Matthews continues goal surge
Auston Matthews scored twice for a league-leading nine goals, tying an NHL record after five games, and helped the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Red Wings, 5-3, last night in Detroit.
Matthews joined Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy as the players in league history to score nine times in their teams’ first five games. He is the third player in franchise history to score in its first five games of a season.
Defenseman Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, giving him 11 points to equal Bobby Orr’s strong start during the 1973-74 season. Harry Cameron had 15 points in the Toronto Arenas’ first five games of the 1917-18 season.
Devils 6, Capitals 0 — In Newark, N.J., Kyle Palmieri scored twice and Keith Kinkaid made 21 saves as New Jersey celebrated its home opener by shutting out Stanley Cup champion Washington.
Marcus Johansson, Blake Coleman, Jean-Sebastien Dea and Brian Boyle also scored for the Devils. It was a rare victory for New Jersey in the series. Washington was 14-12 in the previous 17 meetings.
Pheonix Copley stopped 30 shots in his Capitals’ debut. The Capitals had scored 18 goals in the first three games.
Penguins 4, Knights 2 — Phil Kessel scored a natural hat trick and host Pittsburgh beat Vegas. Vegas scored the first goal of the game, and Kessel had the next three, the final two coming on second-period breakaways. It was Kessel’s sixth career hat trick and first in four seasons with Pittsburgh.
Casey DeSmith stopped 35 shots in his first regularseason start for Pittsburgh.
Vegas lost its third straight and fourth in five games.
Rangers 3, Sharks 2 — Brady Skjei buried a wrist shot 37 seconds into overtime and host New York beat San Jose for coach David Quinn’s first career victory. Quinn was hired away from Boston University in May. The Rangers had dropped the first three games in his first season.
Canucks 4, Lightning 1 — Elias Petterson and Brock Boeser scored 1:10 apart in the third period and Jake Virtanen and Markus Granlund added empty-net goals as Vancouver defeated Tampa Bay in Tampa, Fla. Petterson scored his fourth goal in four games in his rookie season.
Predators 3, Jets 0 — Pekka Rinne had 29 saves in his 52nd career shutout to lead host Nashville over Winnipeg.
Predators forward Austin Watson’s 27-game suspension for domestic abuse was cut to 18 games by an arbitrator.
Blue Jackets 5, Panthers 4 — In Sunrise, Fla., Cam Atkinson scored with 2:46 left to lift Columbus over Florida. Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists for Columbus. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 37 shots.
Avalanche 6, Sabres 1 — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice to extend his season-opening goal streak to four games and Colorado beat host Buffalo. Colorado improved to 3-1 for the third straight year.
Kings 3, Canadiens 0 — Jack Campbell made 40 saves for his first career shutout and Los Angeles spoiled Montreal’s home opener.
Blues 5, Flames 3 — David Perron scored his fourth career hat trick, Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist, and host St. Louis beat Calgary.