Letang’s second goal lifts Penguins past Capitals in overtime
PITTSBURGH >> Kris Letang scored his second goal 1:20 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 7-6 victory over the Washington Capitals Thursday night.
Letang beat goalie Braden Holtby with a slap shot from the point on a power play. Letang finished with three points, tying Hall of Famer Paul Coffey for the most by a defenseman in team history with 440.
Jake Guentzel also scored twice, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists, and Derick Brassard and Jamie Oleksiak added goals in Pittsburgh’s opener. Matt Murray made 30 saves.
T.J. Oshie scored twice for Stanley Cup champion Washington, coming off a 7-0 home victory over Boston on Wednesday.
Alex Ovechkin had his second of the season and 609th overall, passing Dino Ciccarelli for 18th on the NHL list. Brooks Orpik scored his first goal in 182 regular-season games. Jakub Vrana and John Carlson also scored.
Malkin scored 2:45 into the third period, putting Pittsburgh ahead by two, but Oshie tied it at 6 with goals 21 seconds apart.
BLUE JACKETS 3, RED WINGS 2 >> Artemi Panarin scored midway through overtime, lifting Columbus to a victory over Detroit.
Cam Atkinson and Josh Anderson gave Columbus the lead over the first two periods. Rookie Dennis Cholowski and Tyler Bertuzzi pulled the Red Wings into a tie with goals in the second period.
The rebuilding Red Wings honored Henrik Zetterberg, whose career is over because of a back ailment, before the game. Then, the team put five players on the ice who were playing for the first time in the NHL. Cholowski, Christoffer Ehn, Michael Rasmussen, Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak all made their debut. PREDATORS 3, RANGERS 2 >> P.K. Subban scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and Nashville held on to beat New York and spoil the regular-season debut of new Rangers coach David Quinn.
Subban fired a one-timer from beyond the inside edge of the right circle in front of the blue line at 3:28 of the final period to put Nashville ahead.
Filip Forsberg and Colton Sissons also scored and Pekka Rinne stopped 34 shots for the Predators, the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners with 117 points last season. ISLANDERS 2, HURRICANES 1 >> Josh Bailey scored a power-play goal 43 seconds into overtime, and New York opened the season by beating Carolina.
Valtteri Filppula also scored as the Islanders began the post-John Tavares era by giving Barry Trotz a victory in his debut with the team and spoiling Rod Brind’Amour’s first game behind the Carolina bench. BRUINS 4, SABRES 0 >> Jaroslav Halak stopped 32 shots and Boston rebounded from a season-opening shutout with a win over Buffalo.
Brad Marchand set up all four goals, scored by captain Zdeno Chara, rookie Ryan Donato, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron on an empty-netter.
The new-look Sabres, featuring rookie No. 1 draft pick Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Eichel as captain, more resembled the team that finished last in the standings for the third time in five years. After receiving rousing cheers upon being introduced before the opening faceoff in their season opener, the Sabres were booed off the ice following the first and second periods.