Las Vegas • Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves for his 11th career playoff shutout, Shea Theodore scored in the first period and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 on Wednesday night to win the franchise’s first playoff game.
The expansion club will try to take a 2-0 lead in its first-round playoff series Friday night.
Fleury got his first playoff shutout since last May, when his Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 1-0 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Kings entered with a combined 928 games of playoff experience, but Vegas came out looking like a seasoned bunch ready for the postseason. Just like the Golden Knight mascot who slayed a bumbling king at center ice during a pregame show, Vegas was physical from the start. William Carrier led the team with 10 hits, and Vegas’ aggressive forechecking kept Los Angeles off its game throughout.
Theodore got on the board 3:23 into the first. Tomas Nosek came from behind the goal to fire a pass to Theodore, and he blasted a wrist shot through traffic for the Golden Knights’ first playoff goal.
The Kings blew a chance to tie it in the second period, when defenseman Drew Doughty’s rebound found Dustin Brown, who was staring into an empty net two feet away. He lifted his shot over the goal.
Los Angeles, which allowed a league-low 202 goals and had the league’s best penalty-killing unit, stopped the Golden Knights on all three of their power plays. Vegas ranked second in the NHL by converting 29 of 102 power plays since Jan. 21.
The Kings were also 0 for 3 with a man advantage.
Penguins 7, Flyers 0 • In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby had his third career postseason hat trick, Evgeni Malkin added a highlight-reel goal and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins opened the playoffs with a rout of Philadelphia.
Crosby batted a shpt out of the air and past goalie Brian Elliott in the second period for his first goal, tapped in one from the doorstep against Petr Mrazek 7:41 into the third and then deflected in another just over three minutes later.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and three assists for Pittsburgh. Bryan Rust and Carl Hagelin also scored. Matt Murray stopped 24 shots for his third straight playoff shutout.
Game 2 is Friday night in Pittsburgh.
Elliott stopped 14 of 19 shots and was pulled in favor of Mrazek after Crosby’s latest bit of wizardry pushed Pittsburgh’s lead to 5-0 just 9:01 into the second. Mrazek wasn’t much better, getting beaten by Crosby twice more as Philadelphia’s return to the playoffs after a one-year absence started with a thud.
Jets 3, Wild 2 • In Winnipeg, Manitoba • Defenseman Joe Morrow broke a tie with 6:13 left and Winnipeg beat Minnesota n Game 1 for the first playoff victory in franchise history.
In its only other playoff appearances since joining the NHL in 1999 in Atlanta, the franchise was swept in 2007 by the New York Rangers and 2015 by Anaheim.
Nikolaj Ehlers set up the Morrow at the point for a one-timer that beat goalie Devan Dubnyk. Morrow was acquired at the trade deadline from Montreal in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick this summer.
Mark Schiefele, with a power-play goal, and Patrik Laine also scored for Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves. Matt Cullen and Zach Parise scored for Minnesota, and Dubnyk stopped 37 shots.
Game 2 is Friday night in Winnipeg.