ELLIS, FORSBERG RALLY PREDATORS PAST WILD 5- 2

NASHVILLE, TENN. Ryan Ellis and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and an assist and the Nashville Predators rallied with four goals in the final period and beat the Minnesota Wild 5- 2 on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

Mikael Granlund, Austin Watson and Viktor Arvidsson also scored goals for the defending Central Division champion Predators. Matt Duchene, who signed a seven- year, $ 56 million deal with Nashville as a free agent, picked up three assists.

Sabres 3, Penguins 1.

Conor Sheary scored twice against his old team and Carter Hutton stopped 26 shots in the Buffalo Sabres’ 3- 1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Rasmus Dahlin also scored to help Buffalo give Ralph Krueger a victory in his Sabres coaching debut. Buffalo beat Pittsburgh in regulation for the first time since April 23, 2013.

Lightning 5, Panthers 2.

FLA. » Reigning NHL MVP Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, Kevin Shattenkirk and Pat Maroon scored in their Tampa Bay debuts, and the Lightning opened the season with a victory over Florida.

Ondrej Palat snapped a 2- 2 tie with a power- play goal midway through the third period. Maroon made it 4- 2 before Erik Cernak added an empty- netter.

Hurricanes 4, Canadiens 3, SO.

» Dougie Hamilton scored in the shootout, Petr Mrazek stopped three shots in the tiebreaker and Carolina beat Montreal in the teams’ opener.

Erik Haula, making his debut with the Hurricanes, tied it at 3 with 13: 05 left. Martin Necas also scored with the man advantage for a Carolina team that struggled in those situations during the postseason.

Rangers 6, Jets 4.

Brett Howden broke a tie with 4: 09 remaining and New York beat Winnipeg in a wild opener.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and three assists, Jacob Trouba added a goal and two assists, and Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist for New York. Marc Staal also scored, and Henrik Lundqvist — making his 14th consecutive opening- day start — stopped 43 shots.