Penguins, Lightning prevail in openers
Patric Hornqvist had his first playoff hat trick and the Penguins pulled away from the Rangers 5-2 in Game 1 of their opener Wednesday night.
Hornqvist added an assist, Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists and backup goaltender Jeff Zatkoff did just fine in his first postseason start, finishing with 35 saves.
Tom Kuhnhackl also scored for the Penguins, who took advantage when Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist left with a facial injury after the first period. Lundqvist left after taking a stick to the face from teammate Marc Staal.
Antti Raanta was shaky in Lundqvist's place, stopping 16 of 19 shots.
Derek Stepan scored twice, but the Rangers never led as their quest to knock the Penguins out of the playoffs for a third straight year got off to an underwhelming start.
The Lightning got the winner from Killorn less than two minutes after a potential go-ahead goal was waved off when Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill successfully challenged that the Lightning should have been called for offsides before Victor Hedman's apparent goal.
Kucherov scored in the first and second periods and assisted on the winner.
Mike Green and Justin Abdelkader scored for the Wings, who outshot the Lightning 36-34.
Bishop, who led the NHL in goals-against average, stopped five shots in the final 1:07 to seal the victory.
Stars forward Tyler Seguin, who missed 10 games with a small cut of his left Achilles tendon, skated Wednesday but is questionable.