STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

Young forwards help lift Islanders

WASHINGTON — Ryan Strome is 21 years old, Brock Nelson is 23, and Josh Bailey is 25. Entering Wednesday night, the three New York Islander forwards owned these combined career NHL playoff numbers: seven games, zero goals.

So much for the supposed importance of postseason experience.

Nelson scored twice, Strome and Bailey added a goal apiece, Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves against a familiar foe, and the Islanders beat Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals 4-1 in Game 1 of their NHL Eastern Conference first-round series.

Bailey (2008), Nelson (2010) and Strome (2011) were all first-round draft picks by New York, far-less-heralded than their teammate who went No. 1 overall in 2009, John Tavares, who finished second in the league in points this season. But while Tavares did have an assist, it was the other three that made the biggest impact in the series opener.

“I liked their composure, the way they held their emotions in check, and they came up big for us tonight,” Islanders Coach Jack Capuano said. “They skated. And, you know, they played with confidence and poise. And they’ve done that all year.”

“There might have been question marks outside of the dressing room,” said Bailey, who added an assist. “I think us guys in here believe in one another, believe in what we have, and I think that tonight was an example of that.”

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is at Washington on Friday night. The Capitals will need to figure out a way to slow down New York’s transition offense, avoid lengthy lulls, and get more from Ovechkin. The three-time NHL MVP scored 53 goals this season to lead the league for the third year in a row and fifth time overall, but all eight of his shots Wednesday were turned aside.

“We’re going to have to be a lot sharper. That goes right through the whole lineup,” Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said. “I thought from our top guys to our role players, there wasn’t too many sharp guys.”

Aside from one bad blip

— when he lost the puck behind his net, leading to Marcus Johansson’s goal in the final minute of the first period — Halak was mostly superb after struggling late in the regular season.

On Wednesday, Bailey said, “Any time they were able to get some quality chances, [Halak] was there to shut the door.”

There’s real history between this goalie and this opponent. Halak stymied Ovechkin and the rest of his Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals while leading eighth-seeded Montreal to a first-round upset in the 2010 playoffs. Last season, Washington acquired Halak at the trade deadline, but he wasn’t able to get them into the postseason.

Indeed, neither of these teams qualified for the playoffs a year ago. The Capitals made it six consecutive seasons prior to that, although they failed to get past the second round in that span.

And this was not the return they envisioned.

“Our desperation level could be a little bit better than it was tonight,” Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik said. “They looked like they had a little more urgency than we did.”

CANADIENS 4, SENATORS 3

MONTREAL — Brian Flynn scored a tie-breaking goal late in the second period and Montreal held on to edge Ottawa in the wild opening game of their firstround playoff series.

Flynn also had two assists for the first three-point game of his career.

Tomas Plekanec and Torrey Mitchell scored 15 seconds apart in a frenetic second period that saw five players get goals in less than five minutes. Lars Eller scored short-handed as part of the barrage.

Mika Zibanejad and Kyle Turris got power-play goals in the middle period for the Senators. Milan Michalek was credited with the game’s first goal, which Montreal’s Andre Markov tipped into his own net 12 minutes in.

BLACKHAWKS 4,

PREDATORS 3, OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Duncan Keith scored at 7:49 of double overtime, and Chicago rallied from a three-goal deficit after the first period in beating Nashville. The Blackhawks finished only two points back of Nashville in the Central Division, and they grabbed home-ice advantage back despite benching Corey Crawford after the first period. Scott Darling stopped every subsequent shot, making 42 saves in his postseason debut as Nashville took a franchise-record 54 shots.

Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist, and Niklas Hjalmarsson and Patrick Sharp each scored for Chicago. Patrick Kane also had two assists in his return after missing 21 games with a broken collarbone.

Colin Wilson scored twice and Viktor Stalberg had a goal, all in the first period for the Predators.

FLAMES 2, CANUCKS 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Defenseman Kris Russell scored with just under 30 seconds remaining in the third period, lifting visiting Calgary to a victory over Vancouver in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

David Jones also scored for the Flames, who were down 1-0 entering the third period.

Bo Horvat opened the scoring for Vancouver midway in the second period. Jannik Hansen and Alexander Edler assisted on the play.

Playoffs glance

FIRST ROUND Best-of-7 WEDNESDAY’S GAMES

Montreal 4, Ottawa 3

Montreal leads series 1-0

NY Islanders 4, Washington 1

New York leads series 1-0

Chicago 4, Nashville 3, 2OT

Chicago leads series 1-0

Calgary 2, Vancouver 1

Calgary leads series 1-0 TODAY’S GAMES All times Central

Pittsburgh at NY Rangers, 6 p.m. Detroit at Tampa Bay, 6:30 p.m. Minnesota at St. Louis, 8:30 p.m. Winnipeg at Anaheim, 9:30 p.m.

ISLANDERS 4, CAPITALS 1

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