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Pittsburgh • Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots in a surprise start in place of injured Matt Murray and the Pittsburgh Penguins opened their Stanley Cup title defense with a 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
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 upper-body injury.
Matt Calvert scored for Columbus in the third period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Fleury spent most of the season gracefully receding into the background while Murray took over as the No. 1 goalie after helping lead the Penguins to a championship last spring.
Rather than deal the career wins leader in franchise history at the trade deadline for depth elsewhere, Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford held on to Fleury, confident the club would need Fleury's services at some point.
That point came about 20 minutes before the opening faceoff, when Murray appeared to tweak something while stretching to make a save during his usual pregame routine. Enter Fleury, who skated onto the PPG Paints Arena ice to a massive ovation then spent the first period singlehandedly keeping the uncharacteristically flat Penguins in it.
The Blue Jackets, making just their third playoff appearance in franchise history, insisted they wouldn't be overcome by the stakes or the stage. For a long stretch at the start, they weren't. Columbus outshot Pittsburgh 16-3 in first period, peppering Fleury and hogging the puck.
Fleury's steady play helped Pittsburgh survive and it took just 3:45 for the Penguins to reassert their dominance.
Rust finished a pretty sequence in which Malkin fed the puck to Kessel, who delicately kicked it to Rust in the slot. Rust ripped a shot over Bobrovsky's stick 1:15 into the second to give the Penguins the lead. Kessel doubled the advantage 150 seconds later, biding his time in the left circle on the power play then threading a wrist shot over Bobrovsky's glove to make it 2-0.
Bonino camped in front of the Columbus net then pounded home a shot on the doorstep 16:25 into the second to push Pittsburgh's advantage to three goals and the Blue Jackets never recovered.
Rangers 2, Canadiens 0 • In Montreal, Tanner Glass scored in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to help New York Rangers beat Montreal in Game 1.
Michael Grabner added an empty-net goal.
Montreal outshot New York 16-5 in the first period, but couldn't beat Lundqvist.
The Canadiens are looking to a avenge a six-game loss in the first round to New York in 2014, a series in which Carey Price was injured in the opening game on a hit from Chris Kreider. This time, Kreider pulled up when barreling toward Price in the first period.
Fired up by 1960s pop star Ginette Reno's national anthem, the Canadiens were all over New York in the opening period, but it was the Rangers who struck first 9:50 on only their third shot.
Montreal's Tomas Plekanec won a draw in his own zone, but fourth-line winger Glass pounced on it and lifted a backhand from the slot over Price's shoulder.
Bruins 2, Senators 1 • In Ottawa, Ontario, Brad Marchand broke a tie with 2:33 left and Boston held on to win Game 1.
Marchand scored off the rebound of Patrice Bergeron's shot.
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. —
NHL playoffs
(Best-of-7; x-if necessary)
Eastern Conference first round
N.Y. Rangers 1, Montreal 0
Game 1: New York 2, Montreal 0
Friday: at Montreal, 5 p.m.
Sunday: at New York, 5 p.m.
Tuesday: at New York, 5 p.m.
x-April 20: at Montreal, TBA
x-April 22: at New York, TBA
x-April 24: at Montreal, TBA
Boston 1, Ottawa 0
Game 1: Boston 2, Ottawa 0
Saturday: at Ottawa, 1 p.m.
Monday: at Boston, 5 p.m.
Wednesday: at Boston, 5:30 p.m.
x-April 21: at Ottawa, TBA
x-April 23: at Boston, TBA
x-April 26: at Ottawa, TBA
Washington vs. Toronto
Thursday: at Washington, 5 p.m.
Saturday: at Washington, 5 p.m.
Monday: at Toronto, 5 p.m.
Wednesday: at Toronto, 5 p.m.
x-April 21: at Washington, TBA
x-April 23: at Toronto, TBA
x-April 25: at Washington, TBA
Pittsburgh 1, Columbus 0
Game 1: Pittsburgh 3, Columbus 1
Friday: at Pittsburgh, 5 p.m.
Sunday: at Columbus, 4 p.m.
Tuesday: at Columbus, 5:30 p.m.
x-April 20: at Pittsburgh, TBA
x-April 23: at Columbus, TBA
x-April 25: at Pittsburgh, TBA
Western Conference first round
Chicago vs. Nashville
Thursday: at Chicago, 6 p.m.
Saturday: at Chicago, 6 p.m.
Monday: at Nashville, 5:30 p.m.
April 20: at Nashville, TBA
x-April 22: at Chicago, TBA
x-April 24: at Nashville, TBA
x-April 26: at Chicago, TBA
Minnesota vs. St. Louis
Game 1: late
Friday: at Minnesota, 6 p.m.
Sunday: at St. Louis, 1 p.m.
Wednesday: at St. Louis, 7:30 p.m.
x-April 22: at Minnesota, TBA
x-April 24: at St. Louis, TBA
x-April 26: at Minnesota, TBA
Anaheim vs. Calgary
Thursday: at Anaheim, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday: at Anaheim, 8:30 p.m.
Monday: at Calgary, 8 p.m.
Wednesday: at Calgary, 8 p.m.
x-April 21: at Anaheim, TBA
x-April 23: at Calgary, TBA
x-April 25: at Anaheim, TBA
Edmonton vs. San Jose
Game 1: late
Friday: at Edmonton, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday: at San Jose, 8 p.m.
Tuesday: at San Jose, 8 p.m.
x-April 20: at Edmonton, TBA
x-April 22: at San Jose, TBA
x-April 24: at Edmonton, TBA