Flyers open with a win

A bitter start for the Arizona Coyotes in the first round of the Western Conference play-offs. Michael Grabner's team suffered a heavy 0:3 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche in the opening game of the best-of-seven series.

The game was only decided very late on. After two scoreless periods, Colorado struck in the final period. Nazeem Kadri made it 1:0 on the power play (53:05). Just ten seconds later, J.T. Comper added the second goal (53:15). Shortly afterwards, the game was already over for the Coyotes when Mikko Rantanen made it 3:0 (54:28). The game was decided in the space of 1:23 minutes.

Grabner logged 12:53 minutes of ice time but did not register a point on this occasion. Colorado now lead the series 1:0.

The Philadelphia Flyers fared better in the East. Without the injured Michael Raffl, the Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 2:1 to take a 1:0 lead in the series.

The Flyers took an early lead through Jakub Voracek in the 9th minute, but Shea Weber equalised on the power play in the second period in the 35th minute. However, the joy was short-lived, as Joel Farabee restored the one-goal lead 16 seconds after the equaliser.