Blackhawks 0 at Canucks 2
Jannik Hansen scored on a pretty breakaway in the first period and goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped all 32 shots he faced as the Vancouver Canucks began their march to the Stanley Cup final with a 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday night.
Chris Higgins also scored for the Canucks in the opening game of the Western Conference quarter-final series.
Game 2 will be Friday night in Vancouver (CBC, 8 p.m.). The best-of-seven series moves to Chicago for games Sunday and Tuesday.
It was the second playoff shutout of Luongo’s career. It came against a Chicago team that has dented Luongo’s confidence and battered his pride in past playoffs.
Luongo made one of his biggest saves late in the first period. Defenceman Brian Campbell took a cross-ice pass and fired a shot at a gapping net. The big goalie, who was hanging onto the far post, extended his foot to block the shot, then flopped on the rebound.
The Canuck netminder was busy again in the second period. He blocked a shot from Jonathan Toews, then scrambled back into position as Patrick Sharp steered a puck just wide.
Each stopped prompted chants of “Luuuu, Luuuu” from the towel-waving, sellout crowd of 18,860 at Rogers Arena.
The win helped rid the Canucks of some playoff ghosts. The defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks have eliminated the Canucks from the second round of the playoffs the last two seasons. Chicago had won the previous five playoff games in Vancouver, outscoring the Canucks 27-12.
In the first period Chicago looked out of sync. The Blackhawks had trouble completing passes and couldn’t sustain pressure in the Canucks end.
The Hawks seemed to find their game in the second period, when Luongo was called upon to make several good stops. In the third period they buzzed the Vancouver net like angry bees.
Higgins, who was picked up at the trade deadline from Florida, opened the scoring at 7:03 of the first period. He deflected a blast from defenceman Kevin Bieksa that floated over Crawford’s glove.
Ryan Kesler was the catalyst on the second goal, even though he wasn’t given an assist. The big centre blocked a Chicago shot near the blue-line. Mikael Samuelsson fed the loose puck forward to Hansen, who beat Crawford on a breakaway.
Lightning 0 at Penguins 3
Alex Kovalev and Arron Asham scored third-period goals 18 seconds apart and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first-round playoff opener on Wednesday night.
Chris Kunitz sealed the win with an empty-net goal in the final minute in the Penguins’ first post-season game in their new arena. Brooks Orpik had two assists.
Fleury earned his fifth playoff shutout, one short of tying Tom Barrasso’s franchise record.
The Lightning were held scoreless following a regular season in which they finished second in the Eastern Conference with 247 goals. Fifth-seeded Tampa Bay is in the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Game 2 is Friday at Pittsburgh.
Rangers 1 at Capitals 2 OT
Alexander Semin scored at 18:24 of overtime and Washington rallied for a win over the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoff series.
Semin took a centring pass from Jason Arnott, after the Rangers failed to clear the puck out of their end, and scored with a one-timer past Henrik Lundqvist.
New York defenceman Matt Gilroy broke a scoreless tie with a one-timer 1:56 into the third period, and Alex Ovechkin tied it during an intense poke-at-the-puck scramble at the crease with 6:16 left in regulation.
Michal Neuvirth made 24 saves to win his NHL playoff debut. Lundqvist stopped 31 shots.
Game 2 is Friday night in Washington.
Coyotes 2 at Red Wings 4
Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen scored midway through the second period to put Detroit ahead, and the Red Wings went on to beat Phoenix in Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series.
Brian Rafalski and Jiri Hudler padded Detroit’s lead late in the second period and early in the third.
Jimmy Howard made 26 saves for the third-seeded Red Wings.
Kyle Turris scored 2:16 in to put Phoenix ahead in his playoff debut. Radim Vrbata had a goal midway through the third period to pull the sixth-seeded Coyotes within two goals, but they couldn’t get any closer.
Ilya Bryzgalov stopped all nine shots he faced in the first period, but gave up three goals on 17 shots in the second. He finished with 32 saves.
Game 2 is Saturday in Detroit.