By Field Level Media
Oct 02 (Field Level Media) – Connor McDavid scored a goal and had four assists, Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist and Evan Bouchard added a goal and two assists as the visiting Edmonton Oilers jumped out to a five-goal lead and then held on for a wild 9-7 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
It was the 15th five-point game of McDavid’s career, tied for the seventh most in NHL history. Bouchard, who had a hat trick and two assists in a season- opening 6-5 overtime loss to the Canucks on Tuesday in Edmonton, increased his season total to eight points, breaking the NHL record for most points by a defenseman in the first two games of a season.
Kasperi Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin each had a goal and an assist and Owen Michaels, Ryan Shea and Trent Frederic also scored goals for the Oilers.
Marco Rossi scored two goals and had an assist while Elias Pettersson added a goal and two assists for Vancouver. Paul Cotter, Arshdeep Bains, Brock Boeser and Jamie Oleksiak each had a goal and an assist.
Rangers 5, Lightning 1
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots and scored his first career goal, Pavel Dorofeyev and Mika Zibanejad notched a goal and an assist apiece, and New York routed visiting Tampa Bay.
Shesterkin capped a spectacular night by gathering a rebound and flipping a rink-long shot into an empty net with 2:34 left for the first goalie goal in the 100-year history of the Original Six club. The Rangers also got goals from Eeli Tolvanen and Gabe Perreault. Adam Fox dished two assists.
The Lightning got a goal from Nikita Kucherov, but the club went 0-for-7 on the power play. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots.
Sharks 4, Panthers 3 (OT)
Luca Cagnoni scored his first career goal 3:14 into overtime as host San Jose won its season opener, beating Florida.
Will Smith had two goals and an assist and Mason Marchment scored in his Sharks debut. Macklin Celebrini notched three assists, and Cagnoni added an assist. San Jose goaltender Yaroslav Askarov made 23 saves.
Eetu Luostarinen scored twice and Matthew Tkachuk had a goal for the Panthers, who fell to 1-0-1 on a season-opening four-game road trip. Akira Schmid stopped 28 shots.
Devils 3, Flyers 2 (OT)
Jack Hughes scored with 1:37 left in overtime and New Jersey opened its season by coming back to edge visiting Philadelphia.
Dougie Hamilton had an unassisted goal in the second period for the Devils, and Luke Hughes forced overtime by scoring just before the midway point of the third. New Jersey goalie Jake Allen made 23 saves.
Rasmus Ristolainen scored in the first period and Travis Sanheim had a goal in the third for the Flyers, who played one night after taking a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their season opener. Flyers goaltender Joseph Woll recorded 41 saves.
Kraken 6, Flames 1
Vince Dunn scored once in a three-point performance and Jared McCann produced three assists as visiting Seattle rolled past Calgary in the season opener for both clubs.
Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers both scored once and added an assist, while Jordan Eberle, Freddy Gaudreau and Chandler Stephenson also tallied for the Kraken, who rode a three-goal first period to the win. Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord made 24 saves and was credited with an assist.
Ryan Strome scored for the Flames, while goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 26 shots in the expected final season opener at the Saddledome. It was Calgary’s worst- ever defeat in a home opener.
Mammoth 6, Blackhawks 0
Dylan Guenther scored twice, Anders Lee tallied in his Mammoth debut and Utah routed Chicago in Salt Lake City.
Michael Carcone had a goal and an assist while Nick Schmaltz and Daniil But also scored for the Mammoth in the team’s season opener. Clayton Keller had two assists and Karel Vejmelka made 15 saves for his ninth career shutout.
Arvid Soderblom made 26 saves for the Blackhawks, who have started the season with two road losses.
Blue Jackets 6, Sabres 3
Matthew Knies had two goals and an assist in his debut for Columbus, which defeated Buffalo in the season opener for both teams. Knies was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday in a six-player deal that sent Kirill Marchenko to Toronto.
Charlie Coyle had three assists, Zach Werenski added two assists, and Jet Greaves made 23 saves for the Blue Jackets.
Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn and Konsta Helenius scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 17 saves.
Wild 3, Predators 1
Blake Coleman scored in his team debut as Minnesota prevailed at Nashville in the season opener for both teams.
Nick Foligno and Kirill Kaprizov also scored for the Wild, who never trailed. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 19 of 20 shots for the victory.
Roman Josi scored the lone goal for the Predators. Juuse Saros allowed three goals on 30 shots.
(–Field Level Media)
