots.
Canucks 5, Blues 2
Bo Horvat scored twice to lead Vancouver past defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis to open their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, and Elias Pettersson and Troy Stecher also scored for the fifth-seeded Canucks. Tanner Pearson and Brock Boeser had two assists, and goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 29 of 31 shots.
Jaden Schwartz and David Perron scored for the fourth-seeded Blues, and Jordan Binnington made 17 saves.
–Field Level Media
