Rangers’ Shattenkirk stars in OT win
N.J. continues perfect start; Canucks triumph in OT
NEW YORK — Kevin Shattenkirk didn’t like being held out of the lineup last Thursday. He came through with a strong effort in his second game back.
The defenseman had assists on both Rangers goals in regulation and then scored the deciding goal in the third round of a shootout to lift New York over the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Tuesday night.
“Last Thursday was a tough pill to swallow, but I think it helped me,” Shattenkirk said. “When you get to sit back and analyze the game a little and realize where you need to be better, it’s important to take that and learn from it.”
Rangers coach David Quinn stressed the benching last week was more about giving Shattenkirk, who injured his knee last January and missed the rest of the season, a mental break.
“When you come back from an injury of that magnitude, you are recovering in two ways — you are recovering physically and you’re recovering mentally,” the first-year coach said. “I really felt it was the mental piece that he needed — take a step back, sit a game, collect his thoughts, get back to practice. He had a better game the other night and a better game tonight.”
Mats Zuccarello, who also had two assists, scored for the Rangers in the first round of the tiebreaker, and Mikko Rantanen tied it in the second. After Shattenkirk beat Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov in the third round, Henrik Lundqvist denied Gabriel Landeskog to secure New York’s second win in six games this season (2-4-0).
Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider scored in regulation for the Rangers, and Lundqvist stopped 31 shots through overtime.
DEVILS 2, STARS 0: In Newark, N.J., Kyle Palmieri scored his seventh goal in four games and Keith Kinkaid stopped 24 shots for his second shutout as New Jersey continued its perfect start by beating Dallas.
Jean-Sebastien Dea tallied for the third straight game and Blake Coleman added a goal as the Devils (4-0) remained the NHL’s only unbeaten team. The 4-0 start is their
best since 1995-96.
Palmieri also became the first player in NHL history to score his team’s opening goal in four consecutive games to begin a season, the league said. CANUCKS 3, PENGUINS 2 (OT): In Pittsburgh, Brock Boeser fired a wrist shot past Casey DeSmith’s stick and into the net 34 seconds into overtime to lift the Canucks to a victory over the Penguins.
The Penguins tied it late in regulation when Carl Hagelin took a perfect pass from Phil Kessel and slipped it past Anders Nilsson with 3:14 to go.
FLYERS 6, PANTHERS 5 (SO): In Philadelphia, Jordan Weal scored in the shootout to lift the Flyers over the Panthers.
Weal had a goal and an assist, and Jakub Voracek also scored in the shootout for the Flyers. Philadelphia had to rally to earn two points after leading by three goals late in the second period.
Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux each had two goals for the Flyers. LIGHTNING 4, HURRICANES 2 : In Tampa, Fla., Tyler Johnson had three goals, Yanni Gourde scored on a power play to put Tampa Bay ahead in the third period as the Lightning beat the Hurricanes.
Johnson scored in all three periods, completing the hat trick on an empty-netter with 1:56 remaining.
After Carolina defenseman Calvin de Haan fanned on a clearing attempt, Gourde made it 3-2 on a pass from Ondrej Palat.
OILERS 5, JETS 4 (OT): In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Connor McDavid had four points and Darnell Nurse scored his first goal of the season 1:25 into overtime as Edmonton overcame a three-goal deficit to beat Winnipeg.
McDavid scored twice and added a pair of assists for the Oilers, who were down 4-1 to start the third period.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, SABRES 1: In Las Vegas, Nev., Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves in Vegas’ victory over Buffalo. He lost a shutout with 37 seconds left.
Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring for Vegas with a power-play goal at 18:59 of the first period.
WILD 2, COYOTES 1: In St. Paul, Minn., Eric Staal and Mikael Grandlund scored and Devan Dubnyk stopped 27 of 28 shots to lead Minnesota past Arizona.