Knights top Caps on Schmidt’s late goals
Nate Schmidt scored twice in the final two minutes to lift the host Vegas Golden Knights over Washington 5-3 on Tuesday night.
It was the first time the Capitals skated at T-Mobile Arena since winning and hoisting the Stanley Cup in June.
Schmidt burst through the neutral zone and beat goalie Braden Holtby with a tie-breaking wrist shot with 1:24 left for his first goal of the season. The former Washington defenseman added an empty-netter moments later.
Ryan Reaves, Pierre Edouard-Bellemare and Cody Eakin also scored for the Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves.
Jakub Vrana had two goals and Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington. Holtby also stopped 23 shots.
Reaves and Washington’s oft-suspended Tom Wilson renewed their fierce rivalry, with several brutal hits, including a vicious shoulder-toshoulder connection that ended Wilson’s night in the second period. After trading shots and verbal jabs throughout the first two periods, Reaves leveled Wilson, who was helped from the ice. Reaves was ejected and given a game misconduct penalty
Coyotes 2, Kings 1: Nick Schmaltz had a power-play goal, Adin Hill made 25 saves for his fourth straight win and Arizona beat host Los Angeles.
Wild 3, Canucks 2: Jason Zucker broke a tie late in the second period and visiting Minnesota scored on all three of its power plays, beating staggering Vancouver to stop a three-game slide. Ryan Suter and Zach Parise also scored for Minnesota. Josh Leivo scored on his first shot in a Canucks uniform. Tyler Motte also had a goal for Vancouver, which has lost 12 of 13.
Lightning 6, Red Wings 5: Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Victor Hedman scored in a shootout to give visiting Tampa Bay a comeback victory over Detroit. The Lightning, who have won seven of eight, erased a 5-3 deficit in the third period and overcame Frans Nielsen’s hat trick.
Maple Leafs 4, Sabres 3: Auston Matthews scored his second goal with three seconds on the clock in overtime, and visiting Toronto matched its best start in 84 years with a win over Buffalo. The Maple Leafs won their fifth straight game and improved to 20-8, the fastest to 20 wins since they opened the 1934-35 season at 20-6-2.
Panthers 5, Bruins 0: Roberto Luongo made 33 saves in his 77th career shutout, Mike Hoffman scored twice and host Florida beat Boston. Luongo passed Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito for sole possession of ninth place on the NHL’s all-time shutout list.
Penguins 6, Avalanche 3: Patric Hornqvist’s natural hat trick in the third period powered host Pittsburgh past Colorado. His power-play goal 6:11 into the final period gave the Penguins the lead. Hornqvist beat Semyon Varlamov again just 1:21 later, and he completed the hat trick when he fired a wrist shot by Varlamov less than 90 seconds later.
Jets 3, Islanders 1: Jacob Trouba and Adam Lowry scored 22 seconds apart early in the third period, rallying visiting Winnipeg to a victory over New York. Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-net goal with 2.1 seconds left as Winnipeg won for the fifth time in six games. The Jets have three straight road wins for the first time this season.
Flames 9, Blue Jackets 6: Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and two assists, and visiting Calgary scored five goals in the second period to rally past Columbus. Cam Atkinson netted a hat trick for Columbus to extend his point streak to 11 games.
Canadiens 5, Senators 2: Max Domi had two goals and an assist and Jonathan Drouin added a goal and two assists as host Montreal defeated Ottawa. Artturi Lehkonen and Brendan Gallagher also scored for the Canadiens, who entered the game with one win in their past seven. Mark Stone and Dylan DeMelo scored for the Senators.