Devils Blank Bruins; Flyers Win in OT

Devils 5, Bruins 0

Forward Claude Lemieux, usually a defensive specialist, scored two first-period goals to help the New Jersey Devils take the opening game of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoffs from the Boston Bruins with surprising ease.

Lemieux scored at 16:04 and 19:12 to help the Devils take a 3-0 lead after the first period.

Martin Brodeur stopped 23 Bruins shots for his second career playoff shutout. He also shut out Boston on May 9 last year during the Devils' six-game, secondround victory.

Flyers 4, Sabres 3, OT

The Philadellphia Flyers took the opener of their Eastern Conference series against the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3, without their best player and top scorer, Eric Lindros, who has a bruised left eye.

Karl Dykhuis scored the winning goal for Philadelphia with a knuckling shot that bounced past Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek at 10:06 of overtime.

The Sabres tied the game at 3 on Jason Dawe's second goal of the game at 12:33 of the third period.

Red Wings 4, Stars 3

Detroit's quest for its first Stanley Cup championship in 40 years got off on the right foot as Vyacheslav Kozlov snapped a 3-3 tie at 10:15 of the third period to defeat Dallas, 4-3.

Detroit has finished with the best record in the conference, yet lost in the first round of the playoffs the last two seasons. The Red Wings lost to San Jose in seven games last year and in seven to Toronto in 1993.

Blues 2, Canucks 1

The Blues took the first step toward consecutive Stanley Cups for Mike Keenan, getting power-play goals from Brett Hull and Adam Creighton to top the Canucks, 2-1.