Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Stage set for five openers

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily look at the races for the 2018 NHL postseason. There were three games on the schedule Wednesday and two of them featured franchises getting their first Stanley Cup Playoff wins. There were also two shutouts, turned in by goalies -- Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights and Matt Murray of the Pittsburgh Penguins -- who won the Stanley Cup as teammates last season.

On tap

There are five series-opening Stanley Cup Playoff games Thursday:
-- Lightning forward Steven Stamkos, who missed the final three games of the regular season with a lower-body injury, will play in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference First Round series. The Devils named Keith Kinkaid their starting goalie for the opener. New Jersey, which finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2016-17, had a franchise record 27-point improvement in the standings. The charge was led by MVP candidate Taylor Hall, who had 93 points (39 goals, 54 assists), his best NHL season.
-- The Bruins and Maple Leafs face each other for the first time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since their epic seven-game battle in the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Bruins won Game 7 of that series when they came back from three goals down in the third period, the first team in playoff history to do so in a Game 7. Forward Rick Nash, who missed the final 12 games of the regular season with a concussion, is expected to play for the Bruins in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference First Round series. Center Riley Nash (ear laceration) will not.
-- The Capitals and Blue Jackets each will be led into Game 1 of this Eastern Conference First Round series by a Russia-born star forward: Washington's Alex Ovechkin scored a League-high 49 goals to win his seventh Rocket Richard Trophy and Artemi Panarin set Columbus records for assists (55) and points (82). The Blue Jackets had points in 15 of their final 17 regular-season games (13-2-2, 28 points). Goaltender Philipp Grubauer will start for the Capitals.
-- The Predators know the Avalanche will be dangerous in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round. Colorado may have been the last team to claim a playoff berth, and the Predators won the Presidents' Trophy with a team record 115 points, but the Predators were the last team to qualify for the 2017 playoffs and upset the Chicago Blackhawks, the top seed in the West, on the way to a place in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time. Nashville lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
-- This Western Conference First Round marks the second playoff matchup between these California rivals. The first was a 2009 Western Conference Quarterfinal series, when the eighth-seeded Ducks defeated the favored Sharks in six games. Anaheim goaltender John Gibson, who missed the final three games of the regular season with an upper-body injury, is expected to start Game 1. San Jose center Joe Thornton, who has missed 35 games with a knee injury, won't play in Game 1, but could return later in the best-of-7 series.

What we learned

Here are some things we learned on Day 1 of the playoffs:

Penguins are hungry for more

The Penguins clearly aren't satisfied with back-to-back Stanley Cup titles. They want a third. They came out looking to make a statement in Game 1 against the Flyers, and they did it
with a 7-0 win
. The Penguins did everything right, including holding the Flyers to zero shots on goal on each of their two power-play opportunities. Pittsburgh got contributions from throughout the lineup. It had 12 skaters with at least one point, including Sidney Crosby's natural hat trick and a team-high four points (one goal, three assists) for Jake Guentzel. Matt Murray made 24 saves for his third consecutive shutout in the Stanley Cup Playoffs dating to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final last year. His active playoff shutout streak of 206:26 is a Penguins record.

Flyers can't feed the Penguins

They knew it going into the series, but the Flyers got a firsthand understanding of what happens when you are careless with the puck, poor in your defensive positioning and lack discipline against the Penguins. Whether it was them not clearing out rebounds, turning over pucks in the offensive zone, backing up on defense when they should be attacking or going to the penalty box too often (four times), the Flyers didn't do much to help their own cause in Game 1. They must be more detailed, more careful, more disciplined and more confident in Game 2 or the Penguins could skate them out of the building again.

Wild can play with Jets

The Wild had a lot of push in Game 1, taking a 2-1 lead with two goals in the first 3:58 of the third period before the Jets rallied for a 3-2 win. Their physical play was at least as strong as Winnipeg's and, perhaps, exceeded it. Even though they lost Game 1, their play was a good sign for what promises to be a Central Division playoff matchup full of contact.

Jets can win a playoff game

There will be no more questions about the franchise's playoff resume. Winnipeg had eight players in Game 1 who had never been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and now they can focus more on the job at hand in the series and less on their lack of experience. Patrik Laine, who was one of those playing his first postseason game, scored a key goal in the third period to tie the game 2-2.

