TAMPA, Fla. — Down one goal, Montreal battled back — twice. Up one, it faltered — twice. Dale Weise then put the Tampa Bay Lightning away for the night.
Weise scored 18:08 into overtime and Carey Price stopped nine shots in the extra period, giving the Canadiens a 5-4 victory in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series on Wednesday.
“We kept our composure. We didn’t want to get out of our game plan,” Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. “The players stuck to our game plan, and we got rewarded in the end.”
Daniel Briere passed from behind the net to Weise in the right circle, and he beat Anders Lindback for the winning score. Lindback stopped 39 of 44 shots while filling in for injured goaltender Ben Bishop.
“I can’t remember the last time I had an overtime goal, so that one feels real good,” Weise said. “I was surprised I was so wide open. … That was a real breakdown on their side.”
“I kind of just turned my head and saw a pass come out,” Lindback said. “I was a little late on the play, so he buried it on me.”
Price stopped 21 shots for the Canadiens, who blew a pair of third-period leads. Brian Gionta had a short-handed goal and Tomas Plekanec, Lars Eller and Thomas Vanek also scored for Montreal.
Steven Stamkos scored twice for Tampa Bay, including the goal that forced overtime.
Game 2 is Friday night.
“Bad news is, we lost the game. Good news is, one game doesn’t win the series,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We get to come back and regroup.”
Three of the four regular-season meetings between the teams were decided in overtime or a shootout, while the fourth was clinched by an empty-net goal.
This one was just as tight, with the Lightning making the most of a limited number of opportunities against Price and the Canadiens overcoming a pair of one-goal deficits before squandering a pair of their own while outshooting Tampa Bay 35-16 in regulation.
“I thought we played a solid game. Nothing was bothering the team,” Therrien said. “They capitalized on our breakdowns, but their attitude was good.”
DUCKS 4, STARS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist, Frederik Andersen made 32 saves to win his NHL playoff debut, and Anaheim opened the postseason with a 4-3 victory over Dallas.
Getzlaf, Kyle Palmieri and Mathieu Perreault scored in a dominant first period for the top-seeded Ducks, who began their playoff run on a dead sprint. Anaheim led 4-0 midway through the second period before Dallas got rolling in its first playoff game since 2008.
Captain Jamie Benn and Colton Sceviour had power-play goals, and Tyler Seguin scored with 6:07 left to trim the Ducks’ lead to one. Anaheim hung on with a handful of big saves from Andersen, a 24-year-old Danish rookie.
Game 2 is Friday.
Matt Beleskey had a goal and an assist before incurring a lower-body injury in the third period, leaving a hole on the Ducks’ top line with Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Getzlaf then got hit in the face with the puck with 16 seconds left, sending him to the dressing room early.
PENGUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3
PITTSBURGH — Brandon Sutter scored on a wrist shot from the left circle 8:18 into the third period, helping Pittsburgh rally for the win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Beau Bennett and Matt Niskanen scored power-play goals 45 seconds apart in the second period, erasing Pittsburgh’s two-goal deficit. Jussi Jokinen also scored for the Penguins and Marc-Andre Fleury overcame some shaky defense to stop 31 shots.
Game 2 is Saturday night.
Jack Johnson, Mark Letestu and Derek Mackenzie scored for the Blue Jackets, who fell to 0-5 all-time in postseason games. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 28 saves but was handcuffed by Sutter’s knuckling wrister at the end of a 2-on-1 break.
By wire sources