Bennett, Panthers hammer Islanders

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Bennett got his second career hat trick, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots and the Florida Panthers topped the New York Islanders 5-1 on Saturday night.

Jonathan Huberdeau got the 500th point of his career for Florida, while Anthony Duclair and Aleksander Barkov added goals for the Panthers.

Oliver Wahlstrom scored for the Islanders, his powerplay goal 3:30 into the third getting New York within 3-1.

RANGERS 3, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL — Alexis Lafreniere, the Montreal area kid who was the No. 1 pick overall in the 2020 NHL draft, played his first game as an NHLer in his hometown arena against the Montreal Canadiens and scored the winning goal to give the Rangers their first victory of the season.

Lafreniere tapped in his first goal of the season from a two-on-one feed by Mika Zibanejad at 9:50 of the third period, 26 seconds after Jonathan Drouin’s goal had tied it 1-1 for the Canadiens. Kevin Rooney sealed it with an empty-netter with 9.4 seconds left.

BRUINS 3, STARS 1

BOSTON — Brad Marchand scored twice, Jake DeBrusk broke a tie at 1 early in the third period and the Boston opened the season with a win over Dallas.

Marchand scored on a penalty shot in the first period and added an emptynetter with 1:37 left to play. Nick Foligno, Erik Haula and David Pastrnak each had assists and Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for the Bruins, who never trailed.