Pens rally in 3rd, top Sharks in Stanley Cup rematch
PITTSBURGH >> Evgeni Malkin, Scott Wilson and Patric Hornqvist scored during a furious third-period rally to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
The Penguins trailed by two goals after two largely lifeless periods in a rematch of last June’s Stanley Cup Final before catching fire late. Hornqvist and Malkin both finished with a goal and an assist. MarcAndre Fleury stopped 32 shots and bought the Penguins time until the offense finally got going.
Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, who controlled the first 40 minutes and appeared well on their way to a one-sided victory before falling apart late. Martin Jones made 17 saves but saw the play in front of him break down in the third. BRUINS 2, DEVILS 1 >> Patrice Bergeron scored the tiebreaking goal with 75 seconds left in his season debut to give the Bruins a victory over the Devils.
After missing the first three games with an unspecified injury, Bergeron returned to practice on Wednesday and took regular shifts in the home opener against New Jersey. He was on the ice when linemate Brad Marchand tied it 1-all with just under 10 minutes left in regulation, and he was there again to slide in the game-winner at the end.
CAPITALS 4, PANTHERS 2 >> Alex Ovechkin scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period to lift the Capitals over the Panthers.
Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Williams scored goals for the Capitals. Matt Niskanen recorded two assists and Braden Holtby made 26 saves.
Jaromir Jagr became the third player to score 750 goals. He is in third place all-time in the NHL, behind only Wayne Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801). Michael Matheson also scored for the Panthers. CANADIENS 5, COYOTES 2 >> Carey Price made 27 saves in his season debut to help the Canadiens beat the Coyotes.
Price made his first NHL start since injuring his right knee on Nov. 25, 2015. He also missed the first three games of this season because of the flu. Alexei Emelin, Torrey Mitchell, Shea Weber, Alex Galchenyuk and Artturi Lehkonen scored for Montreal (3-0-1). AVALANCHE 4, LIGHTNING 0 >> Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist, Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves for his 21st career shutout and the Avalanche beat the Lightning.
Andreas Martinsen and Carl Soderberg scored for the Avalanche, who are 2-1 on a four-game trip. Colorado beat Pittsburgh in overtime and lost to Washington earlier on the trip. WILD 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2 >> Eric Staal scored twice and the Wild recovered from another deficit to beat the Maple Leafs.
Staal has three goals in his first four games with his new team, and his gamewinner with 8 minutes left kept Minnesota unbeaten in its three-game homestand despite allowing the first goal in each game. KINGS 4, STARS 3 >> Alec Martinez scored 1:20 into overtime and the Kings beat the Stars. OILERS 3, BLUES 1 >> Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist as the Oilers won their second straight game in a strong start to the season, defeating the Blues.