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 defence with a 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
Murray was scheduled to get the nod in the play-off 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.
Game 2 is on Friday in Pittsburgh.
Tanner Glass scored in the first period and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to help New York beat Montreal 2-0 in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night at Bell Centre.
Michael Grabner added an empty-net goal with 1:10 left.
Fired up by 1960s pop star Ginette Reno’s national anthem, the Canadiens were all over New York in the opening period, but the Rangers struck first at 9:50. Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec won a draw in his own zone, but fourth-line winger Glass pounced on it and lifted a backhander over Carey Price’s shoulder.
Brad Marchand broke a tie with 2:33 left and Boston held on to beat Ottawa 2-1 in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Marchand scored off the rebound of Patrice Bergeron’s shot.
Frank Vatrano added a goal for Boston in his first NHL play-off game, and Tuukka Rask made 26 saves. Bobby Ryan scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson stopped 23 shots.
Game 2 is on Saturday in Ottawa.
