NHL Roundup: Coyotes beat Ducks for best start in eight seasons

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Clayton Keller and Jason Zucker scored goals, Karel Vejmelka made 32 saves, and the Arizona Coyotes beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 in their home opener on Saturday.

The Coyotes have won three of their first five games for the first time since the 2015-16 season, and they won their home opener for the first time since 2016-17.

Frank Vatrano scored on a power play for the Coyotes in the third period.

The Ducks pulled goaltender Lukas Dostal with two minutes remaining but could not score again. Dostal made 25 saves in his second start of the season.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

SABRES 3, ISLANDERS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jeff Skinner, Mattias Samuelsson and Dylan Cozens each scored a goal to lead Buffalo over New York.

Casey Mittelstadt had two assists and Eric Comrie made 24 saves in his first start of the season for Buffalo. 

Noah Dobson scored for the Islanders and Semyon Varlamov made 40 saves in his first start of the season.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, LIGHTNING 3 (OT)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — John Tavares scored with 55 seconds left in overtime as Toronto rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to beat Tampa Bay.

Matthew Knies had two goals in a span of 2:22 in the third period as Toronto tied it at 3. The second, at 14:33, came while he was down on one knee. William Nylander also scored for the Maple Leafs.

Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist for Tampa Bay. His point-blank shot with 15 seconds left in regulation was turned aside by Joseph Woll, who had 29 saves after coming in for starter Ilya Samsonov, who was pulled at 13:29 of the first period after allowing three goals on four shots.

Alex Barré-Boulet scored the other Lightning goal, and Jonas Johansson made 48 saves. Steven Stamkos had an assist to tie Pat Verbeek for 74th place on the career points list with 1,062.

CANUCKS 5, PANTHERS 3

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Kuzmenko scored the go-ahead goal with 4:57 left to help Vancouver beat Florida.

Quinn Hughes, Carson Soucy, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser also scored for Vancouver, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Casey DeSmith made 34 saves.

Sam Reinhart scored two third-period goals to rally the Panthers from a 3-1 deficit into a 3-3 tie with 5:59 left. Aleksander Barkov also scored for Florida while Evan Rodrigues picked up two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.

CANADIENS 3, CAPITALS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored 47 seconds into overtime as Montreal edged Washington.

Sean Monahan and Brendan Gallagher also scored for Montreal while Dylan Strome scored a pair for Washington who have only won once this season.

Canadiens netminder Jake Allen stopped 31 shots. Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper had 25 saves.

RED WINGS 5, SENATORS 2

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Joe Veleno scored his first two goals of the season and Dylan Larkin added a goal and two assists as Detroit Red Wings posted their fourth straight win by defeating Ottawa.

Larkin, Shayne Gostisbehere and David Perron added power-play goals for Detroit, which also got a 35-save performance from goaltender Ville Husso.

The game marked the return of Alex DeBrincat, who was dealt to Detroit earlier this summer, and the fans at the Canadian Tire Center jeered him.

Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig scored for Ottawa, which had its three-game win streak snapped. Joonas Korpisalo made 18 saves.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, BLACKHAWKS 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Nicolas Roy, Mark Stone and Paul Cotter scored in the third period, and the undefeated Vegas Golden Knights beat Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Saturday night.

Bedard scored on his first shot in Chicago’s home opener, but Vegas’ superior depth proved to be too much for the rebuilding Blackhawks. The Golden Knights became the first Stanley Cup champions to begin their title defense with six consecutive victories.

William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Vegas, which extended its franchise-record start. Adin Hill made 21 saves.

Reese Johnson and Corey Perry scored for Chicago, which returned home after beginning the season with a 2-3-0 road trip. Arvid Soderblom made 19 stops.

STARS 5, FLYERS 4, OT

DALLAS (AP) — Joe Pavelski scored 2:12 into overtime, and Dallas beat Philadelphia, overcoming three short-handed goals for their seventh consecutive victory over the Flyers.

Wyatt Johnson had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Roope Hintz also scored for Dallas. Scott Wedgewood stopped 36 shots for the win in the first start of the season for goalie Jake Oettinger’s backup.

