Phillip Danault scored the game-winning goal late in the third period to cap a two-point night, leading the visiting Los Angeles Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday in the opener of their Western Conference first-round series.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be Wednesday in Edmonton.
Trevor Moore scored once in a three-point game for the Kings, while Alex Iaffalo collected one goal and one assist and Brendan Lemieux scored once. Goaltender Jonathan Quick made 36 saves.
Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto both netted one goal and one assist for the Oilers. Leon Draisaitl also scored, and goalie Mike Smith stopped 31 shots but gaffed on the winning goal.
With overtime on the horizon, Danault broke a deadlock with 5:14 remaining. A flurry created when Smith misplayed the puck ended when Danault deflected Sean Durzi’s point shot for the winner. The Oilers pushed frantically for the equalizer, but couldn’t find it.
Blues 4, Wild 0
David Perron had three goals and an assist as St. Louis routed Minnesota in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series in Saint Paul, Minn.
Ville Husso made 37 saves to earn a shutout in his first NHL playoff appearance. Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist and Torey Krug had three assists for the Blues, who improved to 10-0-1 in their past 11 games against Minnesota.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for the Wild, who edged out St. Louis for second place in the Central Division.
Hurricanes 5, Bruins 1
Vincent Trocheck and rookie Seth Jarvis each collected a goal and an assist to lift Carolina past Boston in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series in Raleigh, N.C.
Nino Niederreiter, Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for Carolina, which has outscored Boston by a 21-2 margin in four meetings in 2021-22 (three in the regular season, one in the playoffs). Antti Raanta finished with 35 saves while making his first career playoff start.
Taylor Hall scored early in the third period for the Bruins. Linus Ullmark stopped 20 shots. Game 2 will be Wednesday, also in Raleigh.
Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 0
Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist, Jack Campbell stopped 24 shots and Toronto shut out visiting Tampa Bay in the opener of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
Mitchell Marner added a goal and two assists for the Maple Leafs. Jake Muzzin and David Kampf also scored, and Morgan Rielly and Ondrej Kase each added two assists. Campbell earned his second career playoff shutout.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning. Game 2 will be Wednesday, also in Toronto.
-Field Level Media