Jeff Zatkoff stopped 35 shots in an unexpected and brilliant playoff debut, Patric Hornqvist frustrated New York at both ends of the ice while scoring three times and the Pittsburgh Penguins finally found a way to beat the Rangers in the post-season, winning 5-2 Wednesday. Hornqvist scored the game's first goal before the Rangers pulled star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist with an eye injury, set up Sidney Crosby for a breakaway goal in the second, and added two more goals in the third as the Penguins defeated the team that eliminated them the last two postseasons. Pittsburgh was the NHL's hottest team down the stretch, winning 14 of 16, but that was with Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray in net. Neither goaltender played as Zatkoff, the No. 3 goalie who played once since Feb. 20, started when Fleury (concussion) couldn't go after taking part in the morning skate. Zatkoff shut out the Rangers on 22 shots over the first two periods as Pittsburgh led 2-0. He gave up a Derek Stepan goal on a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period and regrouped before rookie Tom Kuhnhackl scored short-handed to end what would have been a four-minute Rangers power play. Stepan also scored twice — getting his second slightly more than two minutes after Hornqvist scored his second — on a power play, at 8:02 of the third. Hornqvist later scored into an empty net, with Crosby picking up assists on Hornqvist's third-period goals. Blues edge Blackhawks David Backes scored 9:04 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 1-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Backes scored his sixth career playoff goal from the side of the net after his shot deflected off the skate of defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and through the legs of goalie Corey Crawford. Brian Elliott earned his first career playoff shutout, making 35 saves for the Blues. The Blackhawks went on a power play just seven seconds into overtime when Colton Parayko was called for delay of game when he shot the puck over the boards but could not get the puck past Elliott. It was not a surprise the game went to overtime. Three of the five games this season between the two teams went to overtime and all were won by the Blues, one in a shootout. When the two teams met in the first round in 2014, four of the six games went to overtime. This is also the fifth year in a row the Blackhawks' opening game of the playoffs went to overtime. Lightning beat Red Wings Nikita Kucherov scored twice and Alex Killorn snapped a third-period tie, lifting Tampa Bay past Detroit in Game 1 of their series. Ben Bishop had 34 saves for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who got the winner from Killorn less than two minutes after a potential go-ahead goal was waived off when Detroit coach Jeff Blashill successfully challenged that Tampa Bay was offsides before Victor Hedman scored. Killorn took a feed from Tyler Johnson and slipped the puck past Jimmy Howard at 8:52 of the third. Kucherov scored in the first and second periods and also assisted on the winner. Mike Green and Justin Abdelkader scored for Detroit. Game 2 is Friday night at Amalie Arena.
