Letang’s OT goal lifts Pens past Caps
Kris Letang scored his second goal 1:20 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 7- 6 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night at home.
Letang beat goalie Braden Holtby with a slap shot from the point on a power play. Letang finished with three points, tying Hall of Famer Paul Coffey for the most by a defenseman in team history with 440.
Jake Guentzel also scored twice, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists, and Derick Brassard and Jamie Oleksiak added goals in Pittsburgh’s opener. Matt Murray made 30 saves.
T. J. Oshie scored twice for Stanley Cup champion Washington, coming off a 7- 0 home victory over Boston on Wednesday night in the Capitals’ opener. FLYERS5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2 » Wayne Simmonds scored two goals to lead Philadelphia to the season- opening road win. Oskar Lindblom, Robert Hagg and Scott Laughton also scored for the Flyers, who won their third straight season opener.
Vegas ’ Marc- Andre Fleury allowed five goals and stopped 11 of 16 shots before being replaced by Malcolm Subban with 9:49 left in the second period. Subban stopped all nine of the shots he saw. Fleury dropped to 9-5- 0 in seasonopeners.
JETS 5, BLUES 1» Patrik Laine, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had a goal and an assist, and visiting Winnipeg topped St. Louis. Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev also scored, and Mark Scheifele had a pair of assists as the Jets won their fifth season opener in six years. Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves and improved to 5-2 against St. Louis in his career. BLACKHAWKS 4, SENATORS 3, OT » Patrick Kane scored 38 seconds into overtime to push Chicago past host Ottawa in the opener for both teams. Alex DeBrincat, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook also scored, and Cam Ward stopped 22 shots. Maxime Lajoie scored for Ottawa in his NHL debut, and Colin White and Zack Smith added goals. STARS 3, COYOTES0 » Devin Shore, Alexander Radulov and John Klingberg scored less than two minutes apart in the second period, and Dallas made Jim Montgomery a winner in his NHL coaching debut. Montgomery, who played his final game with Dallas in2002, was making his debut less than two years after winning an NCAA championship at Denver. AVALANCHE 4, WILD 1 » Nathan MacKinnon had a tapin goal off a nifty pass from Mikko Rantanen, Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots, and host Colorado beat Minnesota in the opener for both teams. Carl Soderberg scored, while Rantanen and J.T. Compher added emptynet goals. BRUINS 4, SABRES 0 » Jaroslav Halak stopped 32 shots, and Boston rebounded from a season- opening shutout to beat Buffalo on the road. Brad Marchand set up all four goals, scored by captain Zdeno Chara, rookie Ryan Donato, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron on an empty-netter. PREDATORS 3, RANGERS 2 » P.K. Subban broke a tie early in the third period, and Nashville beat New York to spoil Rangers coach David Quinn’s regular-season debut. Subban fired a one-timer from beyond the inside edge of the right circle in front of the blue line at 3:28. ISLANDERS 2, HURRICANES 1, OT » Josh Bailey scored a power-play goal 43 seconds into overtime, and visiting New York opened by beating Carolina. Valtteri Filppula also scored as the Islanders began the post-John Tavares era by giving Barry Trotz a victory in his debut and spoiling Rod Brind’Amour’s first game behind the Carolina bench. Trotz took over shortly after leading Washington to its first Stanley Cup. BLUE JACKETS 3, REDWINGS 2, OT » Artemi Panarin scored midway through overtime, lifting Columbus past host Detroit. Cam Atkinson and Josh Anderson gave Columbus the lead over the first two periods. Detroit honored Henrik Zetterberg, whose career is over because of a back ailment, before the game.