TORONTO — Josh Bailey scored a shorthanded goal 6:52 into the third period and the New York Islanders overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 on Wednesday in a hard-hitting opener to the first-round playoff series.

Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee scored 1:54 apart spanning the second intermission. Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots, and Anthony Beauvillier sealed it by scoring with 8:05 remaining in a game in which the Islanders overcame their own lack of discipline, allowing the Capitals seven power-play opportunities.

T.J. Oshie scored on consecutive power-play opportunities five minutes apart in the second period for Washington.

The Capitals finished the game without top-line forward Nicklas Backstrom. Lee set the physical tone of the game by knocking over Backstrom with a late hit in the opening minutes, which led to the Islanders captain fighting Washington defenseman John Carlson. The Capitals did not provide any details in announcing Backstrom would not return after playing seven shifts.

AVALANCHE 3, COYOTES 0: Nazem Kadri and J.T. Compher scored 10 seconds apart in the third period, Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots and Colorado opened its Western Conference first-round series with a victory over Arizona in Edmonton, Alberta.

Kadri broke a scoreless tie by punching in a rebound on a power play with 7 minutes left. Compher scored on a backhanded rebound, and Mikko Rantanen made it three goals in 1:23.

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FLYERS 2, CANADIENS 1: Carter Hart made 27 saves, Joel Farabee scored 16 seconds after Montreal tied it, and Philadelphia won Game 1 of the first-round series in Toronto.

PENGUINS: The team announced that assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin and Mark Recchi will not have their contracts renewed following Pittsburgh’s elimination by the Montreal Canadiens in a best-of-five qualifying series.

The contracts originally expired at the end of June but were temporarily extended for the playoffs.

“These guys are good coaches, and they’re my friends,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve been through a lot together as a group. But when teams with high expectations such as ours don’t have success, then change is inevitable.”

General Manager Jim Rutherford spoke Tuesday about the importance of helping an aging roster get younger in the coming months. The plan now includes finding fresh voices to help Sullivan get his message across.

“We just thought we needed to change the dynamic of our coaching staff,” Rutherford said in a statement. “We have very high standards here in Pittsburgh, and we want to continue competing for Stanley Cups. The message to our fans is that ‘We are not rebuilding, we’re re-tooling.’”

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