The puck has been dropped in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, with four games starting the action Wednesday night. 

The Rangers used a three-goal third period to notch a 4-1 win over the Devils in Game One of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at the Prudential Center.  Former Blues star Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery had a goal and an assist apiece for New York, which grabbed a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.  Ryan Callahan scored shorthanded in the third and Nigel Dawes added an empty-netter to put the game away.  Scott Gomez collected three assists, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced in the win.  Paul Martin netted a power-play goal for the Devils, who have lost eight-of-nine meetings with the Rangers this season.  Martin Brodeur made 24 saves in defeat.  Game Two is Friday in New Jersey.

Pittsburgh got a late Christmas present, but fans of the Penguins will take it, four months late.  Gary Roberts scored his first two goals since Christmas and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 26 shots on goal as the Penguins blanked the Ottawa Senators 4-0 to take a one game to none lead in their best of seven opening round Stanley Cup Playoff game at Mellon Arena.  Roberts got the Penguins off to a flying start less than a minute into the game when he backhanded his own rebound past Ottawa goaltender Martin Gerber to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.  Petr Sykora followed with a wicked wrist shot off a two on one break with Evgeni Malkin to give the Pens a 2-0 lead headed into the locker room at the end of the first period.  Malkin scored his first career playoff goal in the third and Roberts finished out the scoring with a deflection to make it 4-0.  The two teams play game two Friday night at Mellon Arena at 7:08.

Stephane Yelle scored a pair of goals to back 37 saves from Miikka Kiprusoff as the Flames skated to a 3-2 win ove the Sharks in their playoff opener at HP Pavilion.  Dion Phaneuf also lit the lamp and Jarome Iginla had two assists for Calgary, which built leads of 2-0 and 3-1 and hung on from there to steal home-ice advantage in the series.  Ryane Clowe tallied both goals for San Jose, which got 20 saves in net from Evgeni Nabokov.  The Sharks host Game Two of the best-of-seven matchup Thursday night.

Joe Sakic scored 11:11 into overtime to give the Avalanche a 3-2 win over the Wild in Game One of their first-round playoff series at Xcel Energy Center.  Kurt Sauer and Ryan Smyth scored regulation goals in the second period to stake Colorado to a 2-0 lead, but Mikko Koivu and Todd Fedoruk answered early in the third to knot the game at two for Minnesota.  Jose Theodore made 28 saves for the Avs, while Niklas Backstrom stopped 19 shots for the Wild.  Minnesota hosts Game Two Friday