Travis Konecny scored two of the three short-handed goals for the Flyers, with the third coming from Sean Walker to tie the score with about seven minutes remaining. Joel Farabee had the only even-strength goal for the Flyers, and Noah Cates had two assists. Samuel Ersson, also making his season debut, had 21 saves.

The three short-handed goals were the most in the NHL since Calgary in 2018, and the most the Stars have allowed since moving to Dallas in 1993.

BLUE JACKETS 5, WILD 4, OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jack Roslovic scored 3:07 into overtime and Columbus held off Minnesota.

Justin Danforth, Kent Johnson, Boone Jenner and Adam Fantilli also scored for the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves.

Four of the last five games between the teams took extra time with the Wild previously winning twice in overtime and once in a shootout.

Dakota Mermis, Mats Zuccarello, Jonas Brodin and Marcus Johansson scored for Minnesota, which got 49 saves from Gustavsson.

BLUES 4, PENGUINS 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brandon Saad scored twice and Jordan Binnington stopped 31 shots as St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.

Jake Neighbours and Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues, who won in regulation for the first time this season. Robert Thomas and Kasperi Kapanen, playing in his first game against his former team since being waived by Pittsburgh last season, each had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin and Radim Zohorna scored and Tristan Jarry made 17 saves for the Penguins, who dropped both games on a brief road trip.

PREDATORS 5, SHARKS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tommy Novak scored twice, Juuse Saros made 31 saves and Nashville defeated San Jose.

Kiefer Sherwood and Luke Evangelista each had a goal and an assist and Samuel Fagemo also scored for the Predators, winners of two in a row. Gustav Nyquist had two assists.

Tomas Hertl scored and Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves for the winless Sharks, who are 0-4-1. San Jose has scored just seven goals in their five games.

AVALANCHE 6, HURRICANES 4

DENVER (AP) — Logan O’Connor scored short-handed for the third straight game, one of five Colorado goals in the second period, Arturri Lehkonen had a goal and two assists, and the Avalanche has started the season 5-0 for the first time in four years.

Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Ryan Johansen and Fredrik Olofsson also scored and Alexander Georgiev made 23 saves for Colorado.

O’Connor became the seventh player to score short-handed in at least three consecutive games and tied Joe Sakic’s franchise record set in 1998.

Brent Burns, Michael Bunting, Jesper Kotkaniemi and Jaccob Slavin scored for Carolina, and Pyotr Kochetkov had 22 saves for the Hurricanes, who are 2-3 on their six-game road trip.

BRUINS 4, KINGS 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Brad Marchand scored twice, David Pastrnak added three points and became the first Boston player in 21 years with a goal in each of the first four games, and the Bruins remained unbeaten with a victory over Los Angeles.

It is the third time in Marchand’s 15-year career he has recorded a point in each of the Bruins’ first four games (three goals, three assists).

Pastrnak, who was second in the league with 61 goals last season, had a goal and two assists. He is the first Bruin since Dimitri Kvartalnov in 1992-93 to open the season with a goal in four straight games.

Morgan Geekie scored the go-ahead goal in the second period for the Bruins, who are off to their first 4-0 start since 1990-91.

Los Angeles’ Alex Laferriere scored his first NHL goal to tie it at 1 in the second period.

RANGERS 4, KRAKEN 1

SEATTLE (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored twice, Filip Chytil had three assists and New York beat Seattle.

Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for the Rangers while Jonathan Quick, signed in the off-season as New York’s backup goalie, had 18 saves in his first start for the team.

Justin Schultz scored for the Kraken, who have scored one goal or fewer in four of their five games this season. Philipp Grubauer had 23 saves.

Schultz gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, but the Rangers tied it up less than four minutes later on Panarin’s first goal.

New York scored a pair in the second period to go up 3-1.

JETS 3, OILERS 2 (OT)

EDMONTON, Alta. — Mark Scheifele scored at 3:53 of overtime and Winnipeg beat Edmonton.

Josh Morrissey and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Jets, who rallied after falling behind by two goals in the first 6 1/2 minutes. Connor Hellebuyck finished with 38 saves.

Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard had goals for the Oilers, who have lost two straight. Stuart Skinner had 24 saves.

Edmonton played without star forward Connor McDavid late in the third period and in overtime. The Oilers’ captain remained on the bench and appeared to be dealing with back pain.