Kucherov, Point shine for Lightning
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists and Brayden Point added two goals and one assist in his season debut as the Lightning beat the Maple Leafs 73 in Toronto on Thursday.
Steven Stamkos had a goal and three assists and Ondrej Palat also scored for Tampa Bay.
Anthony Cirelli had three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves as the Lightning snapped a twogame slide.
Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist, and John Tavares and Andreas Johnsson also scored for Toronto.
Frederik Andersen allowed seven goals on 28 shots before being replaced by Michael Hutchinson seven minutes into the third period. Hutchinson had five saves.
The teams combined for seven goals and 27 shots in a wild opening 20 minutes, but the Lightning took charge from there by scoring the game’s final three goals over the final two periods.
“After that crazy first period we really settled down and we defended really well,” Stamkos said. “If we can play like we did tonight, you can see what happened.” Predators 6, Capitals 5: Mattias Ekholm scored the decisive goal with 4:40 remaining and Ryan Johansen scored twice for host Nashville.
Alex Ovechkin had two goals for Washington. Flames 3, Stars 2: Johnny Gaudreau scored the decisive goal in the shootout for visiting Calgary, which had erased a 20 deficit in the third period on goals by Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin.
Flames goalie David Rittich had 34 saves, including the stop of a penalty shot awarded to Alexander Radulov with 21 seconds remaining in overtime. Red Wings 4, Canadiens 2: Anthony Mantha scored his sixth goal of the season and Detroit spoiled Montreal’s home opener by winning for the third time in four games. Penguins 2, Ducks 1: Jake Guentzel scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period for host Pittsburgh, which dealt Anaheim its first loss in four games this season. Oilers 4, Devils 3: Leon Draisaitl scored the only goal in the shootout and Edmonton improved to 40 by beating host New Jersey. Blues 6, Senators 4: David Perron’s second goal of the game proved to be the winner for visiting St. Louis. Jets 5, Wild 2: Patrik Laine scored twice and added two assists as Winnipeg won its home opener. Avalanche 4, Bruins 2: Andre Burakovsky scored the goahead goal with 7:06 remaining and Boston saw two goals disallowed after video reviews as host Colorado handed the Bruins their first loss. Coyotes 4, Golden Knights 1: Conor Garland scored twice, Nick Schmaltz and Niklas Hjalmarsson scored and host Arizona beat Vegas. Injury report: Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook is scheduled for abdominal surgery Friday, a procedure that is expected to sideline him for at least six weeks.