Panthers cruise past Isles

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 power-play goal 3:30 into the third getting New York within 3-1.

But Bennett got his third of the night midway through the final period, then Barkov made it 5-1 with his first of the season.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots for the Islanders, who have been outscored 11-4 this season and failed to get a point out of their first two games for only the second time in the last 15 years. It also happened in 2016-17.

Florida is off to a 2-0-0 start for just the seventh time in the franchise’s 28 seasons.

BRUINS 3, STARS 1

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

Marchand scored on a penalty shot in the first period and added an empty-netter 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.

Luke Glendening scored for Dallas and

Braden Holtby kept the Stars close with 37 saves. Boston had the first nine shots of the game and finished with a 40-28 advantage, keeping the Stars close despite the volume of shots coming his way.

DeBrusk put Boston up 2-1 on a goal 4:43 into the third period, grabbing the puck in front of the crease after Nick Foligno lost control and poking it past Holtby.

Dallas didn’t get a shot on net until 4:02 remained in the first, when Swayman easily handled a wrist shot by Jamie Benn to preserve the scoreless tie. Less than two minutes later, Marchand swooped in for a turnover just outside the Dallas zone and skated in on Holtby, drawing a penalty shot when Ryan Suter grabbed his stick.

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 Canadiens. How did it play out for the 20-year-old St. Eustache, Quebec native? He scored the winning goal, that’s all, 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.

The victory improved the Rangers’ record to 1-1-1 as they started a four-game road trip that will continue with a game Monday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.