Senators down Maple Leafs in first game in 10 months
OTTAWA
Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Matt Murray made 20 saves in his Ottawa debut, and the Senators defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Friday in their first game in more than 10 months.
Thomas Chabot, Austin Watson, Derek Stepan and Chris Tierney also scored for Ottawa. Josh Norris, with his first NHL points, Drake Batherson and Nikita Zaitsev added two assists each in the first of nine meetings between the Ontario rivals in the pandemic shortened season.
John Tavares, with a goal and an assist, Zach Hyman and Alexander Kerfoot replied for the Leafs. Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots for Toronto, which will look to rebound when the teams play the rematch Saturday back inside an empty Canadian Tire Centre because of COVID-19 restrictions.
FLYERS 5, PENGUINS 2
PHILADELPHIA — Travis Konecny had a hat trick and Philadelphia survived losing team MVP Sean Couturier to an injury in a victory over Pittsburgh.
Ivan Provorov and Oskar Lindblom also scored to help the Flyers sweep the season-opening series. Philadelphia beat
Pittsburgh 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Couturier became the first Flyers player in 33 years to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward. He was plowed into the boards and may have hurt his left shoulder. He left after just two shifts and 45 seconds. He scored 22 goals last season and was voted team MVP.
Sidney Crosby and Brandon Tanev scored for Pittsburgh.
LIGHTNING 5, BLACKHAWKS 2
TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist each and defending champion Tampa Bay completed a twogame sweep of Chicago.
Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman also each had a goal and an assist, Alex Killorn also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 34 shots for Tampa Bay. The Lightning won the opener 5-1 on Wednesday night and are 16-1-2 against the Blackhawks since the 2010-11 season.
Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane scored for Chicago.
CAPITALS 2, SABRES 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Vitek Vanecek made 30 saves in his NHL debut, Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist and Washington beat Buffalo to sweep the season-opening series.
Jakub Vrana scored his second goal of the season for the Capitals, 6-4 winners over the Sabres on Thursday night. Rasmus Ristolainen scored for Buffalo, and Linus Ullmark stopped 19 shots.
Wilson gave Washington the lead for good midway through the third period. Nicklas Backstrom dropped the puck off in the right circle for Wilson for a wrist shot over Ullmark’s glove.