Frederik Andersen is playoff ready.

The Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender made 36 saves in regulation during Game 1 against the Washington Capitals, and perhaps none was bigger than this one off the stick of Marcus Johansson to help make sure the game at least went to overtime.

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Justin on the spot.

Known for coming up big in the playoffs, Washington Capitals winger Justin Williams found himself in the right place at the right time and capitalized on Frederik Andersen's confusion to score his second goal of Game 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

William's outburst helped the home team erase an early 2-0 lead.

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Viktor Arvidsson can't stop scoring.

The Nashville Predators forward, who broke out with 31 goals this season, opened the scoring in Game 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks by sneaking behind the defense and neatly tipping the puck past Corey Crawford.

Credit Filip Forsberg with the perfect pass to get the puck on Arvidsson's stick.

The goal was Arvidsson's second career postseason tally, with the first coming in overtime in Game 6 against San Jose last year.

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Willie Desjardins put the blame squarely on himself while facing the Vancouver media for the last time.

Three days after being fired from his role as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, Desjardins expressed his regret by drawing on a conversation he had with Alex Burrows before the veteran forward was traded to the Ottawa Senators at the deadline.

"When he was going to leave, (Burrows said,) 'I was just really disappointed that I couldn't win a Cup in this market. I felt I let the market down,'" Desjardins told reporters Thursday, via TSN 1040.

"And that's what I think. It's the same thing. (Burrows) gave everything he had ... I did the same."

Desjardins spent the first few minutes of Thursday's presser thanking members of the organization, and he later explained that his motivation for addressing the media one more time was gratitude, not any ill will about his dismissal.

"I'm not bitter about it. I am disappointed," he said. "It's such a great game. There's just lots of people I owe thanks to."

The 60-year-old said he had a feeling for months that he wouldn't be back.

"You just get a sense sometimes," Desjardins said. "When you've been around the game a little bit you get a feeling when things are coming to an end."

The Canucks dropped their final eight games of the season and won only two of the final 17 contests.

"It's a tough situation when you get to this point," Desjardins said. "There's casualties sometimes."

Vancouver finished second-last overall with only 30 wins in 82 games, missing the playoffs for the second straight season.

The Canucks got worse in each of Desjardins' three campaigns at the helm, going from 101 points in his first NHL campaign to only 69 in 2016-17.

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With the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs for the first time since the strike shortened 2012-13 season against the Washington Capitals, it seemed the perfect time for the Baltimore Orioles to join in on the fun.

The Orioles opened a four-game set against dreaded rival Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on Thursday night.

Prior to the game, Showalter and several Orioles players donned Washington Capitals T-shirts to support its Beltway cousins - though, the Washington Nationals would make the slightly more logical pairing. There's no Baltimore NHL team, so it's forgiven.

The Blue Jays and Orioles have engaged in a fierce rivalry for years involving dugout-clearing brawls, Zach Britton being curiously absent in the 2016 wild-card game, and even Marcus Stroman being suspended six games for throwing at Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph in 2014.

So, it makes a certain amount of sense that Showalter and company would want to stick it to Toronto sports across the board. Expect another shot if the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards somehow meet up in the NBA playoffs.

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The underdogs have drawn first blood.

Mitch Marner banged home the opening goal of the Toronto Maple Leafs' first-round series against the heavily favored Washington Capitals less than two minutes into Game 1 on Thursday night.

It was the 19-year-old's first career playoff goal, and it came after a great follow-up effort by James van Riemsdyk, who followed his own shot with another and got the puck to carom out to Marner, who found himself with a virtually wide-open cage out front.

Marner also made a little history in the process, becoming the first Leafs teenager to score a postseason marker since Daniel Marois in 1988, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

The Presidents' Trophy winners have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, but that won't matter if the underestimated visitors can continue to silence the Verizon Center crowd.

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USA Hockey has named 15 players to the men's national team for the upcoming World Championship to be played in Cologne, Germany, and Paris, France.

The initial roster features five players who helped guide Team USA to a bronze medal at the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Championship, namely Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets), Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings), Anders Lee (New York Islanders), Connor Murphy (Arizona Coyotes), and Brock Nelson (New York Islanders).

Here's a look at the full list of 15.

Lee ranked third among all Americans with 34 goals this season, while Hellebuyck posted a .948 save percentage in eight games at the 2015 tournament.

Team USA, by the way, lost to Russia in the 2016 bronze-medal game.

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As the head coach of the visiting team in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Mike Babcock has a clear goal in mind for his underdog Toronto Maple Leafs: Take the crowd out of it early.

"There’s nothing like a bunch of fans who have long faces, who are sitting on their hands and are nervous like you can’t believe," Babcock said Thursday, per Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star. "That obviously is the goal for us."

The host Washington Capitals enter the postseason as the Presidents' Trophy winners for the second straight season, and are favored by many to come out of the Eastern Conference. A first-round series against the last team to clinch a spot should be a short part of that journey.

In the Alex Ovechkin era, however, this team has never advanced past the second round, and even small bumps along the road can make the most ardent of believers begin to question the Capitals.

An early goal or two from the upstart Maple Leafs would indeed silence the Washington faithful.

Capitals' head coach Barry Trotz, then, is making sure his team doesn't take anything lightly.

"Toronto's not coming here not to win. They're coming here to win and our job is to make sure that we're making sure that they don't win."

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A Pittsburgh man was so determined to see the Penguins' playoff opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets that he put off receiving medical treatment for a stab wound until after the game was over.

Police were called to an auto detail shop Wednesday around 9 p.m. local time, where they found the 43-year-old victim, whom they believe to be the shop's owner, bleeding from his head, according to Bryan Armen Graham of the Guardian. He had been stabbed with a screwdriver during an altercation with a 25-year-old man.

Paramedics attempted to treat the victim's laceration, but he refused, saying he would drive himself to the hospital after the game, which the Penguins won 3-1.

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Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray suffered a lower-body injury, and there's no time frame for his return, head coach Mike Sullivan announced Thursday.

Murray was injured in the warmup before Game 1 versus Columbus on Wednesday night, and didn't dress for the contest. Marc-Andre Fleury filled in admirably, making 31 saves as the Pens jumped out to a 1-0 series lead.

It's a strange coincidence for Murray and the Penguins, who dealt with virtually the same scenario last postseason. Upon an injury to Fleury early in the first round, Murray took over the crease in relief and never relinquished it, leading Pittsburgh to a Stanley Cup.

Whether Fleury can do the same this time around remains to be seen.

Sullivan announced Fleury will start Game 2 on Friday, with rookie Tristan Jarry set for backup duties.

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