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Rangers race to 2-0 series lead against Capitals

RYAN Callahan spoiled Simeon Varlamov's NHL postseason debut by scoring on New York's second shot to lead the seventh-seeded Rangers to a 1-0 victory over the second-seeded Washington Capitals on Saturday and a 2-0 lead in their first-round NHL Eastern Conference playoff series.

Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves for his third career playoff shutout.

Caps coach Bruce Boudreau will have to decide whether to stick with Varlamov or go back to Jose Theodore for Game 3 on Monday.

Washington's Alex Ovechkin led the NHL in goals each of the past two seasons, but he hasn't scored in the series.

In Detroit, Brian Rafalski, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler scored and Chris Osgood posted his 14th NHL playoff shutout as Detroit took a 2-0 lead over Columbus in the first-round Western Conference series with a 4-0 win.

Columbus hopes returning home will help on Tuesday night when it hosts a playoff game for the first time in franchise history.

Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason had an NHL-high 10 shutouts during the season, but he has given up four goals in his first two playoff games. He made 35 saves in Game 2.

Osgood stopped 25 shots and moved into a fourth-place tie on the NHL's career postseason shutout list.

Power-play goals

In Boston, Marc Savard scored two power-play goals as Boston moved two wins away from its first playoff series victory since 1999 by beating Montreal 5-1.

Top-seeded Boston took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series over No. 8 Montreal, which will play at home next.

Savard also assisted on a power-play goal by Michael Ryder. Boston's other goals were scored by Chuck Kobasew and Shane Hnidy, who replaced Matt Hunwick in the lineup after the defenseman had surgery to remove his spleen on Saturday afternoon.

Alex Kovalev scored for Montreal.

In Chicago, Jonathan Toews scored two of Chicago's three second-period goals as Chicago rallied for a 3-2 victory over Calgary and took a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Toews' second goal of the period came on a rebound with only 24 seconds remaining as Chicago erased an early 2-0 deficit and continued its mastery of the Flames. Counting a 4-0 sweep in the regular season, the Blackhawks have won six straight against Calgary.





 

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