Palmieri, Zajac help Devils beat Oilers in Sweden

GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac and the New Jersey Devils left the Edmonton Oilers behind in their season-opener, showing the form that help them return to the playoffs last season.

Palmieri and Zajac scored two goals each to lead the Devils to a 5-2 victory Saturday night in the NHL Global Series game at Scandinavium.

“We feel like we have a good group, we have a strong culture,” New Jersey coach John Hynes said. “We like we have an identity of how we want to play, the types of players we want, how we want to be off the ice. Those are really the things that matter. We want be a tough team to play against.”

Stefan Noesen also scored, Miles Wood had two assists, and Keith Kinkaid made 17 saves.

SABRES 3, RANGERS 1: Conor Sheary scored two goals and Carter Hutton made 43 saves as Buffalo got its first victory of the season.

Captain Jack Eichel added an empty-net goal in the final seconds for Buffalo. After being booed by their home fans in a shutout loss to Boston in Thursday’s opener, the Sabres (1-1-0) snapped a six-game losing streak at KeyBank Center dating to last season.

Brett Howden scored off a rebound with 4:39 remaining in the game for the Rangers, who started a two-game trip by falling to 0-2 under first-year coach David Quinn.

Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves for New York. The Rangers outshot the Sabres in all three periods and finished with a 44-29 advantage in shots on goal.

PREDATORS 4, ISLANDERS 3: Viktor Arvidsson scored twice and Nashville held on to spoil New York’s home opener.

Mattias Ekholm and Craig Smith also scored for Nashville, and P.K. Subban had two assists. Juuse Saros, starting in place of reigning Vezina Trophy winner Pekka Rinne, finished with 26 saves to help the Predators win their second straight to start the season.

Mathew Barzal had a goal and an assisst, and Valtteri Filppula and Anders Lee also scored for the Islanders, who were trying to get new coach Barry Trotz a win in his home debut. Josh Bailey had two assists and Thomas Greiss stopped 19 shots.

Trotz led Washington to the Stanley Cup championship in June before leaving in a contract dispute.

He was then hired as coach of the Islanders to replace the fired Doug Weight after New York missed the playoffs for the eighth time in 11 seasons. The Islanders opened the season with a victory in Trotz’s debut, 2-1 in overtime at Carolina on Thursday night.