Marchand scores 50th career playoff marker as NHL-best Bruins beat Panthers in Game 1

Brad Marchand scored his 50th career playoff goal, David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk also scored, and the NHL-best Boston Bruins opened the playoffs by beating the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Monday night.

Linus Ullmark, a Vezina Trophy candidate who led the league in wins (40), goals-against average (1.89) and save percentage (.938), stopped 31 shots and Tyler Bertuzzi added two assists for Boston, which controlled the game even with captain Patrice Bergeron sitting out because of illness.

Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers and Alex Lyon made 26 saves but gave up Marchand's goal on a relatively easy shot.

The Bruins captured the Presidents' Trophy, setting NHL records in points (135) and wins (65). Florida, last season's No. 1 seed, earned the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot with a late-season push.

It's the first playoff matchup between a No. 1 seed and the Presidents' winner from the previous season since the award was introduced in 1985-86.

Pastrnak, a 61-goal scorer this season, was on the opposite side on the right wing from his usual spot on the power play. Bertuzzi collected the rebound of David Krejci's shot in the slot and sent a quick backhand pass to Pastrnak, who snapped the puck into the net at 5:58 of the opening period.

Lyon gave up the soft goal early in the second when Marchand fired a seemingly harmless shot from the top of the left circle. Lyon bent down to catch it and it tipped off his glove, caroming into the net after hitting the inside of the right post.

Florida cut the lead in half when Boston defenceman Dmitry Orlov sent a blind, backhand pass directly out front, where Tkachuk collected it and flipped the puck past Ullmark at 6:34 of the second.

DeBrusk restored the two-goal lead when he dove into a pile and knocked the puck into the net out of a scramble near the crease late in the second.

As it did to so many opponents during its record-setting season, Boston bottled up Florida in the third.

Hurricanes hold on to beat Islanders

Sebastian Aho and Stefan Noesen scored power-play goals to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Monday night to open their first-round playoff series.

Noesen's tip on Brent Burns' shot from up top proved to be the winner at 2:27 of the second period, while Antti Raanta finished with 25 saves to lead a defensive effort that saw the Hurricanes turn away every chance the Islanders had with a man advantage to take the lead in the best-of-7 series.

Ryan Pulock beat Raanta early in the second period for the Islanders, a big goal coming moments after Carolina had taken a 2-0 lead on Noesen's score. But that ended up being the last time either team would find the net, setting up a third-period grind to the final horn.

Sorokin finished with 35 saves for the Islanders, including a big one midway through the third when he slid across the crease just in time to stop Seth Jarvis near the post after a perfect pass from Teuvo Teravainen.

The Hurricanes are in the playoffs for the fifth straight season, the first such run since the former Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina in 1997. They won their last two regular season games to clinch a division title for the third straight season. And they entered the postseason second only to Boston in the NHL standings.

The Islanders had reached the Stanley Cup semifinals in 2020 and 2021 before missing the playoffs last season, but they grinded their way to the Eastern Conference's top wild-card spot in a tight finish to the season.

Islanders star Mathew Barzal returned from a lower-body injury that cost him 23 straight games. He hadn't played since Feb. 18, though he began skating earlier this month and rejoined the team for practice late last week.

Barzal returned to the top line alongside captain Anders Lee and midseason trade acquisition Bo Horvat. Barzal saw more than 21 minutes of ice time and tallied two shots.

Wild beat Stars in 2OT marathon

Ryan Hartman had just circled around the net when a deflected puck came toward him. He quickly scored to give the Minnesota Wild a victory in their playoff opener — a game that began Monday night and dragged into early Tuesday morning.

Hartman gathered the puck and skated in front of the crease before lifting it over the extended left leg of Jake Oettinger at 1 a.m. local time, giving the Wild a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars in a more than four-hour marathon in which both 24-year-old goalies had spectacular performances.

The game-winner came after Stars defenceman Thomas Harley had knocked the puck toward the corner, but Colin Miller was unable to clear it. The puck instead ricocheted off Sam Steel's stick and toward Hartman.

"Just a bounce that went their way," Oettinger said. "We had a couple that didn't go our way and that's hockey. ... Tight game and two good teams, and it's going to be a heck of a series."

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Dallas.

Filip Gustavsson stopped 52 shots for the Wild, including 12 in the third period and 17 in the first overtime. He started Game 1 ahead of three-time Stanley Cup winner Marc-Andre Fleury after the goalie tandem had split games throughout most of the season.

Oettinger had 45 saves for the Stars in his first playoff game since a 64-save performance in Game 7 in the first round last May when top-seeded Calgary scored the series clincher in overtime.

Veteran Stars centre Joe Pavelski left the game midway through the second period after a massive hit from Matt Dumba, who was only assessed a minor roughing penalty. Referees had initially called it a five-minute major, but changed it after a lengthy replay review.

The Stars said the 38-year-old Pavelski was doing OK afterwards, but his status for the next game was uncertain.

"I'm not confident for Game 2," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "He's okay, he's walking out of the rink on his own OK."