Oilers top Ducks as season-opening win streak hits 3 games
EDMONTON, Alberta — Leon Draisaitl had two goals and two assists and the Edmonton Oilers extended their season-opening winning streak to three games with a 6-5 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.
“You don’t want to give up five goals, ever,” Draisaitl said. “That means you have to scramble offensively to win a game. We don’t want to be a team like that. Obviously the two points are big, we needed that, but there are lots of things we can do better defensively.”
Zack Kassian added two goals, and Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers (3-0-0).
“They can’t all be masterpieces,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “They can’t all be games where the coach walks out and says ‘That was great.’ It was good, we found a way to get two points.”
Kevin Shattenkirk and Sam Steel had two-goal games, and Nicolas Deslauriers also scored for the Ducks (2-2-0).
“I will say this, I’m proud of that group, back-to-back game playing against an elite team and the way we battled and stayed in it and kept coming back, never quit,” Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said. “That’s a big step forward for us even though we didn’t get the points,”
Edmonton’s Mike Smith stopped 11 of 15 shots before leaving midway through the second period with an apparent injury. He was replaced by Mikko Koskinen, who had 20 saves in the win.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 31 of 36 shots for the Ducks, who were coming off a 3-2 overtime win against Calgary on Monday.
Anaheim grabbed a 1-0 lead five minutes into the first as Shattenkirk crept in and took a feed from Trevor Zegras, beating beat Smith up high.
Edmonton tied it four minutes later as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sent a quick pass to Kassian at the side of the net and he directed it home before Stolarz was able to get back across.
The teams traded goals just 15 seconds apart with five minutes remaining in the opening period as Draisaitl sent McDavid in on a breakaway and he scored his fourth of the season. The Ducks got that back when Steel scored off a rebound.
Edmonton made it 3-2 on a two-man advantage with 30 seconds left in the period, as McDavid set up Draisaitl for his first of the season and the 200th goal of his NHL career.
Anaheim drew even nine minutes into the middle period when Ryan Getzlaf made a nice long pass to Deslauriers for the goal.
The Ducks then took the lead just over a minute later as Steel beat Smith for his second goal in his first game of the season.
Smith appeared to be injured shortly thereafter. He left for the dressing room and was replaced in net by Koskinen.
Edmonton tied the game just over five minutes into the third period when Kassian tipped home his second of the game on the power play.
The Oilers regained the lead midway through the third on a fluke goal as Bouchard swatted at the puck in the corner and it somehow went off of Stolarz’s pad and into the net.
“I honestly still don’t know how it went in, but I will take it,” Bouchard said.
Edmonton got a key goal with a minute left when Draisaitl scored into an empty net. Shattenkirk scored his second of the night with 19 seconds left to pull Anaheim back to within one, but the Ducks couldn’t complete the late comeback.
SABRES 5, CANUCKS 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson scored 23 seconds apart in the third period and the unbeaten Buffalo Sabres rallied to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons each added a goal and an assist, and Craig Anderson made 32 saves. After finishing in last place for the fourth time in eight seasons, the Sabres are 3-0 for the first time since 2008 and the fifth time in franchise history.
Bo Horvat and Justin Dowling scored for the Canucks in their second straight loss. Thatcher Demko stopped 38 shots in the fourth of a six-game trip, the longest to start a season in team history.
The Canucks played without defensemen Kyle Burroughs and Quinn Hughes. Hughes, the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft, was scratched with an undisclosed injury after participating in an optional morning skate.
CAPITALS 6, AVALANCHE 3
WASHINGTON — Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first two goals of the season, Alex Ovechkin added the 734th of his NHL career into an empty net and Washington beat Colorado.
Kuznetsov has five points through three games, tied with Ovechkin for the team lead in scoring.
Nick Jensen, Anthony Mantha and Nic Dowd also scored for Washington, and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves in his season debut. Mantha’s goal was the 100th of his career.
J.T. Compher scored short-handed, Darren Helm at even strength and Mikko Rantanen on a late power play for Colorado. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper allowed five goals on 38 shots.
STARS 2, PENGUINS 1, SO
PITTSBURGH — Joe Pavelski and Alexander Radulov scored in a shootout, lifting Dallas past Pittsburgh in the start of the Stars’ season-opening four-game trip.
Michael Raffl scored his second goal of the season for the Stars. Goaltender Braden Holtby turned aside 27 shots in regulation and overtime, and stopped Jake Guentzel and Kris Letang in the shootout as Dallas ended a five-game losing streak in Pittsburgh.
John Marino scored his first goal of the season for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry finished with 28 saves.
