ARLINGTON, Va. - As the Washington Capitals gathered at their practice facility Wednesday for exit meetings and the annual explanations about what went wrong in the playoffs, there were references to bad luck and bad bounces in their first-round elimination against the New York Rangers.

"If you're asking me if there's one specific thing, I don't know," defenceman Mike Green said, two days after Washington's 5-0 home loss in Game 7. "Does anybody know? Do you know?"

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Dan Bylsma has been hearing it seemingly from the moment he took over at Pittsburgh Penguins head coach four years ago.

Every time the Penguins hit a rough patch, the murmurs about finding a polished winger to play alongside superstar Sidney Crosby pop up. Bylsma understands the sentiment. It's just that it's a little misplaced.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Los Angeles Kings hadn't held a two-goal lead in the entire post-season until Slava Voynov's shot fortunately caromed off Mike Richards' body and into San Jose's net midway through their second-round series opener.

A two-goal lead was one more than Jonathan Quick needed against the Sharks.

Quick made 35 saves in his sixth career playoff shutout, and the Kings opened the fourth all-California playoff series with a 2-0 victory Tuesday night.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Jonathan Quick made 35 saves in his sixth career playoff shutout, and the Los Angeles Kings opened their second-round series with a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.

Slava Voynov and Mike Richards each had a goal and an assist in the defending Stanley Cup champions' 11th straight victory at Staples Center since March.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Ottawa Senators know there is little margin for error if they want to upset the Pittsburgh Penguins.

If they don't slow down Pittsburgh's potent power play, they'll have a difficult time against Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Penguins.

Paul Martin and Chris Kunitz scored power-play goals and Pascal Dupuis added his sixth goal of the playoffs and the Penguins beat the Senators 4-1 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Tuesday.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Henrik Lundqvist has been among the NHL's best goalies lately. Ottawa's Craig Anderson won't be joining his New York Rangers counterpart at the all-star game, but he sure is making a good case that he should be.

Anderson made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season, Jason Spezza scored twice and the Senators beat the surging Rangers 3-0 on Thursday night.

ST. LOUIS - Daniel Sedin scored a power-play goal 46 seconds into overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night in a matchup for first place in the Western Conference.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Craig Anderson made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season, Jason Spezza scored twice, and the Ottawa Senators beat the surging New York Rangers 3-0 on Thursday night.

Milan Michalek also scored for the Senators, who have won five straight at Madison Square Garden and seven of eight there (7-0-1).

New York (27-10-4), which entered with the most points in the NHL, had won five straight and 10 of 11.

BOSTON - The Montreal Canadiens have struggled so much this season that even the Boston fans couldn't muster much of a hatred for their Original Six rivals.

So the crowd yelled derogatory cheers about Tim Tebow instead.

"They've got a lot going on right now, and I think their situation is a little bit different," Bruins coach Claude Julien said Thursday night after Boston beat the embattled Canadiens 2-1.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Derek Stepan's goal in the sixth round of a shootout lifted the New York Rangers past the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Stepan beat Mike Smith high to the glove side before Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped Coyotes captain Shane Doan to secure the win.

The Rangers, who won for the 10th time in 11 games, improved to 27-9-4 for an NHL-high 58 points and their best start since 1993-94, when they won the Stanley Cup. New York won its fifth straight overall and improved to 13-3-2 at home.