Blackhawks, Toews still finding their legs in the early season

By The Associated Press

The Chicago Blackhawks were happy to come away with a road victory against the Senators in the season opener Thursday night but they know they’re going to have to be much better.

“We did a lot of good things,” captain Jonathan Toews said. “We got our feet wet. But it’s going to take a much more solid game in a lot of areas to find the two points.”

Toews had a goal and an assist in the season opener and looked like the best player on the ice much of the game.

“We’re all trying to find our legs and get used to that pace and get our timing down, myself included,” Toews said.

Devils

Stefan Noesen scored, Miles Wood had two assists, and Keith Kinkaid made 17 saves for New Jersey in its season opener, a 5-2 win against Edmonton, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was the 11th NHL game played in Sweden in the regular season, the first in Gothenburg.

Kings

Ilya Kovalchuk, 35, made his Kings debut and saw 20 minutes of ice time Saturday. Kovalchuk, a Russian who was playing in his first NHL game since 2013 after five seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, was the right winger on Los Angeles’ top line.

Blues

St. Louis revamped an already strong roster when they traded for Ryan O’Reilly and signed forwards Tyler Bozak, Patrick Maroon and David Perron as free agents. But the Jets easily beat the Blues, 5-1, Thursday.