Emotional Ullmark shines for Sabres
Suter’s three goals propel Blackhawks past Detroit
WASHINGTON — Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout to help the Buffalo Sabres beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Sunday for just their second victory in six games this season.
Ullmark picked up his first win of the season six days after learning of the death of his father at age 63. It was Ullmark’s second consecutive start after taking some time away from playing hockey, and the Sabres needed him with goaltender Carter Hutton injured.
“It’s been rough, definitely,” Ullmark said. “There’s a lot of emotions and thoughts that had to be processed. I’m trying to take it day by day. Try to be happy when I’m happy, try to be sad when I’m sad and right now I’m utterly grateful for getting a win.”
Captain Jack Eichel scored in the shootout and Colin Miller, Victor Olfosson and Eric Staal each scored on the power play for Buffalo, which snapped a two-game skid. The Sabres outshot the Capitals 48-31 and beat them for the first time in four meetings.
“He stepped up big,” said Eichel, who scored the shootout winner for Buffalo’s second victory in six games this season. “He made some key saves. Obviously an emotional week for him, so it’s good to see him get a win.”
It was the grieving Ullmark’s second consecutive start after his short break, and the Sabres needed him with goaltender Carter Hutton injured.
Justin Schultz scored his first goal with Washington and mainstays T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom each had a power-play goal. The Capitals were playing without five prominent players: captain Alex Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and goalie Ilya Samsonov because of COVID-19 protocols and right winger Tom Wilson because of a lower-body injury.
Vitek Vanecek made a career-high 45 saves and kissed the post after Taylor Hall’s penalty shot attempt midway through the third period clanked off it.
BLACKHAWKS 6, RED WINGS 2: In Chicago, Pius Suter scored his first three NHL goals, Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves and Chicago beat Detroit for its second straight win.
Connor Murphy and Mattias Janmark each had a goal and an assist as Chicago swept its two-game set with Detroit after beginning the season with four straight losses in Florida. Phillipp Kurashev also scored, and Patrick Kane had two assists.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored twice for Detroit, and Jonathan Bernier made 29 saves. The Red Wings lost for the third time in their past four games.
STARS 3, PREDATORS 2: In Dallas, Joe Pavelski helped Dallas tie the NHL record for power-play goals in the first two games, scoring one of three with the man advantage in another victory over Nashville.
Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz also scored on the power play after the Stars went 5 of 8 with the man advantage in a 7-0 victory over the Predators in their delayed opener. Dallas was 3 of 4 on the power play this time.
The Stars tied the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins and 1942-43 Detroit Red Wings with eight power-play goals in the first two games.
Pavelski also had the primary assist on the goals by Gurianov and Hintz, giving him seven points through two games after he had two goals and two assists in the opener. Hintz had two assists as well.
PENGUINS 3, RANGERS 2: In Pittsburgh, Jake Guentzel scored the 100th goal of his NHL career with less than two minutes remaining, rallying Pittsburgh over New York.
Pittsburgh trailed 2-1 entering the third period, before Jared McCann and Guentzel scored in the final 20 minutes, extending the Penguins’ win streak to four games after two opening losses. It was Pittsburgh’s fourth straight comeback win, tying the longest such streak in franchise history. The Penguins have had four straight comebacks six times.
Bryan Rust also scored and Tristan Jarry made 20 saves for the Penguins, who started 4-0 at home for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
Colin Blackwell and Ryan Strome scored for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin stopped 16 shots.
SHARKS 5, WILD 3: In St. Paul, Minn., Brent Burns scored with 1:48 remaining to snap a tie and lead San Jose over Minnesota.
Ryan Donato, Evander Kane and Noah Gregor scored for San Jose before Matt Nieto added an empty-net goal.
Burns corralled a loose puck in the right circle, cut to the middle between three Wild defenders, shifted from his forehand to backhand and beat Kaapo Kahkonen on the far side for the winner.
Zach Parise, Nick Bjugstad and Kevin Fiala scored for Minnesota.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, FLAMES 2: In Calgary, Alberta, Morgan Reilly had three assists and Wayne Simmonds scored his first goal with Toronto.
Jake Muzzin got his first goal of the season and Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto. Mitch Marner added two assists and Jack Campbell stopped 31 shots for his second win in two starts this season.
Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm countered for the Flames, who were coming off a five-day break. Jacob Markstrom turned away 29 shots.
DEVILS 2, ISLANERS 0: In Newark, N.J., Ty Smith set up two first-period goals to become the sixth NHL rookie defenseman to get points in his first five games for New Jersey.
Scott Wedgewood, who spent last season in the AHL, made 28 saves for his first NHL shutout since blanking the Devils in December 2017 for Arizona. The win was his first in an NHL game since 2018.
Jack Hughes and Pavel Zajac scored two minutes apart late in the opening period as the Devils split their home-and-home series with the Islanders.
KINGS 6, BLUES 3: St. Louis, Anze Kopitar had a goal and two assists, Jonathan Quick made 28 saves and Los Angeles beat St. Louis.
Alex Iafallo, Carl Gundstrom, Gabriel Vilardi, Lias Andersson and Drew Doughty each scored for the Kings as Los Angeles earned a split of its two-game set in St. Louis. Quick improved to 2-0-2.
Brayden Schenn scored twice for St. Louis and Ville Husso stopped 29 shots in his first NHL start.
DUCKS 3, AVALANCHE 1: In Anaheim, Calif., Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell scored, and Anaheim held on for a over Colorado.
Hampus Lindholm added an empty-net goal for the Ducks, who had not scored more than two goals in their first five games. John Gibson made 32 saves and improved to 2-0-2 in his last four starts.
Mikko Rantanen scored in a career-best fifth straight game, and Philipp Grubauer made 12 saves for the Avalanche. Colorado had been averaging 3.4 goals.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1, COYOTES 0: In Glendale, Ariz., William Karlsson scored with 42 seconds left in regulation, MarcAndre Fleury stopped 16 shots and Vegas beat Arizona.
Fleury was sharp throughout for his 62nd career shutout and Karlsson beat Darcy Kuemper with a one-timer on a feed from Jonathan Marchessault behind the goal. Kuemper stopped 26 shots. Due to pandemic scheduling, the Golden Knights and Coyotes became the first teams to play each other in four straight games during the regular season in NHL history.
OILERS 4, JETS 3: In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Leon Draisaitl scored with less than a second left to give Edmonton a victory over the Jets.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kyle Turris, and Kailer Yamamoto also scored for Edmonton. Mikko Koskinen made 35 saves.
Adam Lowry, Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler scored for the Jets. Laurent Brossoit stopped 34 shots.