It was a historical playoff win for Corey Crawford and the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. And we're not talking about instant replay.

Crawford made 29 saves, exceeding Tony Esposito on the franchise's all-time wins list, and, with a little help from video review, helped his team to a controversial split through two road games in their first-round series with the St. Louis Blues.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion holds a career 46-41 playoff record with five shutouts.

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For whatever reason, Game 1 between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators on Friday night will serve as the 11th game of the NHL's second season.

So, to acknowledge the NHL's odd scheduling, we present three important happenings from the first 10 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs waged in the absence of the Ducks and Predators.

Review rescues the defending champs

Alright, so technically the puck was dropped (and James Neal did score) in Anaheim before the Blues and Blackhawks completed Game 2. But how could we omit the wild turn of events in St. Louis?

After winning the opener in extra time behind a brilliant 35-save shutout from Brian Elliott, the Blues appeared to have the Blackhawks backed into a corner with a go-ahead goal from Vladimir Tarasenko late in Game 2. But after Joel Quenneville issued a challenge, it was determined Jori Lehtera was offside, if only fractionally.

Naturally, Andrew Shaw scored a contentious go-ahead goal himself just moments later. Though, Shaw's goal was upheld. And now the defending champions will head home with the most fortunate of splits.

4 in Florida

There have already been four playoff games in the state of Florida, with the Panthers and Lightning having completed their guaranteed home-ice dates on the postseason calendar.

Filling the offensive void left by Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson powered the Bolts to a 2-0 series lead over the Red Wings, going off for five goals and 11 combined points. Oh, and impressing for a second straight game was Jonathan Drouin, who just might have a future in Tampa after all.

Meanwhile, Reilly Smith was largely responsible for the Panthers' split with the Islanders, scoring his third goal and fifth point of the series in a virtual must-win game Friday night in the second half of a back-to-back.

A Star emerges

Jason Spezza's return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs was worth the wait.

An attacking force in his first postseason game in three years and first with Dallas, Spezza stepped up in the absence of top-line center Tyler Seguin, scoring a beautiful goal and adding an assist in 4-0 win over the Wild.

His dominance surely came at the surprise to those who perhaps haven't paid attention to the Stars and their incendiary offense, but he's been this dominant for quite some time. Spezza scored 13 goals over the final 18 regular-season games played since March 1, trailing only Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele.

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The coach's challenge went in the Chicago Blackhawks' favor multiple times in Game 2 against the St. Louis Blues.

Andrew Shaw scored a power-play goal to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead with 4:19 remaining Friday night. The call was confirmed upon review by the officials, then challenged by the Blues for goaltender interference before eventually being upheld.

Shaw's goal came minutes after Vladimir Tarasenko's goal was disallowed because teammate Jori Lehtera was deemed offside.

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Vladimir Tarasenko thought he had his second goal of the night after a beautiful feed from linemate Jori Lehtera, until the Chicago Blackhawks challenged the goal to see if the Finn was offside.

While many thought the play was too close to call, it was eventually ruled Lehtera was offside as he lifted his left skate off the ice just a fraction of a second before the puck crossed the blue line, and the goal was disallowed.

Moments later, Tarasenko received a two-minute minor for slashing, and the Blackhawks went on to score on the subsequent power play, as Andrew Shaw was credited with the goal, after another video review went Chicago's way.

Related: Shaw's late goal upheld on coach's challenge

Artemi Panarin added an empty-netter and Kevin Shattenkirk answered with 1.1 seconds remaining as the Blackhawks held on to even the series with a 3-2 win.

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SUNRISE, Fla. - Roberto Luongo made 41 saves for his first playoff win in five years, and the Florida Panthers evened their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series by beating the New York Islanders 3-1 on Friday night.

Reilly Smith and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist for Florida, which salvaged a split in the series-opening back-to-back. Dmitry Kulikov added an empty-netter with 9.3 seconds left to clinch the win.

John Tavares scored a goal for his sixth consecutive game going back to the regular season, denying Luongo the shutout with 3:33 left. Thomas Greiss stopped 28 shots for the Islanders.

