The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rangers, Penguins, Bruins grab openers
Lundqvist blanks Montreal; Murray out for Pittsburgh.
Tanner Glass scored in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to help the New York Rangers beat the host Canadiens 2-0 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Game 2 of the best-ofseven series is Friday night at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
Michael Grabner added an empty-net goal with 1:10 left to play.
Montreal outshot New York 16-5 in the first period, but couldn’t beat Lundqvist.
It was the Rangers who struck first at 9:50 on only their third shot. Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec won a draw in his own zone, but fourthline winger Glass pounced on it and lifted a backhand from the slot over Carey Price’s shoulder.
■ (At) Penguins 3, Blue Jackets 1: Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots in a surprise start in place of injured Matt Murray and Pittsburgh opened its Stanley Cup title defense with a victory over Columbus.
Murray was scheduled to get the nod in the playoff opener but was a late scratch after suffering a lower-body injury during warm-ups. Fleury withstood an early push by Columbus, and the Penguins responded by pulling away from the untested Blue Jackets.
Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Nick Bonino and Bryan Rust also scored, and Evgeni Malkin assisted on Rust and Kessel’s goals in his first game back after missing the final three weeks of the regular season because of an upperbody injury.
Matt Calvert scored for Columbus in the third period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Game 2 is Friday night in Pittsburgh.
■ Bruins 2, (at) Senators 1: Brad Marchand broke a tie with 2:33 left and Boston held on to beat Ottawa in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Marchand scored off the rebound of Patrice Bergeron’s shot.
Game 2 is Saturday in Ottawa.
Frank Vatrano added a goal for Boston in his first NHL playoff game, and Tuukka Rask made 26 saves. Bobby Ryan scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson stopped 23 shots.
Trailing 1-0 and without a shot since the first period, the Bruins had two quick ones and Vatrano beat Anderson from the high slot on the second to tie it at 4:55 of the third.
The Bruins had a scare when Colin Miller left the game early in the second after being hit by Mark Borowiecki but Miller returned later in the period.
Stars: A person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Ken Hitchcock is returning to coach Dallas. Hitchcock won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999, coaching there for parts of seven seasons from 199596 through 2001-02. He has since coached the Flyers, Blue Jackets and Blues.
Hitchcock replaces Lindy Ruff, who was fired Monday after four seasons in Dallas.
Islanders: Doug Weight, promoted from assistant coach to interim head coach in January, was given the job on a permanent basis. New York went 24-12-4 under Weight after he replaced the fired Jack Capuano on Jan. 17 when the Islanders were last in the Eastern Conference at 17-17-8.