The NHL playoffs are up and running after Wednesday's results and the Pittsburgh Penguins started off their Stanley Cup quest with a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 1, while the Montreal Canadiens won over the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime to take a 1-0 series lead in the eastern conference playoffs.
The Penguins are favored after coming in as the number two team in the conference and the rest of the eastern playoffs series will start on Thursday, with the Philadelphia Flyers and NY Rangers playing at 7 pm ET at Madison Square Garden. The Penguins were down by two goals in the game and they were able to come back before adding another in the third period and that gives Sidney Crosby and company a 1-0 lead in the series after Marc Andre Fleury finished with 31 saves.
The Montreal and Tampa Bay game was an exciting matchup and Carey Price ended up with 21 saves in the game as the Canadiens took the early lead after the winning goal from Dale Weise. The Ducks got a win and they were up 4-0 at one point before the Dallas Stars made a comeback and now they are up 1-0, but star Ryan Getzlaf, who scored, was also injured in the game and that could be a big hit for the number one team in the western conference.
The Lightning got two goals from star Steven Stamkos in the game and the overtime matchup was the most exciting of the night and gave the one team from Canada in the playoffs a win to start things off and that could be all they need to swing the momentum in their favor. Anders Lindback had a great game and stopped 39 of 44 shots in the matchup and now the teams are looking to get Game 2 going on Friday and the winning goal came 18 minutes into overtime.
Ryan Getzlaf suffered a cut to his face in the game and he scored a goal in the matchup and added an assist, while Frederik Andersen made 32 saves in the game and won his first playoff start. The team was up 4-0 in the middle of the game before the Stars made a comeback and both Jamie Benn and Colton Sceviour scored power play goals against Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 31 shots for the Stars
