Lehner thrives in debut with Isles, stuffs Sharks
NEW YORK — Robin Lehner stopped 35 shots for his ninth career shutout in his New York debut, leading the Islanders to a 4-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
Anders Lee, Scott Mayfield, Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas scored to help New York get new coach Barry Trotz his first win at home. The Islanders, who opened the season Thursday with an overtime win at Carolina, then lost their home opener to Nashville two nights later.
Lehner, signed by the Islanders in July, played for the first time since March 29 for Buffalo. He left that game against Detroit because of a panic attack and subsequently was treated for alcohol and drug addiction and also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, ADHD and PTSD.
Lehner denied Tomas Hertl on the doorstep with 1:40 left to preserve the shutout and get his first win against the Sharks after coming in 0-4 with a 3.33 goals-against average in four games against them.
Martin Jones had 26 saves for San Jose, which has lost two of its first three games.
Mayfield, making his season debut after being a healthy scratch the first two games, deflected in a wrist shot by Cizikas, who had a short-handed emptynet goal with 56 seconds left.
Martin, back in New York this season after spending two years in Toronto, got his first goal since December with just under seven minutes left.
At Anaheim, Calif., rookie Troy Terry scored the lone shootout goal to back John Gibson, who had 19 saves, in the home opener of Anaheim’s 25th-anniversary season.
Jakob Silfverberg scored the tying goal with 11:31 to play, and Hampus Lindholm also scored for the Ducks (30-0). Terry, 21, then scored a shootout goal in his fifth NHL game, and Gibson stopped all three Detroit shooters.
Tyler Bertuzzi and Darren Helm scored, and Jimmy Howard stopped 24 shots for the Red Wings, who are winless in their first three games.
Twenty-five years to the day after the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim debuted at Honda Center against the Red Wings, the teams met again in the Ducks’ home opener. Detroit spoiled the Mighty Ducks’ debut on Oct. 8, 1993, with a 7-2 victory.
Captain Ryan Getzlaf, NHL MVP Corey Perry, Selke Trophy winner Ryan Kesler and forwards Patrick Eaves and Ondrej Kase missed the home opener due to injury. Six rookies were in the Ducks’ starting lineup.
The healthy Ducks wore the team’s 1993 eggplant-and-jade jerseys during pregame warmups, and they played in their new third jerseys using similar colors and the club’s original logo with a duck-bill goalie mask and crossed hockey sticks.
The Ducks held a brief pregame ceremony in the first chapter of a season-long celebration of the history of an expansion franchise named after a kids movie as part of the Walt Disney Company’s venture into team sports in the 1990s.
Owners Henry and Susan Samueli dropped the ceremonial first puck alongside Michael Eisner, the former Disney chairman who guided the franchise into existence.
At Boston, Patrice Bergeron scored 30 seconds in and finished with a hat trick and an assist to back Tuukka Rask, who had 28 saves, as Boston won its home opener.
David Pastrnak had two goals and two assists, Charlie Mcavoy had his first career three-assist game for the Bruins.
Brad Marchand picked up his fifth, sixth and seventh assists in three games so far this season, and Chris Wagner also scored for Boston in its fifth straight win over Ottawa.
Ryan Dzingel scored twice for the Senators, who picked up a 5-on-3 power play with about 12 minutes left but failed to score. Mike Condon made 24 saves for Ottawa.