Mcavoy delivers in season debut; Bruins best Flames
BOSTON — Defenseman Charlie Mcavoy scored the go-ahead goal in his season debut as Eastern Conferenceleading Boston stayed unbeaten on home ice, beating skidding Calgary 3-1 on Thursday.
Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots for the Bruins (12-2-0), who are 8-0-0 at TD Garden. Defenseman Connor Clifton scored the tying goal in the first period for Boston, and David Pastrnak added an empty-net goal.
Mcavoy, the Bruins’ top defenseman, was expected to be off the ice for six months after undergoing June shoulder surgery. The 24-year-old had career highs of 10 goals, 46 points and a plus-31 rating in 78 games last season.
Defenseman Noah Hanifin opened the scoring in the first period, and Dan Vladar had 25 saves for the Flames in their seventh straight loss.
Calgary held Boston without a shot in the first seven minutes and took the lead on Hanifin’s first goal of the season at
4:43. Clifton scored off his own rebound to tie it with 3:22 left in the opening period.
■ Coyotes 2, Islanders 0: At New
York, Karel Vejmelka had 24 saves in his second shutout and first this season, Travis Boyd and Jack Mcbain scored in the third period, and Arizona won its third straight. Ilya Sorokin stopped 26 shots for New York in its second loss in nine games.
■ Blues 5, Sharks 3: At St. Louis, Calle Rosen scored his first goal of the season and had an assist for St. Louis, which halted its franchise-worst eight-game slide and dealt San Jose its fifth straight loss. The Blues had scored two goals or fewer in four games in a row.
■ Blue Jackets 5, Flyers 2: At Columbus, Ohio, Boone Jenner had two goals and Johnny Gaudreau a goal and two assists to back Joonas Korpisalo, who had 32 saves in his first win since offseason surgery, as Columbus halted a five-game slide.
■ Devils 4, Senators 3, OT: At Newark, N.J., Nico Hischier scored his second goal of the night with 33 seconds left in overtime as New Jersey (11-3-0) won its eighth straight. Shane Pinto scored twice for Ottawa in its fifth road loss in a row.
■ Rangers 8, Red Wings 2: At Detroit, Adam Fox scored the go-ahead goal and had two assists, and Mika Zibanejad scored twice for New York, which scored six unanswered goals in the third period and halted a three-game skid.
■ Hurricanes 7, Oilers 2: At Raleigh, N.C., Andrei Svechnikov scored three goals for his second hat trick against Edmonton this season, backing Pyotr Kochetkov, who stopped 20 shots in his season debut.
■ Avalanche 5, Predators 3: At Denver, Logan O’connor scored twice in a 1:25 span of Colorado’s four-goal second period, and Mikko Rantanen also scored twice for the Avs.
■ Kings 2, Blackhawks 1, OT: At Los Angeles, Kevin Fiala scored with two seconds left in overtime to back Jonathan Quick, who stopped 29 shots in Los Angeles’ third straight win.