BUFFALO, N.Y. — Anze Kopitar scored a natural hat trick in the third period to rally the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-1 season-opening win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 33 shots in an outing where the Kings overcame a 1-0 deficit. Kopitar tied the game at 1-1 by scoring 13 seconds into the third period. He scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 1:38 left and then capped the scoring with an empty-netter.
Alex Tuch converted his own rebound on a shorthanded breakaway with 3:05 left in the second period, and Buffalo dropped to 0-3 after opening the season with two losses to New Jersey in Prague last weekend.
BRUINS 6, CANADIENS 4
BOSTON — Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 shots in his first game since signing a new contract, and Mark Kastelic had two goals on Thursday night as Boston scored four times in a row to overcome an early deficit and beat Montreal.
Elias Lindholm and Cole Koepke each had a goal and two assists for Boston, which lost 6-4 to the Florida Panthers in its season opener on Tuesday night. Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak also scored to help the Bruins open a 5-2 lead.
Brendan Gallagher scored twice for Montreal, the second with four minutes left to make it a one-goal game. Kaiden Guhle had a goal and an assist and Cayden Primeau made 23 saves for the Canadiens, who beat Toronto 1-0 on Wednesday night in Montreal.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, DEVILS 2
NEWARK, N.J. — Steven Lorentz had a goal and an assist, goalie Dennis Hildeby won his first NHL game and Toronto beat New Jersey.
Hildeby, Toronto’s fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft, stopped 22 shots in his NHL debut.
Max Pacioretty, Bobby McMann and John Tavares also scored for the Maple Leafs.
Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier scored goals for New Jersey.
The loss spoiled the home debut of Devils coach Sheldon Keefe, who was fired in May after guiding the Maple Leafs for five seasons. He replaced Lindy Ruff, who was let go by New Jersey near the end of the last regular season.
Jacob Markstrom had 18 saves for the Devils.
SENATORS 3, PANTHERS 1
OTTAWA, Ontario — Linus Ullmark made 30 saves in his first game for Ottawa, helping them open the season with a victory over Stanley Cup champion Florida.
The Panthers lost captain Aleksander Barkov to an injury late in the third period when he crashed into the end boards.
Tim Stutzle opened the scoring on a first-period power play and put it away in the third with an empty-netter. Shane Pinto also scored for Ottawa in the first period.
With the Senators holding a 2-1 lead late in the third, Ullmark made saves on Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich and Carter Verhaeghe.
Gustav Forsling scored for Florida with 4:12 left, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves. The Panthers opened the season Tuesday night with a 6-4 home victory over Boston.
UTAH 5, ISLANDERS 4, OT
NEW YORK — Josh Doan tied it with 1:54 left and Dylan Guenther scored his second goal of the game in overtime to give Utah a victory over New York.
Doan tied it 13 seconds after Islanders newcomer Max Tsyplakov scored his first career goal to give New York a 4-3 lead.
Lawson Crouse and Barrett Hayton also scored and Connor Ingram stopped 21 shots to help Utah improve to 2-0 in its first season in Salt Lake City after moving from Arizona. Utah beat Chicago 5-2 at home on Tuesday night.
Anthony Duclair, Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for New York in its opener. Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves.
WILD 3, BLUE JACKETS 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek scored on a strong night for the second line, Mats Zuccarello added a power-play goal and Minnesota opened the season by beating former coach Dean Evason and Columbus.
Filip Gustavsson had 30 saves for the Wild, who improved to 10-1-1 in season openers on their home ice at Xcel Energy Center. Gustavsson gave up a power-play goal by Zach Werenski with 2:54 left.
Kent Johnson had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who played their first game under Evason. He was fired by the Wild about 10 1/2months ago after a 5-10-4 start last season. Evason went 147-77-27 over three-plus years with Minnesota.
Boldy scored in the first period on a no-look shot.
Eriksson Ek gave the Wild the lead back in the second period on a one-timer. He centred the second line between Boldy and Marcus Johansson, each of whom had two assists. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 23 shots.
PENGUINS 6, RED WINGS 3
DETROIT — Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, Joel Blomqvist made 29 saves in his NHL debut and Pittsburgh beat Detroit.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, each with two assists, figured in four of the six goals as the Penguins rebounded from season-opening 6-0 home loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
Marcus Pettersson, Erik Karlsson, Kevin Hayes and Drew O’Connor also scored for Pittsburgh.
Alex DeBrincat scored twice for the Red Wings in their opener. Vladimir Tarasenko added a goal.
STARS 4, PREDATORS 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dallas scored three goals on consecutive shots in the second period to hold off Nashville in the season opener for both teams.
Mason Marchment scored two goals in the win, while Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson each had a goal apiece for Dallas. Logan Stankoven had three assists.
Filip Forsberg scored the first goal for Nashville in the second period and had an assist. Tommy Novak scored in the third. Ryan O’Reilly gave the Predators a fighting chance with 1:35 remaining by scoring a goal with six Nashville skaters on the ice.
It wasn’t enough as O’Reilly and Steven Stamkos both hit a post in the final 50 seconds.
The Predators were big spenders to kick off free agency with general manager Barry Trotz looking to boost the power play and add scoring depth with Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and defenceman Brady Skjei. That didn’t come to fruition in the season opener, with Nashville finishing 1-of-6 with the man advantage.
BLUES 5, SHARKS 4, OT
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Brayden Schenn scored 45 seconds into overtime and St. Louis spoiled an impressive debut from No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini to beat San Jose.
Justin Faulk tied it with 47 seconds left in regulation, and Schenn added the winner to give the Blues their second straight victory to open the season.
The Blues overcame a 4-1 deficit in the third to force overtime after getting goals from Radek Faksa, Ryan Suter and Faulk. Pavel Buchenivic also scored.
Joel Hofer made 25 saves,
Celebrini scored the first goal of the game and set up Tyler Toffoli for a goal later in the opening period. Fabian Zetterlund and Barclay Goodrow also scored for San Jose.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 35 saves.