NHL playoffs: 4 stories from Thursday night

The first NHL post-season game for the Winnipeg Jets in 19 years failed to produce a win in Anaheim, while the Rangers held off the Penguins and the Red Wings and Wild also skated to wins.

Here are four stories from the NHL playoffs on Thursday night:

Perry's big night sparks Ducks

There's a reason why Ducks forward Corey Perry is a big-time player in the NHL, and he showed it again in Game 1 against the Winnipeg Jets. Perry scored two goals in the third period, rallying the Ducks to a 4-2 win over the Jets.

The Jets played a solid first 40 minutes en route to a 2-1 lead. That's when Perry took over. The winger first tied the game on the power play at 1:09 of the third. He then put the Ducks up for good at 13:21, but a minute of play transpired before a video review was undertaken to confirm the puck went in the net.

Perry finished with a four-point night, while linemate Ryan Getzlaf, who scored the insurance goal, posted three points.

The Jets gave their fans quite a scare before the puck even dropped to open the series when Andrew Ladd collided with goalie Ondrej Pavalec during warm-ups.

Neither player was injured, but Pavelec saw his shutout streak from the end of the regular season end only minutes into the game.

Crosby underwhelms in opener

It was a battle of goalies as the Rangers took an early series lead with a 2-1 victory over the Penguins.

Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was tested with 38 shots over the course of the evening, while Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist stopped all but one of the 25 shots he faced.

Notably, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was absent from the scoresheet. Crosby led his team in scoring during the regular season, but only mustered one shot on net in the playoff opener.

The Rangers may have cause for concern. Defenceman Dan Girardi left the game midway through the third after taking a deflected shot to the face.

Red Wings' Datsyuk, Mrazek bury Lightning

The Red Wings took an unexpected series lead over the Lightning thanks to a 3-2 win. Detroit was outshot 46-14, with goalie Petr Mrazek impressing in his playoff debut.

The 23-year-old from the Czech Republic kept Tampa Bay's top scorer off the board, shutting the door on all eight of Steven Stamkos's shots.

Pavel Datsyuk showed off his playoff experience by netting the two opening goals, the second occurring just eight seconds into the middle frame.

That is the fastest playoff goal to start a period in franchise history, beating a goal by Gordie Howe by one second.

St. Louis sings the blues

The Wild got off to a great start in their series against the St. Louis Blues, with the underdogs claiming a 4-2 triumph over the Central Division champs.

The standout goal of the game came from forward Jason Zucker, who opened the scoring early in the first with a wrap-around goal that fooled Jake Allen.