NOTES

After coaching 317 playoff games, Bowman could remember only one that resembled Saturday’s game. It occurred on May 8, 1973, when he was coaching the Montreal Canadiens against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals.

“It was Montreal and Chicago, Ken Dryden and Tony O [Esposito],” he said. “Montreal was trying to clinch at home, and it ended up 8-7 for Chicago.”

He took Saturday’s game in stride.

“”Five goals in the first five minutes of a game, tactically it’s not what you want,” he said, “but for TV and for the fans, you can’t get any better.”

*

The teams combined for six goals in the first 6:56, the fastest six goals to start a playoff game since modern record-keeping began in 1943-44. Detroit and Toronto scored six goals in 10:22 in a first-round game in 1988. . . . The seven goals in the first period were two short of the playoff record for goals by both teams in a period. The record was set April 24, 1979, when the New York Rangers scored six of nine goals in the third period of an 8-3 victory over Philadelphia, and was equaled by the Kings and Calgary April 10, 1990, when the Kings scored five of nine goals in the second period of a 12-4 rout.