Sabres rally past Canucks for third consecutive victory
Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson scored 23 seconds apart in the third period and the unbeaten Buffalo Sabres rallied to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons each added a goal and an assist, and Craig Anderson made 32 saves. After finishing in last place for the fourth time in eight seasons, the Sabres are 3-0 for the first time since 2008 and the fifth time in franchise history.
Bo Horvat and Justin Dowling scored for the Canucks in their second straight loss. Thatcher Demko stopped 38 shots in the fourth of a six-game trip, the longest to start a season in team history.
The Canucks played without defensemen Kyle Burroughs and Quinn Hughes. Hughes, the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft, was scratched with an undisclosed injury after participating in an optional morning skate. CAPITALS 6, AVALANCHE 3 >> Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first two goals of the season, Alex Ovechkin added the 734th of his NHL career into an empty net and Washington beat visiting Colorado.
Kuznetsov has five points through three games, tied with Ovechkin for the team lead in scoring.
Nick Jensen, Anthony Mantha and Nic Dowd also scored for Washington, and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves in his season debut. Mantha’s goal was the 100th of his career.
STARS 2, PENGUINS 1, SO >> Joe Pavelski and Alexander Radulov scored in a shootout, lifting Dallas past Pittsburgh in the start of the Stars’ season-opening four-game trip.
Michael Raffl scored his second goal of the season for the Stars. Goaltender Braden Holtby turned aside 27 shots in regulation and overtime, and stopped Jake Guentzel and Kris Letang in the shootout as Dallas ended a five-game
losing streak in Pittsburgh.
John Marino scored his first goal of the season for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry finished with 28 saves.
DEVILS 4, KRAKEN 2 >> Rookie Dawson Mercer and Damon Severson scored first-period goals and Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves, leading New Jersey to a win over visiting Seattle.
The Devils won their second straight to start the season. Seattle slipped to 1-3-1 on its five-game road trip ahead of its much-anticipated home opener against Vancouver on Saturday night.
Jimmy Vesey added a goal and Pavel Zacha scored into an empty net with 20 second left to seal the win. PANTHERS 4, LIGHTNING 1 >> Aleksander Barkov scored the go-ahead goal 3:40 into the third period and Florida won its third straight game.
Barkov slammed a loose puck in the crease past Andrei Vasilevskiy for his second of the season. It came 1:04 after the host Lightning tied it 1-all on Brayden Point’s goal.