Washington: Toronto native Tom Wilson scored his first NHL playoff goal 5:15 into overtime as the Washington Capitals survived a scare to beat the Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 1 of their first-round play-off series.
The top-seeded Capitals came back from a two-goal deficit to take the early lead in the series and at least momentarily stop the panic about a slip-up. Justin Williams scored twice in regulation as Washington showed they could handle the adversity of falling behind.
Braden Holtby was up to the task in goal, stopping 35 of the 37 shots he faced. Toronto counterpart Frederik Andersen was arguably the best player on the ice with 41 saves before being beaten by Wilson with an absurd shot on the winner.
Mitch Marner and Jake Gardiner scored in the first period for Toronto, back in the play-offs for the first time since 2013.
Game 2 is Saturday night in Washington.
Pekka Rinne made 29 saves after Viktor Arvidsson scored in the first period as Nashville beat Chicago 1-0 in Game 1 of their series.
Rinne’s second career postseason shutout sent Nashville to just their second play-off win in Chicago in seven tries. The Predators did not have a 1-0 victory during the regular season.
Corey Crawford had 19 saves for Chicago.
Game 2 is Saturday night at the United Center.
Jakob Silfverberg scored the tiebreaking power-play goal late in the second period while captain Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist to lead Anaheim 3-2 in the series opener.
Rickard Rakell scored the tying goal after Calgary made a horrendous line change in the second period while John Gibson made 30 saves for the Ducks.
Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett scored and Brian Elliott stopped 38 shots for the wild-card Flames. Calgary are winless in Anaheim since 2006, when the Flames won a play-off game in a series won by the Ducks.
Game 2 is Saturday night at Honda Center.
