The Detroit Red Wings, the NHL's best team in the regular season, were victorious again in their first game of the playoffs. Another division winner, the Pittsburgh Penguins, flopped.

The Red Wings, seeking their first Stanley Cup since 1955, scored three goals in a 2:21 span of the third period and beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 Wednesday night in their Western Conference opener.

Kris Draper, Viacheslav Fetisov, Greg Johnson and Paul Coffey scored for Detroit, which won an NHL-record 62 games during the regular season. Alexei Zhamnov scored for Winnipeg.

The Penguins, who won the Northeast Division with 102 points, blew a three-goal lead and lost at home to the Washington Capitals 6-4.

Todd Krygier scored twice during the comeback by the Capitals, who held Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, the NHL's two top scorers, to a total of three assists.

In other playoff openers Wednesday night, Florida beat Boston 6-3 and Chicago downed Calgary 4-1.

Game 2 of the other four series will be played Thursday night, with Tampa Bay at Philadelphia, St. Louis at Toronto, Montreal at the New York Rangers, and Vancouver at Colorado. Philadelphia, St. Louis, Montreal and Colorado lead 1-0.

Winnipeg scored first against Detroit, but the Red Wings tied it early in the third period on Draper's goal. Fetisov took a backhanded pass from Sergei Fedorov and scored the go-ahead goal at 2:06, then Johnson made it 3-1 just 42 seconds later.

The Jets, who had matched the speedy Red Wings stride for stride until then, began to play a more physical game after that. Coffey's goal, which made it 4-1, came at 8:07 while Darrin Shannon was off for cross-checking Vladimir Konstantinov.

The Capitals, the second-lowest scoring team in the playoffs, scored the final five goals after the heavily favored Penguins opened a 4-1 lead.

Backup goaltender Olaf Kolzig shut out Pittsburgh for the final 28:51 after Jim Carey was lifted, and the Capitals beat the Penguins in Game 1 of a playoff series for the fifth consecutive time.

Krygier's goal at 12:26 of the third period proved to be the game winner. Dale Hunter grabbed the puck in the near corner after goaltender Tom Barrasso couldn't clear it and fed to Krygier in the slot.

Michael Pivonka scored an empty-net goal with 4.7 seconds remaining for Washington.

Petr Nedved scored goals 11 seconds apart in the first period, a playoff record for a Pittsburgh player.

Nedved, coming off a career-high 99-point regular season, took Jagr's drop pass and wristed a shot by Carey at 2:53. After Carey couldn't clear the puck following the ensuing faceoff, Nedved scored unassisted from almost the same spot at 3:04.

Ray Sheppard had two goals and an assist as Florida, playing its first playoff game in franchise history, beat Boston. Goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck had 42 saves, while Stu Barnes and Robert Svehla each had two assists for the Panthers.

Joe Murphy, coming off a disappointing regular season, opened the playoffs with two goals and an assist to lead Chicago over Calgary. Sheldon Kennedy scored the only goal for the Flames.

The playoff continue tonight with Tampa Bay at Philadelphia, Montreal at the Rangers, St. Louis at Toronto and the Avalanche hosting Vancouver.

The Flyers lead Tampa Bay 1-0. The Canadiens hold a 1-0 lead over the Rangers. St. Louis holds a 1-0 advantage over the Maple Leafs and Colorado leads 1-0.