NHL playoffs: Bruins beat Blue Jackets in OT; Blues beat Stars in Game 1

Charlie Coyle tied it in the final five minutes of regulation and scored again with 5:15 gone in overtime on Thursday night to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Tuukka Rask stopped 20 shots for Boston, which took a 1-0 lead on Noel Acciari’s short-handed goal in the first period, but then fell behind in the third after Riley Nash and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in a span of 13 seconds.

Coyle tied it when he one-timed a backhanded centering pass from Marcus Johansson into the net with 4:35 left to force overtime. He ended it in the extra period by deflecting a shot from Johansson into the net.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves for the Blue Jackets, who swept the Presidents Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.

Game 2 is Saturday night in Boston before the best-of-seven series moves to Columbus for Games 3 and 4.

St. Louis 3, Dallas 2

Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals and the St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 Thursday night in first game of the teams’ Western Conference semifinal series.

Robby Fabbri also scored and Jordan Binnington made 27 saves for the Blues, who had lost three of four to Dallas during the regular season.

It was Tarasenko’s seventh career multi-goal game in the postseason, tying him with Bernie Federko for second-most in franchise history.

Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars. Ben Bishop made 17 saves.

Game 2 will be Saturday in St. Louis, before the series moves to Dallas for the third and fourth games of the best-of-seven series.

Tarasenko’s power-play goal with 1:57 left in the second broke a 1-1 tie. It was the first power-play goal in 17 chances allowed by the Stars this postseason.

Tarasenko gave the Blues a 3-1 lead at the 3:51 mark of the third period, skating by defenseman Miro Heiskanen and beating Bishop with a shot into the top left corner.

Benn’s power-play goal with 2:17 left cut the Stars’ deficit to one, but they couldn’t get the equalizer.

Binnington made the lead stand up, by making a tough save on Spezza during a Dallas power play and a sprawling save to rob Roope Hintz midway through the third.

Fabbri gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 5:57 of the first, beating Bishop between the legs from the right circle for his first goal of the playoffs. It was his first goal in 25 games, dating to Nov. 23, 2018.

Spezza tied the game midway through the second period, burying a one-timer on a pass from John Klingberg. It was his first goal in 23 games and his first in the playoffs since May 9, 2016, at St. Louis.