Kris Letang scores in OT, Penguins beat Capitals 7-6
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kris Letang scored his second goal 1:20 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 7-6 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
Letang beat goalie Braden Holtby with a slap shot from the point on a power play. Letang finished with three points, tying Hall of Famer Paul Coffey for the most by a defenseman in team history with 440.
Jake Guentzel also scored twice, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists, and Derick Brassard and Jamie Oleksiak added goals in Pittsburgh's opener. Matt Murray made 30 saves.
T.J. Oshie scored twice for Stanley Cup champion Washington, coming off a 7-0 home victory over Boston on Wednesday night in the Capitals' opener.
Alex Ovechkin had his second of the season and 609th overall, passing Dino Ciccarelli for 18th on the NHL list. Brooks Orpik, Jakub Vrana and John Carlson also scored.
Malkin scored 2:45 into the third period, putting Pittsburgh ahead by two, but Oshie tied it at 6 with goals 21 seconds apart.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jaroslav Halak stopped 32 shots and Boston rebounded from a season-opening shutout to beat Buffalo.
Brad Marchand set up all four goals, scored by captain Zdeno Chara, rookie Ryan Donato, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron on an empty-netter. A night after a 7-0 loss at Washington, the Bruins had an easier time against the NHL's worst team last year.
The new-look Sabres, featuring rookie No. 1 draft pick Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Eichel as captain, more resembled the team that finished last in the standings for the third time in five years. After receiving rousing cheers upon being introduced before the opening faceoff in their season opener, the Sabres were booed off the ice following the first and second periods.
NEW YORK (AP) — P.K. Subban broke a tie early in the third period and Nashville beat New York to spoil Rangers coach David Quinn's regular-season debut
Subban fired a one-timer from beyond the inside edge of the right circle in front of the blue line at 3:28. Filip Forsberg and Colton Sissons also scored and Pekka Rinne stopped 34 shots for the Predators.
Jesper Fast and Pavel Buchnevich scored and Henrik Lundqvist had 30 saves for the rebuilding Rangers. They missed the playoffs last spring for the first time in eight years.
The Rangers turned up the intensity in the closing minutes before Sissons' empty-netter with 1:24 left pushed Nashville's lead to 3-1. Buchnevich scored with 35 seconds remaining.
ISLANDERS 2, HURRICANES 1, OT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Josh Bailey scored a power-play goal 43 seconds into overtime, and New York opened the season by beating Carolina.
Valtteri Filppula also scored as the Islanders began the post-John Tavares era by giving Barry Trotz a victory in his debut with the team and spoiling Rod Brind'Amour's first game behind the Carolina bench.
Trotz took over shortly after leading Washington to its first Stanley Cup, taking over after Doug Weight was fired. Brind'Amour, the captain of Carolina's Cup-winning team in 2006, replaced Bill Peters after he left for Calgary.
Jordan Staal sent it to OT by scoring a deflected goal with 1:35 remaining in regulation for Carolina, but the Islanders started overtime with a 4-on-3 advantage after Micheal Ferland was called for tripping Mathew Barzal with 3.2 seconds left.
BLUE JACKETS 3, RED WINGS 2, OT
DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored midway through overtime, lifting Columbus past Detroit in the opener for both teams.
Cam Atkinson and Josh Anderson gave Columbus the lead over the first two periods. Rookie Dennis Cholowski and Tyler Bertuzzi tied it for the Red Wings in the second period.
Joonas Korpisalo stopped 18 shots for the Blue Jackets. Detroit's Jimmy Howard made 36 saves.
Detroit honored Henrik Zetterberg, whose career is over because of a back ailment, before the game.
BLACKHAWKS 4, SENATORS 3, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Patrick Kane scored 38 seconds into overtime to push Chicago past Ottawa in the opener for both teams.
Alex DeBrincat, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook also scored, and Cam Ward stopped 22 shots. Seabrook tied it midway through the third period, with Kane find the defenseman alone in front for a one-timer.
Maxime Lajoie scored for Ottawa in his NHL debut, Colin White and Zack Smith added goals, and Craig Anderson made 37 saves.
DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon had a tap-in goal off a nifty pass from Mikko Rantanen, Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots and Colorado beat Minnesota in the opener for both teams.
Carl Soderberg scored, while Rantanen and J.T. Compher added empty-net goals. Varlamov returned to net after missing the playoffs last season with a knee injury he suffered late in the regular season.
The Avalanche are 15-5-3 in home openers since moving to town from Quebec.
Zach Parise scored for the Wild.
DALLAS (AP) — Devin Shore, Alexander Radulov and John Klingberg scored less than two minutes apart in the second period and Dallas made Jim Montgomery a winner in his NHL coaching debut, beating Arizona.
Ben Bishop stopped all 30 shots for his first season-opening shutout and the 25th of his career.
Montgomery, who played his final game with Dallas in 2002, made his debut less than two years after winning an NCAA championship at Denver.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Patrik Laine, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had a goal and an assist to help Winnipeg beat St. Louis.
Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev also scored and Mark Scheifele had two assists as the Jets won their fifth season opener in six years. Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves.
Vince Dunn scored for St. Louis.
FLYERS 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Wayne Simmonds scored two goals to lead Philadelphia over Vegas.
Oskar Lindblom, Robert Hagg and Scott Laughton also scored for the Flyers, who won their third straight season opener. Philadelphia has at least a point in each of its last four season openers (3-0-1). Brian Elliott stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced in front of an announced crowd of 18,555.
Vegas' Marc-Andre Fleury allowed five goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Malcolm Subban with 9:49 left in the second period. Jonathan Marchessault and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored for the Golden Knights.
