Chris Kreider scored twice and added an assist as the New York Rangers cruised to a 5-1 rout of the host Buffalo Sabres on Thursday to win the debut of new coach Peter Laviolette.
Kreider scored a power-play goal in the first period and added a short-handed goal in the third before getting an assist on Jacob Trouba’s empty-net tally. Kreider now has eight short-handed goals since 2021-22, most in the NHL.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist and Alexis Lafreniere added another goal to help Laviolette get a win after spending the previous three seasons at the helm of the Washington Capitals. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 24 saves and earned his 100th career victory since making his debut for New York in the 2019-2020 season (159 games).
Mika Zibanejad added three assists and defenseman Adam Fox registered his 200th career assist. JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres, who missed the playoffs by one point last season and are hoping to avoid missing the postseason for a 13th straight campaign. Buffalo goalie Devon Levi made his eighth career start and allowed four goals on 30 shots.
Stars 2, Blues 1 (SO)
Jake Oettinger made 23 saves as Dallas earned a shootout victory over visiting St. Louis in the season opener for both teams.
Jamie Benn scored the regulation goal for the Stars, and Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene converted in the shootout.
Defenseman Tyler Tucker scored for the Blues, and goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 33 of 34 shots. Brayden Schenn had St. Louis’ only successful attempt in the shootout, with Jordan Kyrou’s failed attempt ending the tiebreaker.
Wild 2, Panthers 0
Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped all 41 shots he faced and Minnesota held on for a win over Florida in the season opener for both teams in Saint Paul, Minn.
Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist and Brock Faber also scored for the Wild. Minnesota recorded a shutout in its first game after notching four shutouts in 82 regular-season games in 2022-23.
Matthew Tkachuk led the Panthers with 10 shots on goal. Evan Rodrigues added four shots on goal for Florida, which got 19 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Flyers 4, Blue Jackets 2
Travis Konecny scored twice and Carter Hart made 31 saves to lift visiting Philadelphia to a victory over Columbus in the season opener for both teams.
Konecny scored in the first period and added an empty-net goal just before time expired in the third. Joel Farabee tallied in the first period and former Blue Jacket Cam Atkinson beat former Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov to a loose puck before scoring into the empty net in the third. The Flyers improved to 7-0-2 in their past nine season openers.
Columbus defenseman Jake Bean scored a goal in the first period, and Patrik Laine converted with 43.3 seconds remaining in the third. Kirill Marchenko had two assists for the Blue Jackets, and rookie Adam Fantilli added one in his NHL debut.
Devils 4, Red Wings 3
Jack Hughes scored twice in the second period, Dougie Hamilton netted the go-ahead goal in the third and New Jersey defeated Detroit in the season opener for both teams at Newark, N.J.
Vitek Vanecek stopped 32 shots for New Jersey. Erik Haula added a goal, while Jonas Siegenthaler had three assists.
Daniel Sprong, Alex DeBrincat and Robby Fabbri scored for Detroit, while Ville Husso made 23 saves.
Predators 3, Kraken 0
Juuse Saros made 23 saves as Nashville defeated Seattle to win its home opener in its 25th-anniversary season.
Colton Sissons, Gustav Nyquist and Juuso Parssinen scored, the last an empty-netter with 1:41 remaining, as the Predators rebounded from a season-opening, 5-3 loss on Tuesday at Tampa Bay.
Philipp Grubauer was strong in net for Seattle, stopping 32 of 34 shots. However, the Kraken have struggled offensively, scoring just once while losing their first two games of the season.
Golden Knights 4, Sharks 1
Logan Thompson made 22 saves and Nicolas Hague had a goal and an assist to lead visiting Vegas to a victory over San Jose in the Sharks’ season opener.
Michael Amadio, Nicolas Roy and Brayden Pachal also scored goals for the Golden Knights, while William Karlsson added two assists. Vegas opened its defense of the Stanley Cup championship with a 4-1 home win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
Filip Zadina scored for the Sharks, who dropped their seventh straight game dating back to a 7-2 victory at Arizona on April 1. Kaapo Kahkonen finished with 28 saves for San Jose.
–Field Level Media
