Sam Reinhart scored one goal and had two assists as the Florida Panthers defeated the Blue Jackets 4-3 in an emotional home opener for Columbus on Tuesday night.
Florida also got goals from Anton Lundell, Dmitry Kulikov and Eetu Luostarinen and 35 saves from Spencer Knight, who recorded his first NHL victory since Jan. 3, 2023. Columbus got goals from Cole Sillinger, Sean Monahan and James van Riemsdyk.
The game started with 19:47 left in the first period. Those elapsed 13 seconds were in honor of Johnny Gaudreau, who wore No. 13 in his stellar NHL career for the Calgary Flames and then Columbus.
Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were riding bikes when they were killed on Aug. 29 by a suspected drunk driver. On Tuesday, the Blue Jackets raised Johnny Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey to the rafters as fans chanted “Johnny Hockey!”
Stars 3, Sharks 2 (SO)
Matt Duchene scored in regulation and in a shootout to fuel host Dallas to a victory over San Jose.
Jason Robertson’s wrist shot sailed under the crossbar in the opening round of the shootout for the Stars. Duchene sent home a wrister that froze Mackenzie Blackwood in the second round, and Wyatt Johnston’s snap shot in the third helped Dallas improve to 4-0-0 this season.
Former Dallas forward Ty Dellandrea and Tyler Toffoli each scored in the second period for the Sharks, who extended their winless stretch in October to 13 games (0-10-3). Blackwood turned aside 36 shots.
Flames 3, Blackhawks 1
Calgary tied a franchise record by winning its fourth consecutive game to open the season, defeating visiting Chicago.
Matt Coronato scored twice, Andrei Kuzmenko added a power-play goal and Dustin Wolf made 31 saves for the Flames, who matched their season-opening mark accomplished previously in 1993-94 and 2009-10.
Nick Foligno scored and Petr Mrazek made 23 saves for the Blackhawks, who fell to 1-2-1.
Lightning 4, Canucks 1
Brayden Point scored what ended up being the game-winning goal and added an assist, leading Tampa Bay to a home-opening victory over Vancouver.
Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel each added a goal and an assist and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who have won back-to-back games to start the season. Nicholas Paul added two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for his second win of the season and his ninth career win over the Canucks.
Conor Garland had the lone Vancouver goal, and Arturs Silovs stopped 24 shots. The Canucks, who opened a four-game road trip on Tuesday, are winless in three games to start the season (0-1-2).
Capitals 4, Golden Knights 2
Alex Ovechkin reached the 700-assist mark for his career with two during Washington’s three-goal second period to help the Capitals beat visiting Vegas.
In his 20th NHL season, Ovechkin had helpers on goals by Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas, giving him 700 assists to go along with his 853 goals for Washington.
Victor Olofsson and Jack Eichel each scored while Mark Stone recorded two assists for Vegas, which suffered its first loss in four games to open the season. In their first road contest, the Golden Knights got 18 saves from Adin Hill, who has allowed 11 goals in three starts this season.
Hurricanes 4, Devils 2
Rookie Jackson Blake scored his first NHL goal as Carolina won for the first time this season, defeating New Jersey in Raleigh, N.C.
Seth Jarvis and Shayne Gostisbehere scored second-period goals for the Hurricanes, who were playing only their second game of the season. Sebastian Aho added an empty-net goal.
Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist and Nico Hischier also scored for the Devils, who played their sixth game and have won four times. Their 1-0 lead from early in the second period vanished when the Hurricanes scored twice later in the frame.
Wild 4, Blues 1
Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves and scored an empty-net goal as Minnesota spoiled St. Louis’ home opener.
Gustavsson scored with 8.1 seconds left to ice the game, flipping the puck in the air over all three lines and seeing it roll the last stretch into the net. It was the first goalie goal in franchise history.
Ryan Hartman, Jakub Lauko and Marco Rossi scored earlier for the Wild, and Kirill Kaprizov had two assists. Mathieu Joseph scored for the Blues, who lost their second straight game.
Kraken 7, Predators 3
Jaden Schwartz, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jared McCann and Adam Larsson each had a goal and an assist and Seattle scored four third-period goals to defeat host Nashville.
Ryker Evans, Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Kraken, who went 2-1-0 on their three-game trip. Chandler Stephenson and Jamie Oleksiak added two assists apiece, and Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord made 30 saves.
Michael McCarron, Tommy Novak and Brady Skjei scored for the Predators, who lost their third straight game to open the season. Juuse Saros stopped 28 of 34 shots.
Oilers 4, Flyers 3 (OT)
Leon Draisaitl scored 56 seconds into overtime and Edmonton won its first game of the season on its fourth try, securing a come-from-behind victory against visiting Philadelphia.
Adam Henrique, Connor Brown and Evan Bouchard also scored and Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for the Oilers, who trailed 2-0 after the first period.
Matvei Michkov scored his first two NHL goals, Morgan Frost assisted on both of those markers, Bobby Brink also scored and Samuel Ersson made 29 saves for the Flyers, who went 2-for-7 on the power play.
–Field Level Media
