It was tough luck on Braden Holtby, the rookie Capitals goalie who made 29 saves against the second seeds on his play-off debut. Holtby and the Capitals will get a chance to even up the seven-match Eastern Conference Quarter-Final series on Saturday.

The East's top seeds, the New York Rangers, also got off to a winning start in the post-season as they beat the Ottawa Senators 4-2.

Goals from Ryan Callahan, Marian Gaborik, Brian Boyle and Brad Richards put the Rangers 4-0 up, meaning the Senators' two late efforts through Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Condra were not enough.

Shock

There was a shock for the West's second seeds though as the St Louis Blues lost 3-2 to the San Jose Sharks thanks to Martin Havlat's second goal of the game in the second period of overtime.

Havlat opened the scoring in the first period, before Patrik Berglund's double swung the game in the Blues' favour. Andrew Desjardins levelled though and Havlat made the decisive contribution in double OT.

Martin Hanzal scored the overtime winner as the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in their quarter-final opener.