Oshie lifts Caps in opener
T.J. Oshie had a goal and two assists in Peter Laviolette’s debut as Washington’s coach and the Capitals opened the season with a 6-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
Jakub Vrana stripped Eric Staal of the puck in front of Buffalo’s net and scored 46 seconds into the third period to preserve the win after the Capitals were in jeopardy of squandering a 4-1 lead. Vrana’s goal came 26 seconds after defenseman Jake McCabe cut Buffalo’s deficit to 4-3 by roofing a shot from the right point.
John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and assist each and Brenden Dillon also scored for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin set up the first two goals in a game Washington never trailed.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 22 shots in his first game as the Capitals’ starter following Braden Holtby’s offseason departure. Samsonov snapped an 0-4-1 skid to win his first game since a 25-save outing in a 5-3 victory at Ottawa on Jan. 31.
High-profile offseason free-agent addition Taylor Hall scored Buffalo’s first goal. He was set up for a tap-in in front by Victor Olofsson on a power play to tie the game at 1 a little under nine minutes in.
The Capitals went ahead for good on Oshie’s powerplay goal 1:45 later
Carter Hutton stopped Ovechkin’s blast from the top of the left circle but couldn’t control the rebound. Oshie drove in from the right side to tuck the puck in through the goalie’s legs.
Hutton finished with 22 saves.
Islanders 4, Rangers 0 — Brock Nelson, Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal scored in the opening period and the New York Islanders beat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots for his 28th career shutout and third with the Islanders. Defenseman Nick Leddy added two assists.
Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves as the Rangers fell in the first of eight games between the rivals. Alexis Lafreniere, the first overall selection of the 2020 NHL draft, made his debut and recorded one shot in 15:27 minutes of ice time.
Barzal capped off the three-goal first period with an impressive stick-handling maneuver before sending the puck past Shesterkin. The Islanders signed Barzal to a threeyear contract earlier this month worth a reported $21 million. The 23-yearold center has led the Islanders in scoring in each of his three NHL seasons.
Hurricanes 3, Red Wings 0 — Nino Niederreiter scored early in the first period and Petr Mrazek made 14 saves for a shutout, helping Carolina beat Detroit.
Ryan Ddzingel scored on a power play with 2:34 left and Andrei Svechnikov
added an empty-net goal.
Detroit goalie Thomas Greiss made only one save before he gave up a goal, but he stopped 40 shots to give his offensively challenged team a chance for two-plus periods.
The Red Wings, who were easily the NHL’s worst team last season, played for the first time since they lost to Carolina at home on March 10, 2020.
Jets 4, Flames 3 — Patrik Laine scored his second goal of the game in overtime to give the Winnipeg Jets a victory over the Calgary Flames in the opener for both teams.
The Finnish winger scored 1:18 into extra time, using speed to create space before beating goalie Jacob Markstrom in tight.
Mark Schiefele and Kyle Connor also scored for the Jets, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots.
Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau
scored for Calgary. Markstrom made 30 saves in his Calgary debut after signing a six-year, $36 million deal in free agency.
Predators 3, Blue Jackets 1 — Filip Forsberg scored the tiebreaking goal at 5:48 of the third period to lead the Nashville Predators over the Columbus Blue Jackets in their season opener.
Luke Kunin and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for the Predators, who have won 11 of their last 14 home openers. Juuse Saros made 29 saves.
Boone Jenner had the goal for Columbus.
Early in the third, Nashville won a defensive-zone faceoff and Forsberg skated into the Columbus zone on the left side. From the left faceoff dot, he snapped a wrist shot by goalie Joonas Korpisalo on the short side.
Korpisalo finished with 32 saves.