Pavelski, Sharks cut up Flyers
Joe Pavelski scored two of San Jose’s four first-period goals, and Evander Kane also scored twice to spark the Sharks to an 8-2 win over the Flyers last night in Philadelphia.
Flyers fans were still buzzing from the pregame festivities for the home opener, which included rookie mascot Gritty rappelling from the rafters to the ice, when the Sharks pounced.
The Flyers turned over the puck at the point, Logan Couture beat the odd-man rush and fired his first goal of the season past Brian Elliott. Pavelski made it 2-0 just 11 seconds later when he knocked in a rebound for his first goal of the season.
The Sharks, a Stanley Cup favorite, were just warming up. They had five goals in their first three games, including a 4-0 loss a night earlier to the New York Islanders, and then scored five goals through two periods.
Elliott made 40 saves, and Shayne Gostisbehere and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers.
Blue Jackets 5, Avalanche 2 — Nick Foligno had two goals and an assist and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to get his first win of the season as host Columbus beat Colorado.
Pierre-Luc Dubois, Artemi Panarin and Josh Anderson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who dealt the Avs their first loss.
Philipp Grubauer, making his Colorado debut after being acquired from Washington in June, had 30 saves. Nathan MacKinnon and Carl Soderberg scored in the second period, but Colorado was shut out in the third as Columbus broke a 2-2 tie and added a couple more.
Hurricanes 5, Canucks 3 — In Raleigh, N.C., Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist, and Carolina beat Vancouver for its third straight win.
Warren Foegele scored an important insurance goal in the third period, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal and Brett Pesce also scored and Teuvo Teravainen had two assists.
They helped the Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes improve to 3-0-1, their best start since the move from Hartford in 1997, under new coach and former team captain Rod Brind’Amour. They earned points in their first four games for the first time since 1994-95, when they were still the Whalers and opened 4-0-1.
Sven Baertschi had two goals and an assist, and Bo Horvat scored on the power play for rebuilding Vancouver, which has lost the first two games of its sixgame trip.
Flames 3, Predators 0 — Mike Smith made 43 saves and Sean Monahan scored twice to lead Calgary over host Nashville. Elias Lindholm scored and Johnny Gaudreau had three assists for Calgary, winners of two of three.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray is out indefinitely with a concussion. Coach Mike Sullivan said Murray suffered the concussion during practice Monday and reported potential symptoms to the training staff immediately afterward. This is the third time in his career the 24-year-old Murray has been diagnosed with a concussion.