WASHINGTON - Tomas Plekanec scored 13:19 into overtime to give the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens a 3-2 victory over the top-seeded Washington Capitals on Thursday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoff series.
Plekanec beat Jose Theodore with a drive from the high slot.
Mike Cammalleri scored for Montreal on a power play in the first period, and Scott Gomez tied it at 2 with 12:26 to play. Jaroslav Halak stopped 45 shots.
Joe Corvo had a first-period goal, and Nicklas Backstrom scored early in the third for the Capitals. Theodore made 35 saves.
Sabres 2, Bruins 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Ryan Miller made 38 saves, and Craig Rivet scored the go-ahead goal with slap shot from the right circle with 6 minutes left in the second period in Buffalo's playoff-opening victory over Boston.
Thomas Vanek also scored in Buffalo's first playoff game in three years.
Miller stoped 23 shots in the second period alone.
Mark Recchi scored for the Bruins, who finished the regular season on a 8-3-1 roll to finish sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Canucks 3, Kings 2, OT
VANCOUVER - Mikael Samuelsson scored his second goal 8:52 into overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night in Game 1 of the first-round Western Conference series.
Both goalies made game-saving stops before Samuelsson ended it.
Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick got across quickly on Henrik Sedin's one-timer on a 2-on-1 break 4 minutes into the extra period. Two minutes later, Roberto Luongo lunged back to swipe the puck off the goal line with his glove after Jack Johnson's rebound attempt hit his blocker and trickled toward the goal.
Samuelsson won it 3 minutes later, taking Sedin's pass from behind the net into the high slot and quickly firing a shot over Quick's glove.
Jarret Stoll and Fredrik Modin scored power-play goals, and Quick made 41 saves in the Kings' first playoff game since 2002.
Daniel Sedin scored and set up Samuelsson's second-period power-play goal, and Luongo finished with 25 saves.