By Field Level Media
Oct 04 (Field Level Media) – Tommy Novak scored two goals, including the game-winner at 1:33 of overtime, to give the Pittsburgh Penguins, who relinquished a four-goal lead, a wild 6-5 victory over the visiting Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Evgeni Malkin, who finished with a goal and two assists, crossed a pass past Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson to Novak at the bottom of the right circle on a 2-on-1 break and Novak roofed a wrist shot over goaltender Jakub Dobes.
Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang each had two assists and Ben Kindel, Declan Carlile and Samuel Girard also scored goals for Pittsburgh, which routed rival Philadelphia on Wednesday in its season opener. Arturs Silovs made 20 saves. Sidney Crosby had an assist, the 1,109th of his career, moving him into a tie with Joe Thornton for seventh in NHL history.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and three assists, Cole Caufield scored two goals, Chris Kreider and Ivan Demidov each had a goal and an assist for Montreal, which beat rival Toronto on Tuesday in its season opener. Dobes finished with 24 saves.
Hurricanes 3, Flyers 2 (OT)
Shayne Gostisbehere scored a power-play goal in overtime to lift Carolina to its first win of the season over host Philadelphia.
Gostisbehere’s decisive goal was a one-timer from the top of the left circle at 2:51 of the extra session. Pyotr Kochetkov made 16 saves to earn the win for the Hurricanes. The defending champions’ first two goals came courtesy of Sebastian Aho, including one 10 seconds into the contest.
Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers, who were swept by Carolina in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. Joseph Woll turned aside 37 shots for the hosts, who remain winless in three games this season.
Sharks 5, Kings 4 (OT)
Igor Chernyshov scored twice, including the overtime winner, as San Jose edged the visiting Los Angeles.
Chernyshov, who also had an assist in regulation, one-timed a Macklin Celebrini feed under Anton Forsberg’s arm for the game-winner with 1:42 remaining in the extra frame. Tyler Toffoli, Kiefer Sherwood and Nolan Allan also scored while Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves.
Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield and Artemi Panarin each scored and added an assist, and Erik Haula also scored a goal for the Kings. Brandt Clarke chipped in two assists and Forsberg stopped 20 shots.
Lightning 3, Capitals 1
Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots in his 600th career game, and Tampa Bay won for the first time this season by topping visiting Washington.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Conor Geekie also found the net as Tampa Bay evened its record through two matches. Brandon Hagel had two assists.
Justin Sourdif scored for the Capitals, who lost the second part of their weekend back-to-back set. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 27 saves for Washington, and teammate Dylan Strome skated in his 600th game.
Sabres 4, Blackhawks 3
After missing most of last season with a blood clot, Jiri Kulich scored the game-winning goal with 6:40 remaining in regulation to propel Buffalo to a victory in its home opener over Chicago.
Tage Thompson tallied a goal and an assist, and Jack Quinn and Rasmus Dahlin also scored for the Sabres, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 12 saves.
Ryan Donato, Tyler Bertuzzi and Oliver Moore scored for the Blackhawks. Anton Frondell and Alex Vlasic finished with two assists apiece, while Spencer Knight stopped 24 shots as Chicago opened its season with three straight losses, all on the road.
Mammoth 4, Blue Jackets 1
Nick Schmaltz scored twice to lead visiting Utah to win over Columbus.
Dylan Guenther had a goal and two assists and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev a goal and an assist for the Mammoth. Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley had two assists each and Sebastian Cossa, in his first NHL start, made 17 saves.
Utah has outscored opponents 10-1 in its first two games of the season. Kent Johnson got the goal for the Blue Jackets and Jet Greaves stopped 27 shots.
Oilers 3, Kraken 1
Leon Draisaitl scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:27 remaining to give Edmonton a victory against visiting Seattle.
Connor McDavid added an empty net goal with 1:05 left to clinch the victory. Owen Michaels also scored and goaltender Devon Levi made 19 saves as the Oilers won their second straight after a season-opening 6-5 overtime loss to visiting Vancouver.
Bobby McMann tallied for the Kraken and Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 of 24 shots.
Senators 3, Maple Leafs 2
Stephen Halliday scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and visiting Ottawa won its season opener, defeating Toronto.
Newly appointed captain Thomas Chabot had a goal and assist and Michael Amadio also scored for Ottawa. Claude Giroux added two assists and Linus Ullmark stopped 27 shots.
Auston Matthews and Kirill Marchenko scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two of their first three games, all of which have been at home. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for Toronto.
Predators 2, Stars 1
First-period goals by Steven Stamkos and Nils Hoglander held up to the final buzzer as host Nashville claimed a victory over Dallas for its first win of the season.
Goaltender Juuse Saros made 29 saves — 12 in the third period — for the Predators, who rebounded after opening the campaign with a home loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Stamkos’ goal was the 625th of his career, tying him with Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla for 17th on the NHL’s all-time goals list.
Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars, who have dropped two consecutive games to begin the season. Goalie Casey DeSmith stopped 24 shots and was denied the 100th victory of his career.
Islanders 6, Devils 0
Simon Holmstrom, Brayden Schenn and Bo Horvat scored within a nine-minute span in the second period and goalie Ilya Sorokin stopped all 37 shots he faced for New York, which won its home opener by routing New Jersey.
Victor Eklund, Ondrej Palat and Casey Cizikas scored in the third for the Islanders. Reigning Calder Trophy winner Matthew Schaefer had two assists. The shutout for Sorokin was the franchise-record 30th of his career.
Nico Daws made 26 saves for the Devils, who have split their first two games.
Wild 4, Bruins 1
Kirill Kaprizov scored a pair of goals and Minnesota pulled away after a slow start for a win over Boston in Saint Paul, Minn.
Quinn Hughes tallied a goal and an assist for the Wild, who won their second game in a row to start the season. Team captain Jared Spurgeon also scored a goal, and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt stopped 26 of 27 shots in the victory.
Tanner Jeannot scored the lone goal for the Bruins, who were playing on short rest after defeating the host Winnipeg Jets in overtime one night earlier. Goaltender Michael DiPietro allowed three goals on 29 shots in his season debut.
Avalanche 6, Blues 1
Martin Necas had two goals and added an assist, Nathan MacKinnon had three assists and Colorado comfortably beat St. Louis in Denver.
Nicolas Roy, Artturi Lehkonen and Josh Manson had a goal and an assist each and Cale Makar also scored for Colorado, which is off to a fast start this season with 14 goals through two games. Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves and Parker Kelly had two assists for the Avalanche.
Dalibor Dvorsky scored for the second straight night for the Blues, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back after winning 4-0 at Dallas on Friday night. Jordan Binnington turned away 30 shots but had two costly turnovers that led to goals.
Canucks 4, Flames 1
Defenseman Elias Pettersson scored the go-ahead goal as Vancouver rallied with four unanswered goals in the third period to beat visiting Calgary.
Liam Ohgren had a goal and an assist, while Drew O’Connor and Aatu Raty also scored for the Canucks, who earned their first home win. Tom Willander and Linus Karlsson each had two assists while Leevi Merilainen stopped 23 of 24 shots.
Matt Coronato scored and Devin Cooley stopped 22 shots for the Flames, who led for most of the game but have lost back-to-back games to begin the season.
(–Field Level Media)