Golden Knights will not be intimidated

Vegas is fast. Los Angeles is physical. The thought coming into the series was that the Golden Knights had to play their style and not get drawn into the Kings', and that is still the thought. But in their 1-0 win in Game 1, the Golden Knights did not back down when things got chippy and stayed disciplined, other than a boarding penalty by forward Tomas Nosek.

Kings have little margin for error

The Kings were the best defensive team in the regular season. They have an excellent goaltender in Jonathan Quick. But they're playing one of the best offensive teams in the regular season, and the Golden Knights might be one of the few teams with the edge in goal with Marc-Andre Fleury. The Kings limited the Golden Knights to one goal but it was not enough. Forward Dustin Brown and center Anze Kopitar had open nets but failed to bury their chances.

Facts and figures

Some numbers from the opening night of the playoffs:
* The Pittsburgh Penguins, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights each put history on their side by winning Game 1. Teams that take a 1-0 lead in a best-of-7 playoff series have an all-time series record of 458-209, a .686 winning percentage, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That percentage is .755 (321-104) when a team wins Game 1 at home.
* The Golden Knights became the first team in NHL history to win its playoff debut in its inaugural season when facing a non-first-year team. The Toronto Arenas (1918), St. Louis Blues (1968) and Los Angeles Kings (1968) also won their first playoff games but did it against other first-year teams. Vegas also joined the 1927 New York Rangers and the 1968 Blues as the only first-year teams that won their first playoff game with a shutout.
* Penguins goaltender Matt Murray, who made 24 saves in a 7-0 victory against the Flyers, has shutouts in each of his past three playoff games; he shut out the Nashville Predators in Games 5 and 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. Murray is the ninth goaltender in NHL history to have three straight playoff shutouts and the first since Ilya Bryzgalov with the Anaheim Ducks in 2006. Murray joins Terry Sawchuk (1952 and 1953 Detroit Red Wings) as the only goaltenders to do it across multiple postseasons. No goaltender has ever had four consecutive shutouts. Murray will try to become the first when the Penguins host the Flyers in Game 2 on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, ATTSN-PT).
* Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby made some history of his own. Crosby joined Mario Lemieux and Kevin Stevens as the third player in Penguins history to have a natural hat trick and became the fifth in NHL history to do it in his team's playoff opener. The others: Defenseman Dick Redmond and center Pit Martin of the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of the 1983 Quarterfinals; Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers and Peter Stastny of the Quebec Nordiques in Game 1 of their respective division semifinals in 1983.
* Jets forward Patrik Laine (19 years, 357 days) and Wild forward Matt Cullen (41 years, 160 days) each scored Winnipeg's 3-2 win in Game 1. That's the largest age discrepancy between two players to score in the same playoff game since Game 2 of the 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Buffalo Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers (20 years, 75 days) and Boston Bruins Mark Recchi (42 years, 75 days) were exactly 22 years apart when they scored in Boston's 5-3 win. But the largest such age discrepancy goes back to 1980, when Hartford Whalers teammates Ray Neufeld (20 years, 360 days) and Gordie Howe (52 years, nine days) each had a goal in an 8-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 2 of their Preliminary Round series. They were 31 years and 14 days apart.

About last night

Here's a look at the three Game 1s played on Wednesday
Vegas Golden Knights 1, Los Angeles Kings 0 -- The first Stanley Cup Playoff game in Las Vegas was a memorable one with Marc-Andre Fleury making 30 saves for his 11th NHL shutout. Shea Theodore's goal 3:23 into the first period held up for Vegas.
Pittsburgh Penguins 7, Philadelphia Flyers 0 -- Sidney Crosby scored a natural hat trick, and the two-time defending champions got rolling toward their third title with the rout of their intra-state rival. Goalie Matt Murray made 24 saves for his third straight shutout in the playoffs, dating back to Games 6 and 7 of last season's Stanley Cup Final.
Winnipeg Jets 3, Minnesota Wild 2 -- The Jets got third-period goals from Patrik Laine and Joe Morrow, his first game-winner in the NHL, to rally for the first playoff win in franchise history. It was the first playoff goals for Laine and Morrow. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves for his first playoff win.