Leafs earn split with Edmonton
John Tavares broke a tie on a power play midway through the third period to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Friday night for a series split
Toronto played without Auston Matthews and Joe Thornton. Coach Sheldon Keefe said before the game Matthews is day-to-day with “upper-body soreness” following a 3-1 loss to the Oilers on Wednesday night, while Thornton will miss at least four weeks after fracturing a rib in that game.
Adam Brooks scored his first NHL goal, Jimmy Vesey and Mitch Marner added goals and Frederik Andersen made 30 saves. Toronto improved to 4-2-0.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl scored for Edmonton, and Mikko Koskinen stopped 25 shots. The Oilers are 2-4-0.
Tavares tipped in his fourth goal of the season, and second in the twogame set with the Oilers, off Marner’s shot after some sustained pressure on the man advantage.
Marner capped the scoring with an empty-net goal.
Penguins 4, Rangers 3 — Kris Letang scored in the final round of a shootout to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a victory over the New York Rangers.
Letang ripped a backhand over Igor Shesterkin to put the Penguins in front. Tristan Jarry collected his first win of the season when he stuffed New York’s Tony DeAngelo moments later.
Bryan Rust and Jared McCann collected their first goals of the season for Pittsburgh, which has won three straight following an 0-2 start. Teddy Blueger also scored, and Jarry finished with 31 saves.
Filip Chytil, Adam Fox and Kaapo Kakko scored for New York, which blew a 3-1 lead.
Capitals 4, Sabres 3 —
Jakub Vrana had a goal and an assist, Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves through overtime and the shorthanded Capitals beat the Sabres 4-3 in their home opener.
Nicklas Backstrom and Nic Dowd also scored for the Capitals, who won the first of four games they must play without captain Alex Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and goaltender Ilya Samsonov because of pandemic protocols.
Vanecek was perfect in the shootout to pick up his second victory of the season. Defenseman John Carlson scored the shootout winner.
Buffalo rookie Dylan Cozens scored his first NHL goal in the second period. Eric Staal and Riley Sheahan each scored his first goal since joining the Sabres. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves.
Wild 4, Sharks 1 — Zach Parise scored his first goal of the season to break a second-period tie, spurring the Minnesota Wild to a victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Joel Eriksson Ek had an early goal for the Wild against former teammate Devan Dubnyk, who made 25 saves for the Sharks on the Minnesota ice he called home for the previous six years. Kevin Fiala and Jordan Greenway added empty-netters late for the Wild (4-1-0) in their home opener.
Matt Nieto scored for the Sharks (2-3-0) and their traveling show, five games into a season-opening eight-game trip that will likely grow longer given local virus restrictions preventing them from on-ice activity in San Jose.
Blackhawks 4, Red Wings 1 — Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings for their first win of the season.
Andrew Shaw, Calvin de Haan and Mattias Janmark also scored for Chicago in its home opener after beginning the season with a four-game trip. Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat each had two assists.
Kevin Lankinen, a 25year-old rookie signed by Chicago as a free agent in 2018, stopped 30 shots in picking up his first NHL victory in his second straight start. Only Dylan Larkin, crossing the crease and getting Lankinen to commit, beat the Helsinki, Finland, native.