Hat trick by Matthews sparks Leafs in opener
TORONTO — Auston Matthews scored two late goals to cap a hat trick for Toronto, and Mitch Marner had the lone shootout goal in the Maple Leafs’ 6-5 victory over Montreal on Wednesday in the teams’ season opener.
After Toronto fought back from 2-0 and 5-3 deficits, Marner moved in on Jake Allen and fired upstairs on the Maple Leafs’ third attempt. Ilya Samsonov then stopped Kirby Dach at the other end to seal it.
Matthews scored his 300th, 301st and 302nd goals for his eighth hat trick. William Nylander, with a goal and an assist, and Noah Gregor also scored in regulation for Toronto. Samsonov made 19 saves.
John Tavares had three assists for the Maple Leafs, while John Klingberg — in his first game with Toronto — chipped in with two.
Alex Newhook scored twice for the Canadiens. Cole Caufield, Jake Evans and Jesse Ylonen also scored for Montreal, Allen stopped 37 shots, and Dach had two assists.
Trailing 3-2 early in the third period after conceding that twogoal edge, the Canadiens got even at 4:25 on a power play when Caufield’s shot went into the net off defenseman T.J. Brodie’s stick.
Montreal took the lead 1:22 later when Newhook, acquired from Colorado in June, tipped a point shot past Samsonov moments after the goalie robbed Dach.
■ Bruins 3, Blackhawks 1: At Boston, David Pastrnak scored to break a second-period tie and added an empty-net goal, and Boston won its season opener a year after setting NHL records for wins and points but then losing in the first round of the playoffs.
Rookie phenom Connor Bedard scored his first NHL goal on a wraparound that beat goaltender Linus Ullmark and put Chicago up 1-0 at 5:37 of the first period.
Matthew Poitras, the Bruins’ top rookie, assisted on Trent Frederic’s tying goal at 11:22 of the first. Ullmark had 20 saves.
Arvid Soderblom stopped 32 shots for the Blackhawks, who beat Pittsburgh on Tuesday, with Bedard registering an assist for his first point.
■ Hurricanes 5, Senators 3: At Raleigh, N.C., defensemen Brady Skjei and Jaccob Slavin scored third-period goals to rally Carolina, which held a 42-30 edge in shots in both teams’ opener. Parker Kelly and Tim Stutzle scored 35 seconds apart earlier in the third for Ottawa to forge a 3-all tie.
■ Avalanche 5, Kings 2: At Los Angeles, Mikko Rantanen had two goals and two assists to back Alexandar Georgiev, who stopped 35 shots in both teams’ opener. Nathan Mackinnon had a goal and two assists. Los Angeles had a 3735 edge in shots.
■ Canucks 8, Oilers 1: At Vancouver, British Columbia, Brock Boeser scored four goals, capping his hat trick 7:30 into the second period, and J.T. Miller had a goal and four assists in both teams’ opener. Elias Pettersson had a goal and three assists.
■ Flames 5, Jets 3: At Calgary, Alberta, Elias Lindholm scored the go-ahead goal with 1:32 left and had two assists for Calgary, which was outshot 37-22 in both teams’ opener. Jacob Markstrom had 34 saves for the Flames.