The crowd of 16,450 — nearly 2,000 short of capacity — marked the first non-sellout crowd for the Penguins since Feb. 14, 2007, a span of 634 games.
DEVILS 4, KRAKEN 2
NEWARK, N.J. — Rookie Dawson Mercer and Damon Severson scored first-period goals and Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves, leading New Jersey to a win over Seattle.
The Devils won their second straight to start the season. Seattle slipped to 1-3-1 on its five-game road trip ahead of its much-anticipated home opener against Vancouver on Saturday night.
Jimmy Vesey added a goal and Pavel Zacha scored into an empty net with 20 second left to seal the win.
Riley Sheahan and Jared McCann scored for the expansion Kraken, who slipped to 1-3-1. Joey Daccord made 28 saves.
SHARKS 5, CANADIENS 0
MONTREAL — Rookie Jonathan Dahlen scored his first two goals in his second career game, and San Jose blanked Montreal.
Erik Karlsson and Timo Meir each had a goal and two assists for the Sharks. Kevin Labanc also scored.
Adin Hill stopped all 21 shots he faced for the Sharks, who won their second straight to start the season and have won 10 straight overall against Montreal.
Canadiens goalie Jake Allen stopped 20 of 25 shots as Montreal lost its fourth straight to start a season for the first time since 1995.
PANTHERS 4, LIGHTNING 1
TAMPA, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov scored the go-ahead goal 3:40 into the third period and Florida won its third straight game.
Barkov slammed a loose puck in the crease past Andrei Vasilevskiy for his second of the season. It came 1:04 after the Lightning tied it 1-all on Brayden Point’s goal.
Florida also got goals from defenseman Brandon Montour, Anton Lundell and Anthony Duclair. Sam Reinhart had two assists and rookie goalie Spencer Knight made 30 saves in his first start this season for the Panthers, who are 3-0-0 for the second straight season.
Vasilevskiy made 28 saves in his fourth consecutive start for the Lightning, who were coming off back-to-back overtime wins after a 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on opening night.
RED WINGS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1
DETROIT — Lucas Raymond made his first NHL goal a big one for Detroit, breaking a scoreless tie at 6:38 of the third period on the way to a victory over Columbus.
The 19-year-old Raymond, the fourth overall pick in the 2020 draft from Gothenburg, Sweden, assisted on Tyler Bertuzzi’s fifth goal of the season.
Vladislav Namestnikov and Adam Erne added empty-net goals in the final 1:14. Thomas Greiss finished with 22 saves.
Boone Jenner scored for Columbus. Joonas Korpisalo made 41 saves on 43 shots.
PREDATORS 2, KINGS 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Matt Duchene and Tanner Jeannot scored in the third period in Nashville’s win over Los Angeles.
Predators goalie Juuse Saros made 25 saves.
Anze Kopitar had the lone goal and Calvin Petersen made 29 saves for Los Angeles.
Nashville trailed by a goal entering the third period, but with a fresh sheet of ice for a power play, Duchene tied the game with 1:07 left. Petersen stopped Roman Josi’s shot from the right point, but Duchene dug the puck out of traffic and put it by Petersen for his first of the season. Jeannot gave Nashville the lead at 5:06 of the third period.
ISLANDERS 4, BLACKHAWKS 1
CHICAGO — Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves and Oliver Wahlstrom scored twice in the third period, helping New York beat Chicago for its first victory of the season.
Anthony Beauvillier and Cal Clutterbuck also scored as New York improved to 1-2-0 on its opening 13-game road trip. The Islanders don’t play their first home game at the new UBS Arena until Nov. 20.
MacKenzie Entwistle scored for Chicago with 26 seconds left, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 stops.
The Blackhawks have been outscored 17-8 this season. They haven’t led in any of their four games.
WILD 6, JETS 5, OT
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Joel Eriksson Ek had a hat trick, tying the game with 59 seconds remaining in regulation and winning it on a power play in overtime as Minnesota stunned Winnipeg.
Eriksson Ek scored the equalizer just 15 seconds after an empty-netter by Jets center Mark Scheifele was wiped out by an offside call that came from a replay challenge by Minnesota.
Mats Zuccarello had two goals and two assists, Marcus Foligno scored on a power play with 4:58 left in regulation and Kirill Kaprizov had three assists for the Wild.
Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist to fuel an eight-point night for Winnipeg’s new first line without captain Blake Wheeler, who tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss at least three more games. Andrew Copp added a goal and two assists and Mark Scheifele notched two assists. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Morrissey also scored for Winnipeg, which lost leads of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 5-3.
Connor Hellebuyck, who has given up 14 goals in three losses to start the season, stopped 38 shots. Cam Talbot made 25 saves for the Wild.
