Habs defeat Maple Leafs on wild rally

TORONTO: Paul Byron scored the only goal in a shoot-out, and the visiting Montreal Canadiens came back from three goals down to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-5, on Saturday night.

The goal not only gave Montreal their first win of the season but completed a wild third period and overtime. After William Nylander scored 5:16 minutes into the third to give the Leafs a 4-1 lead, Montreal scored four straight goals, with Phillip Danault’s tally giving Montreal a 5-4 lead at 15:20 minutes.

Auston Matthews tied the game at 5 on his second goal of the game — and fifth of the season — at 18:45 minutes of the third with Toronto’s goaltender off for an extra attacker.

The Maple Leafs survived a Canadiens power play during overtime, forcing the shoot-out.

Mika Zibanejad recorded a hattrick just 32:07 minutes into the game, and New York spoiled Ottawa’s home opener with a 4-1 victory.

The ex-Senator Zibanejad had goals of the power-play, evenstrength and short-handed variety, the last with 7:53 minutes left in the second period, and also added an assist. According to Rangers stats and information, Zibanejad became the first Rangers player since Derek Stepan in 2014 to score in those three ways.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, Pavel Buchnevich recorded three assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves for the Rangers, who improved to 2-0-0 for the first time since 2015-16. They also snapped a five-game skid at Ottawa.

Jake Gardiner scored with 56 seconds left in overtime to give visiting Carolina a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Washington.

Gardiner came in on a twoon-one after Andrei Svechnikov pushed the puck forward to him. The defenceman raced up the left wing and beat goalie Braden Holtby with a short-side shot.

The Hurricanes erased a 2-0 deficit to earn two points. The game marked the Capitals’ home opener and a rematch of the first round of last year’s playoffs, when Carolina upset the then-defending champions in seven games.