NHL roundup: Oilers’ Connor McDavid nets hat trick
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Connor McDavid scored three goals and added an assist in a dominating performance to lead the host Edmonton Oilers to a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and an assist, Leon Draisaitl collected four assists and Mikko Koskinen made 38 saves for the Oilers. Edmonton responded with an emphatic win one night after dropping a disappointing 5-3 home game to the Canucks in the teams’ season-opening clash.
McDavid, who was held off the scoresheet in the opener on his 24th birthday, was a force all night and had a hand in his team’s first four goals.
Nate Schmidt and Tyler Motte scored for the Canucks, who got 41 saves from Thatcher Demko.
Islanders 4, Rangers 0
Anders Lee scored two goals as the visiting New York Islanders shut out the New York Rangers. The first of eight meetings between the rivals easily went to the Islanders, who scored twice in the opening 3:52 and held a three-goal lead after the first period.
Brock Nelson added a power-play goal and Mathew Barzal also scored for the Islanders. Nick Leddy collected two assists for the Islanders, who were 2 of 8 on the power play.
Semyon Varlamov began his second season with the Islanders by making 24 saves for the shutout. The Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin experienced a rough season debut while making 29 saves.
Capitals 6, Sabres 4
T.J. Oshie recorded a goal and two assists as visiting Washington opened the season with a win over Buffalo.
Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson each registered a goal and an assist while 35-year-old star Alex Ovechkin notched two assists for the Capitals, who will play at Buffalo again on Friday. Brenden Dillon, Jakub Vrana and Garnet Hathaway also scored for Washington, which got 22 saves from Ilya Samsonov.
Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist in his Sabres debut, and Victor Olofsson and Jake McCabe also put up a goal and an assist apiece. Tobias Rieder also had a goal and Jack Eichel posted two assists for the hosts. Sabres goalie Carter Hutton stopped 22 shots.
Jets 4, Flames 3 (OT)
Patrik Laine became the overtime hero with his second goal of the night, giving Winnipeg a victory over visiting Calgary to kick off the season.
Mark Scheifele also scored for the Jets, giving him a point in eight consecutive season openers, as did Kyle Connor. Laine finished with three points. Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves to collect the win after his team erased a 3-1 deficit.
Elias Lindholm posted a goal and an assist for the Flames while Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau also scored. Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots.
Bruins 3, Devils 2 (SO)
Brad Marchand opened the scoring, assisted on Boston’s other regulation goal and scored the only goal of the shootout as the Bruins edged New Jersey in the season opener for both teams in Newark, N.J.
Marchand, the Bruins’ third shooter, fired a shot beneath the right leg of Mackenzie Blackwood as the Bruins improved to 3-1-0 in season openers under head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Miles Wood scored for the Devils but also committed two goalie interference penalties that led to the Bruins’ regulation goals. Ty Smith, making his NHL debut, was credited with a goal late in the third period.
Wild 4, Kings 3 (OT)
Kirill Kaprizov scored with 1:13 left in overtime, lifting Minnesota to a win at Los Angeles in the season opener for both teams. Kaprizov, a five-time All-Star in the Kontinental Hockey League who was making his NHL debut, also had two assists.
Jonas Brodin, Victor Rask and Marcus Foligno also scored and Cam Talbot made 31 saves for Minnesota, which went 0-for-6 on the power play, the last bridging the third period and overtime.
Jeff Carter had a goal and an assist, Andreas Athanasiou scored in his Los Angeles debut and Dustin Brown scored the 300th goal of his NHL career for the Kings in their first game in 10 months. Anze Kopitar added two assists and Jonathan Quick made 23 saves for Los Angeles.
Hurricanes 3, Red Wings 0
Petr Mrazek needed to make just 14 saves to record the shutout as Carolina silenced host Detroit in the season opener for both teams.
The Hurricanes dominated the game, holding a 43-14 advantage in shots on goal. However, they didn’t secure the win until they scored twice in the final 2:34. Nino Niederreiter, Ryan Dzingel and Andrei Svechnikov scored the goals.
Thomas Greiss made 40 saves in his Red Wings debut after signing as a free agent during the offseason.
Sharks 4, Coyotes 3 (SO)
Logan Couture’s backhand shot beat Darcy Kuemper in a shootout, lifting San Jose to a victory over Arizona at Glendale, Ariz., in the season opener for both clubs.
Tomas Hertl produced two goals and an assist for the Sharks, and teammate Evander Kane had a goal and two assists. John Leonard added two assists in his NHL debut.
Conor Garland and Clayton Keller each had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, and Phil Kessel scored once. Darcy Kuemper stopped 32 shots.
Golden Knights 5, Ducks 2
Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty and Alex Tuch scored third-period goals to lead Vegas to a win over Anaheim at Las Vegas in the season opener for both teams.
Jonathan Marchessault and Tomas Nosek also scored goals for Vegas, and Stone added an assist. Robin Lehner finished with 20 saves as the Golden Knights won for the 11th time in 13 career meetings with the Ducks.
Max Comtois scored two goals for Anaheim, and John Gibson made 24 saves.
Predators 3, Blue Jackets 1
Filip Forsberg scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and Nashville earned a win over visiting Columbus in the season opener for both teams.
Three of the newest members of the Nashville roster recorded their first points in their team debuts. October trade acquisition Luke Kunin scored the Predators’ first goal of the game while free agent signings Erik Haula and Brad Richardson tallied assists.
Boone Jenner gave Columbus an early lead 9:24 into the first period after taking advantage of a pair of fortunate bounces.
–Field Level Media