A quick look at Wednesday’s National Hockey League games:
Flyers 2 at Devils 1
Brian Boucher had 23 saves in his first playoff start in eight years and Philadelphia beat New Jersey in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference series.
Chris Pronger and Mike Richards scored second-period goals, and the Flyers rode the momentum of claiming the NHL’s last playoff berth on the final day of the regular season to yet another win over New Jersey.
While the Flyers are the No. 7 seed in the conference, they won five of six games against the Devils in the regular season and second-seeded New Jersey had few answers in the post-season against a rock-solid Boucher.
New Jersey gave its unhappy fans some hope when Travis Zajac scored on a somewhat flubbed slap shot that seemed to bounce in front of Boucher with 2:43 to play.
Boucher, however, stopped Patrik Elias in close with about 10 seconds to go and the Flyers cleared the puck out of the zone on the ensuing faceoff.
Red Wings 2 at Coyotes 3
Derek Morris broke a tie early in the third period and assisted on two other power-play goals in Phoenix’s victory over Detroit in Game 1 of the Western Conference series.
Keith Yandle and Wojtek Wolski also scored, and Ilya Bryzgalov made 38 saves to help the Coyotes win a playoff game for the first time since April 20, 2002, the last year they were in the post-season.
Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom scored for Detroit.
Avalanche 2 at Sharks 1
Chris Stewart’s shot deflected off Sharks defender Rob Blake’s skate and into the net with 50 seconds left in regulation to give Colorado a victory in the opener of the first-round series.
The loss was just the latest playoff disappointment for the Sharks, who have made a bad habit of following up stellar regular seasons with early post-season exits. San Jose has lost Game 1 at home in its past four playoff series.
This was especially shocking, considering it came against an eighth-seeded Avalanche team that had the worst record in the Western Conference a year ago.
But with a second-period goal by John-Michael Liles, 25 saves from playoff novice Craig Anderson and a fortunate bounce off the skate of one of its former star players in Blake, the Avalanche are off to a roaring playoff start.