hurricanes 4, devils 1

The Carolina Hurricanes just wanted to be healthy going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, even as it meant resting key players and stumbling down the stretch of the regular season.

The first payoff came Sunday.

Logan Stankoven scored two second-period goals in his first playoff game with Carolina as the Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 to open their first-round series. Carolina led 3-0, more than doubled New Jersey’s shot output and kept the pressure on in a strong start to the postseason.

“Obviously it was pretty clear that I think we were looking forward to this day for a bit now,” goaltender Frederik Andersen said.

Jalen Chatfield scored a first-period goal for the Hurricanes, who kept steady pressure on Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net clincher late in the third.

maple leafs 6, senators 2

Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

William Nylander and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Morgan Rielly and Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto. Auston Matthews added two assists and Anthony Stolarz stopped 31 shots.

Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig scored for Ottawa, and Linus Ullmark finished with 18 saves.

The best-of-seven matchup continues Tuesday with Game 2 at Scotiabank Arena before shifting to Ottawa for two games.

The series opener marked the first playoff Battle of Ontario showdown in exactly 21 years when Toronto bested Ottawa 4-1 in Game 7 on April 20, 2004.

The teams went in opposite directions after that, with Ottawa enjoying a long run of success, including a trip to the 2007 Stanley Cup final, while Toronto made the postseason just once between 2006 and 2016.

The Leafs, who beat the Senators four times in the playoffs across a five-year stretch in the early 2000s, returned to the NHL postseason in 2017 — the last time the Senators made it — with a young core led by Matthews, Marner and Nylander.