In the National Hockey League playoffs, the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks won their opening games of conference semi-final series.

Ottawa edged the host New Jersey Devils 5-4 in the first game of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference series Thursday. The Senators nearly blew an early 4-0 lead when the Devils scored three goals to pull within one of tying the score early in the second period. Game two is Saturday in New Jersey.

San Jose shut out the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 in a Western Conference match-up. Defenseman Matt Carle and right wing Mike Greir each tallied early in the first period on the ice in Detroit. Goalie Evgeni Nabokov made 34 saves for the win. The series remains in Detroit for Saturday's game two.

In Friday's NHL playoffs, the New York Rangers will go for their first win when they travel to Buffalo to take on the NHL regular season leader Sabres in Game Two of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven series.

And in the West, visiting Vancouver will try to find their footing against the Anaheim Ducks, who dominated the Canucks in game one (5-1).

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.