LA Kings, NY Rangers win NHL series openers

The Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers both carried their NHL regular-season success over St. Louis and Washington into their second-round playoff series openers. Jonathan Quick, who shut out the Blues twice during the regular season, made 28 saves as the Kings defeated the Blues 3-1 in St. Louis on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference series. The Kings won the season series against the Blues 3-1. Quick made 12 of his 28 stops in the first period as he helped the Kings weather an early offensive storm by the Blues. Defenceman Matt Greene, forward Dustin Penner and Slava Voynov also scored for the eighth-seeded Kings who knocked out the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first round. In New York, Brad Richards and Chris Kreider scored goals 90 seconds apart in the third period to give the Rangers a 3-1 victory over the Capitals in their Eastern Conference second-round opener. New York beat Washington twice and lost once during the regular season. Artem Anisimov opened the scoring for the Rangers 12:38 into the second period but Jason Chimera equalized for Washington off a lofted pass from Brooks Laich with only four seconds remaining in the period. That set the stage for Kreider's goal seven minutes into the third period and another from Richards with 11:30 remaining. Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 17 saves for the victory while Washington netminder Braden Holtby stopped 12 shots.