Stanley Cup Playoffs notebook: Wednesday, April 15

WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

MONTREAL 4, Ottawa 3 -- MTL leads 1-0

NY Islanders 4, WASHINGTON 1 -- NYI leads 1-0

Chicago 4, NASHVILLE 3 (2OT) -- CHI leads 1-0

Calgary 2, VANCOUVER 1 -- CGY leads 1-0

DARLING PERFECT, KEITH THE OT HERO IN BLACKHAWKS' COMEBACK

Scott Darling made 42 saves in relief and Duncan Keith scored at 7:49 of the second overtime to help the Chicago Blackhawks rally from a three-goal deficit for a 4-3 win against the Nashville Predators, taking a 1-0 series lead.

* Darling, a sixth-round pick (No. 153, PHX) in the 2007 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks on Oct. 26 (2-1 W vs. OTT) and went 9-4-0 with a 1.94 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and one shutout in 14 appearances. Prior to that, the Lemont, Ill., native split time among the Southern Professional Hockey League, ECHL and American Hockey League.

* Via Elias, Darling is the first Blackhawks goaltender to make his NHL debut and win a Stanley Cup Playoff game in the same season since 1940-41 (Sam LoPresti). He also is the first rookie goaltender to win his playoff debut in a Chicago uniform since Ed Belfour on April 6, 1990 (5-3 W vs. MNS).

* Darling became the first goaltender from any NHL team to win while making his playoff debut in relief since April 21, 1997 (Steve Shields: 11 SV, 24:27, 3-2 W at OTT w/ BUF). His 42 saves were the most by a rookie goaltender in his first playoff appearance since April 24, 1997 (Jose Theodore: 56 SV, 4-3 3OT W vs. NJD w/ MTL).

* Down 3-0 after 20 minutes, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews scored in the second period to tie the game. Elias says the last time the Blackhawks overcame a three-goal deficit to win in the postseason was April 8, 1991 when Chris Chelios tallied 1-3—4 to help Chicago rally from a 5-2 deficit for a 6-5 win in Game 3 of the Norris Division Semifinals.

* Keith (1-1—2) scored his third career game-winning goal in the postseason. He scored the only overtime goal of his regular-season career on Dec. 19, 2008 at CGY.

* Toews (1-2—3) had his fifth career postseason game with at least three points and first since May 7, 2010 when he set a career high with 3-2—5 at VAN. He paced the Blackhawks with 28-38—66 in 2014-15.

* Marian Hossa had two assists, including the primary assist in overtime. He leads all players in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 84 career assists and 129 career points in the postseason. The only active NHL player with more playoff assists and points than Hossa is Jaromir Jagr (78-121—199).

* Patrick Kane had two assists in his first game since Feb. 24, when he suffered a broken clavicle that sidelined him for the balance of the regular season. He has compiled 10-24—34 in his career in the first round.

* The Blackhawks have played at least one overtime game in 12 consecutive series dating to the 2010 Western Conference Final vs. SJS, tying the Sharks for longest active streak in the NHL. Chicago improved to 15-10 in overtime games in that span.

* Chicago played in its 94th all-time overtime game in the postseason (51-41-2), the fifth most in NHL history. Nashville fell to 2-6 in overtime games.

RUSSELL'S LATE GAME-WINNER LIFTS FLAMES

Facing a one-goal deficit entering the third period, the Calgary Flames scored twice, including the game-winning goal by Kris Russell with 29.6 seconds remaining in regulation, to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 and take a 1-0 series lead.

* Via the Elias Sports Bureau, Russell's goal was the latest game-winning goal in a playoff game in Flames history. Joel Otto established the previous mark on April 15, 1989 with his series-clinching goal at 19:21 of overtime in Game 7 of their first-round series against the Canucks.

* Russell's only other postseason goal was on April 23, 2009 vs. DET (w/ CBJ). He posted career highs in assists (30) and points (34) in the regular season.

* Jonas Hiller made 29 saves to earn his 13th career postseason win and first with Calgary. David Jones tied the game with his first career postseason goal.

* Rookies Sam Bennett and Michael Ferland each had an assist in their postseason debuts. Bennett, 18, also had an assist in his NHL debut in the Flames season finale on Saturday.

* The victory continued a regular-season trend for the Flames, who recorded a franchise-record 10 wins when trailing at the second intermission. Overall, the Flames posted 24 come-from-behind wins in the regular season and scored a League-leading 99 goals in the third period (tied w/ TBL).

* The winner of Game 1 between the Flames and Canucks has won four of their previous six playoff series.

FLYNN POWERS CANADIENS TO VICTORY

Brian Flynn scored his first career playoff goal late in the second period to cap a six-goal period and lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win against the Ottawa Senators and a 1-0 series lead.

