BOSTON (AP) - Chris Kelly scored on a long slap shot 1:18 into overtime and the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals 1-0 Thursday night in the opener of their first-round playoff series.
Braden Holtby made 29 saves for the Capitals.
Tim Thomas stopped all 17 shots he faced for Boston.
The game was physical and scoreless until Thomas turned back a Washington attack early in the extra period. Brian Rolston dropped it for Benoit Pouliot to clear the zone and he pushed it up to Kelly, who slapped it over Holtby's glove for the game-winner.
The reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy-winner, Thomas had an easy game for much of the night, including a middle period in which Washington managed just two shots on goal.
Instead, the goaltending star was Holtby, a third-stringer making his playoff debut because Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth were injured. But he kept Washington in the game while the Bruins peppered him with shots.
RANGERS 4, SENATORS 2
NEW YORK (AP) - Marian Gaborik and Brian Boyle scored minutes apart in the second period to break open a tight game, and top-seeded New York opened its first-round Eastern Conference series with a win.
The Rangers, the No. 1 seed in the East for the first time since they won the Stanley Cup in 1994, shook off their 1-2-1 regular-season mark against the Senators and easily dispatched them in Game 1.
Ryan Callahan scored in the first period, Gaborik and Boyle pushed the lead to 3-0, and Brad Richards added a goal in the third for the Rangers. New York will host the No. 8 Senators again on Saturday night before the best-of-seven series shifts to Ottawa for Games 3 and 4.
Henrik Lundqvist was sharp early, stopping Jason Spezza on a partial breakaway and then turning aside Jim O'Brien, who weaved his way through the New York defense before getting off an in-close drive that was knocked away.