Stamkos, Kucherov extend streaks as Lightning rout Penquins
TAMPA: Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov extended their season-opening points streaks to nine games and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 7-1 on Saturday night. Stamkos had a goal and three assists, and Kucherov had two goals and an assist. They are the first teammates to start the season with nine-game streaks since St. Louis’ Pavol Demitra and Doug Weight in 2001-02. Andrei Vasilevskiy, coming off a 43-save blanking of Columbus on Thursday night, lost his bid for second straight shutout bid on Jake Guentzel’s goal with 1:42 to play. Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves. Yanni Gourde, Brayden Point Anton Stralman and Mikhail Sergachev also scored to help the Lightning improve to 7-1-1. Penguins star Sidney Crosby received both minor and misconduct penalties during the opening 1:36 of the game. Backup goalie Antti Niemi, 0-3 in three starts, stopped 25 shots.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, BLUES 2, OT William Karlsson scored at 4:36 of overtime to help Vegas win for the sixth time in seven games to open its inaugural season. Reilly Smith and Colin Miller scored in the second period for the Golden Knights. Malcolm Subban stopped 37 shots before being helped to the dressing room by two trainers with 9:10 remaining in regulation after stretching out on a wide shot by Jaden Schwartz. Oscar Dansk stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced in his NHL debut, making key stops at the end of regulation and in overtime. Magnus Paajarvi and Alex Pietrangelo scored for St. Louis, and Jake Allen - fifth on the franchise wins list (94) - finished with 19 saves. With 5:08 left in the third, Schwartz fed a wide-open Pietrangelo, who fired a slap shot past Dansk to tie the score 2-2.
KINGS 6, BLUE JACKETS 4
Anze Kopitar broke a tie with 2:14 left with his second goal of the game and Los Angeles beat Columbus to remain the only NHL team unbeaten in regulation. At 6-0-1, Los Angeles is off to the best start in franchise history. Kopitar also had an assist, Dustin Brown added a goal and three assists, and Jake Muzzin had a goal and two assists. Trevor Lewis, Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings, and Jonathan Quick stopped 32 shots. Nick Foligno, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Matt Calvert and Sonny Milano scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
BLACKHAWKS 4, COYOTES 2 Lance Bouma scored on a rebound with 4:24 left in the third period, Corey Crawford stopped 27 shots and Chicago kept Arizona winless. The Coyotes have been playing better lately, but their only point is an overtime loss to Vegas the second game of the season. Patrick Kane and Richard Panik each scored and Jonathan Toews had a pair of assists for Chicago, which had lost three of four. Tommy Wingels added an empty-net goal after having a penalty shot wiped away upon review. Clayton Keller had his NHL rookie-best sixth goal of the season and Christian Fischer also scored for the Coyotes, who dropped to 0-7-1 with a long road trip next. Domingue stopped 24 shots.—AP