* The six total goals in the second period (MTL: 4, OTT: 2) were two shy of the postseason records for both clubs. Five of those six goals came during a 4:43 span, including scores 15 seconds apart by Torrey Mitchell and Tomas Plekanec.

* Elias says those were the fastest two goals in a playoff game by the Canadiens since May 8, 1998 when Turner Stevenson and Vincent Damphousse tied the game with goals 10 seconds apart in the third period in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals (3-2 OT L at BUF).

* Via Elias, Flynn (1-2—3) is the first Canadiens player to score at least three points in his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut since April 7, 1988, when Gilles Thibaudeau compiled 2-1—3 vs. HFD. Flynn's goal also stood as the game-winner; his only such goal in 168 regular-season games also came vs. OTT on April 5, 2013 (w/ BUF).

* Flynn and Mitchell were acquired from the Buffalo Sabres prior to the NHL Trade Deadline and scored their first goals in a Montreal uniform. The last Canadiens player to score his first goal with the team in the playoffs was Brent Sopel (April 21, 2011 vs. BOS).

* Carey Price made 30 saves to earn his 18th career postseason victory, surpassing Gerry McNeil into sole possession of sixth place in franchise history. He also improved to 7-3 in his past 10 playoff games at Bell Centre dating to April 26, 2011 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals vs. BOS, compared to 4-9 in his first 13 postseason games in the building.

* Lars Eller scored the other Canadiens goal, while P.K. Subban added two assists. Subban led the club with 45 assists during the regular season.

* Montreal improved to 73-44 all-time in Game 1 of a best-of-7 series; they have won 61 of the previous 72 series in which they earned a Game 1 victory. It was their second all-time postseason win vs. OTT (Game 2 of EQF on May 3, 2013).

STROME'S WINNER LIFTS ISLANDERS

The New York Islanders scored three unanswered goals, including Ryan Strome's eventual game-winner early in the second period, to defeat the Washington Capitals 4-1 and take a 1-0 series lead.

* The Islanders picked up their first playoff win over the Capitals since April 28, 1993, a 5-3 series-clinching win in Game 6 of the Patrick Division Semifinals.

* Strome's game-winning goal came in his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut. According to Elias, Strome is the second player in franchise history to score a game-winning goal in his first career postseason game. Clark Gillies also accomplished the feat on April 8, 1975 in a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of their best-of-three Preliminary Round matchup against the New York Rangers, the first playoff game in Islanders franchise history.

* Brock Nelson (2-0—2) and Josh Bailey (1-1—2) each scored their first career postseason goal. According to Elias, the previous time at least three Islanders scored their first career playoff goal in the same game was May 3, 2013 (Kyle Okposo, Matt Martin, Matt Moulson, Colin McDonald; 4-3 W at PIT).

* ICYMI: New in-post cameras captured Nelson's opening goal at 6:06 of the first period -- the first of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs -- from a never-before-seen perspective.

* Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves to earn his 11th career postseason win and first since April 14, 2012 vs. SJS (w/ STL). He set a franchise record and career high with 38 wins in the regular season.

* John Tavares, who finished second in the NHL scoring race with a career-high 86 points (38-48—86), had the primary assist on Strome's game-winning goal.

* New York's road victory broke the regular-season trend between the clubs in which the home team won all four games.

DID YOU KNOW?

According to Elias, teams that win Game 1 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series hold an all-time series record of 427-195 (68.6 percent).

LOOSE PUCKS

Canucks rookie Bo Horvat scored in his playoff debut . . . Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler had his 29th career playoff point (8-21—29), surpassing Mattias Ohlund for sole possession of second on the franchise's all-time list among defensemen. . . Kyle Turris, Milan Michalek and Mika Zibanejad scored the Senators goals. Patrick Wiercioch and Erik Karlsson each registered two assists . . . Karlsson (3-14—17) surpassed Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips into second place on the franchise's all-time playoff points list among defensemen . . . Rookies Anders Lee (NYI) and Teuvo Teravainen (CHI) each registered an assist in their playoff debuts . . . Predators forward Colin Wilson (2-0—2) matched his point output from his previous 13 career postseason games (1-1—2) . . . Teammates Calle Jarnkrok, Seth Jones, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis each recorded their first career playoff points . . . Predators forward Viktor Stalberg scored while facing his former team . . . ICYMI: Senators rookie Mark Stone tried to drink from the wrong end of his water bottle . . . Country singer Carrie Underwood shared her support for husband Mike Fisher and the Predators.

Let's. Do. This.

A photo posted by Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) on Apr 15, 2015 at 4:53pm PDT