The series now shifts to Brooklyn, for Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 on Wednesday.

It was Luongo's first playoff win since Game 5 of the 2011 Stanley Cup finals. He had lost his last seven postseason starts - giving up at least three goals in every one - and had been part of eight consecutive playoff losses in all, counting a relief stint in 2013. And all that came after he was victimized by Florida defensive breakdowns in Game 1 on Thursday night, which played a big role in him giving up five goals on 26 New York shots.

What a difference a day made.

And after 456 appearances for Florida, Luongo finally has a postseason win for the team. Some of his saves were spectacular, like when he denied the Islanders' Ryan Strome from point-blank range in the slot midway through the second period, and another when he managed to deflect a shot off the stick of Cal Clutterbuck - who was getting hauled down by Florida's Alex Petrovic early in the third.

Petrovic was sent to the box and Luongo stopped three more shots on the ensuing power play, including a pair from Tavares - who had a three-point night in Game 1.

Luongo got all the scoring help he needed early.

Smith scored at 4:32 of the first, getting his third goal of the series, and Bjugstad's first career playoff goal came early in the second period when he one-timed a pass from Smith past Greiss for a 2-0 lead.

The Panthers wasted three one-goal leads in Game 1. Nothing slipped away in Game 2.

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TAMPA, Fla. - Tyler Johnson scored a pair of third-period goals Friday night, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.

Ben Bishop had 30 saves for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who took the first two games at home despite playing without injured leading goal scorer Steven Stamkos and defenseman Anton Stralman.

A bloody brawl involving several players capped this one, with 14 penalties called - including a game misconduct on Justin Abdelkader - with 54 seconds left.

Game 3 is Sunday in Detroit, where the Red Wings won both regular-season meetings between the teams.

Johnson put Tampa Bay ahead for good barely two minutes after Detroit's Brad Richards made it 2-2 with a power-play goal. Nikita Kucherov and Brian Boyle also scored for the Lightning, who tacked on Alex Killorn's empty-netter with 2:14 remaining.

Johnson also had two assists, the first on Kucherov's 5-on-3 power-play goal. Kucherov and Killorn had the primary assists on Johnson's goals, and Jonathan Drouin got his first career playoff point, setting up Boyle to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.

Rookie Dylan Larkin scored a first-period goal for Detroit, which outshot the Lightning (32-31) for the second straight game.

The line of Johnson, Kucherov and Killorn had three goals and three assists for Tampa Bay in Game 1, with Killorn scoring the winner to finish a comeback from a 2-1 deficit.

Kucherov's third goal of the series, on a shot from the right circle that skipped over Howard's left shoulder, got the Lightning off to another strong start. Victor Hedman and Johnson assisted after Kucherov hit the crossbar from the left circle with Red Wings Gustav Nyquist (slashing) and Abdelkader (tripping) in the penalty box.

Larkin's first career goal made it 1-1 at 3:30 of the second period, but the Red Wings failed to take advantage of three power-play opportunities and entered the final period trailing by a goal after Boyle scored from the slot off a pass from Drouin, who has played a bigger than expected role for the Lightning since being recalled from the minors on April 7.

The 21-year-old Drouin has gone from being benched, demanding a trade and eventually being sent to the minors, where he also served a suspension for refusing to play for Syracuse of the AHL. He scored in his first two games after being recalled and had more than 18 minutes of ice time - second among Tampa Bay forwards - in Game 1 on Wednesday night.

Detroit pulled even again, with Richards scoring on the team's fifth power-play opportunity of the night. The Red Wings were 0 for 8 in the series before that goal.

NOTES: Bishop, who led the NHL in goals-against average and was second in save percentage, set the tone early for the Lightning, stopping 15 shots in the opening period. ... Larkin went from not being sure he'd be on Detroit's roster in the preseason to scoring a team-high 23 goals and tying for third on the team with 45 points. ... This is only the third time in 18 series that Tampa Bay has taken a 2-0 lead.

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