The New York Rangers opened the Eastern Conference Final with a 7-2 win in Montreal, embarrassing the Canadiens on home ice to start the series. Roger Clemens Jersey . Rangers D Ryan McDonagh led the way with a goal and three assists for the Blueshirts and, oh, thats not any kind of sore spot for the Canadiens. Remember, he was a first-round pick of the Canadiens in 2007 who was dealt to the Rangers as part of the deal to get (ahem) Scott Gomez. McDonagh only had three points, total, through the first two rounds, so the first four-point game of his 298-game (regular season and playoffs) career was a great start for the Rangers. In a 7-2 rout, there were plenty of big contributors for the Rangers. The line of Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Rick Nash each had one goal and an assist. Yes, Nash scored his first goal in 15 playoff games this year, and Kreider, the rookie power forward was a tough match-up for the Canadiens. Nash and Kreider can be tough matchups if theyre playing well and, for various reasons, havent been major factors through the first couple rounds. Could be big trouble for Montreal if thats going to change now. Martin St. Louis and Derek Stepan each had a goal and an assist and Dominic Moore chipped in a couple of assists, while Mats Zuccarello delivered a goal and two assists. Zuccarello is now the Rangers leading scorer in the playoffs, with 11 points (4 G, 7 A) in 15 games, one ahead of St. Louis and Brad Richards. Richards scored a goal and registered a game-high 10 shot attempts. The Canadiens were getting outplayed at 5-on-5, but the Rangers also had seven of the games first eight power plays, with Montreal getting a couple of power plays in the last three-and-a-half minutes, long after the outcome was decided. Coming off a series against Boston in which the Canadiens were obviously invested emotionally, they certainly appeared flat in Game One against the Rangers. G Carey Price, who has been great in the playoffs, was pulled between the second and third periods after allowing four goals on 20 shots. Only twice, in 70 (regular season plus playoff) games this season, did Price allow at least four goals with 16 or fewer saves. Though his production was inconsequential, Canadiens C Lars Eller had a goal and an assist and hes the top scoring Montreal forward in the playoffs with five goals and 11 points in a dozen games. One negative for the Rangers was that C Derick Brassard left the game early with an apparent back injury. Hes considered day-to-day. If the Canadiens are to take a positive from this debacle of a game, it is that it only counts as one loss. Forget Game One, come back fresh for Game Two because, really, what other option do they have? Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Roy Halladay Jersey . The South Africa international, who rejoined the club last month on loan from Tottenham, opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a powerful shot into the roof of the net. Josh Donaldson Jersey . “Momentum is only as good as the next days starter,” the long-time Baltimore Orioles manager famously quipped. http://www.officialbluejaysgearshop.com/Blue-Jays-Marco-Estrada-Kids-Jersey/ . - Kyle Wood and Barclay Goodrow scored second period power-play goals to provide all of the scoring for the North Bay Battalion in a 2-0 victory over the Erie Otters in Ontario Hockey League action on Thursday.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Patrick Roys fiery personality was on full display in the opening game when the Colorado coach got into a heated exchange with Anaheim, banging his hands again and again on the glass partition until it tilted. That eruption set a tone for the season: The Avalanche werent going to be pushovers. Not with the combustible Hall of Fame goaltender taking over behind the bench. Roy guided this franchise -- the one he led to two Stanley Cup titles as a player -- back into the playoffs by tying a team record with 52 wins. They play Minnesota in a first-round series that begins Thursday. "Patrick is the ultimate winner. He doesnt accept anything less than winning," backup goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "He did that as a player and hes doing that as a coach. "He does that when he plays golf, he does that when he plays cards, he does everything to win. And that has really translated to our team. He changed the whole mentality in this room, and it shows every time we go out on the ice. We play to win, so its fun to see that." As for that volatile temper, the players insist they rarely see it inside the locker room -- not after a bad period or a tough loss. This is their team, Roy said from the day he was brought on board, and he was there more for support than to scold. He was partnering with them, not ruling them with an iron fist. The breathing room allowed the youthful Avalanche to make some mistakes and learn from them. "They need to have someone who they can come up to and talk," said Roy, whos the fifth coach in NHL history to win 50 or more games in his first season. "Its their system." Roys only previous experience on the bench was serving as coach and general manager of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. So he leaned on his assistants, as well as former teammate turned executive Joe Sakic. Roy has been a little unorthodox in running the team: From pulling his goalie with two, three, sometimes four minutes remaining if theyre down a goal to assembling them at centre ice after a practice and having them all yell "team" at the same time. "If we want to be different than weve been in past years, then we have to do things differently," captain Gabriel Landeskkog said. J.A. Happ Jersey. "Its been great to see his point of view on things. You see the team that we are. You see the team that weve become. "At first, you might wonder, Whats going on here? But its certainly working for us." No arguing that. They were 35-0-3 this season when taking a lead into the third period and had the best winning percentage in one-goal games simply because they played loose and with confidence. "Patrick empowers us," Matt Duchene said two weeks ago, before suffering a knee injury that will keep him out for the start of the playoffs. "Sure, he gives us a kick when we need it. But when he knows we need to be treated with a little bit softer (touch) and brought up instead of put down, thats what he does. "Hes very good at sensing the feeling in the room. Hes helped us all achieve what were capable of achieving." Perhaps no one more than Semyon Varlamov, who turned in a career season under the watchful eyes of Roy and goalie coach Francois Allaire, the man responsible for helping turn Roy into one of the best goalies in hockey history. Varlamov won a league-high 41 games this season, breaking the team record held by Roy. "Of course its a big deal to beat Patricks records," Varlamov said. "Hes one of the best goalies in the world." All this from a team that won just 16 games in a lockout-shortened season. "What a season theyve had," Wild forward Jason Pominville said. "Theyve completely turned it around." Really, the only big additions are rookie Nathan MacKinnon and the presence of Roy. "They must have done something right and Patrick must do something right to make that happen," said Pominville, the teams leading scorer. Indeed. The foundation for that transformation was built in Roys very first game in charge when he lost his cool and yelled at Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, pounding on the glass. That was after a 6-1 win, too. Roy was fined $10,000 and reprimanded by the league. Wild coach Mike Yeo jokingly said he plans to "check the partition" between the benches before the playoff series. "This is a team that we have to have a lot of respect for," Yeo said. "Theyre an in-your-face team." Just like their coach. ' ' '