WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin assisted on goals by Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas, Logan Thompson made 24 saves against his former team and the Washington Capitals ended the Vegas Golden Knights’ season-opening winning streak at three with a 4-2 victory on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin, who is chasing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record, became the 60th player in league history to record 700 assists. He has three assists through Washington’s first two games of the season and remains 42 away from breaking Gretzky’s mark.
Jakub Vrana scored on his first shot in his return to the Capitals, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2018 when they beat Vegas in the final. Vrana made the team after attending camp on a tryout.
Jakob Chychrun also scored his first since joining Washington in a summer trade from Ottawa. Thompson, another one of a handful of newcomers from an offseason of change, beat the Golden Knights after they traded him rather than give him a bigger role.
Adin Hill, the goalie who backstopped Vegas to the Cup in ’23, allowed four goals on 22 shots. Victor Olofsson and Jack Eichel scored for the Knights.
HURRICANES 4, DEVILS 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Rookie Jackson Blake scored his first NHL goal and Pyotr Kochetkov made 23 saves in his season debut as Carolina beat New Jersey.
Seth Jarvis, Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho also scored for the Hurricanes, who played their second game of the season after an opening loss to Tampa Bay on Friday.
Jake Hughes and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils, who had a two-game winning streak halted. Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots.
Blake, a 21-year-old out of the University of North Dakota who was drafted 109th overall by Carolina in 2021, redirected a shot from Dmitry Orlov at 10:16 of the third period to extend the Hurricanes’ lead to 3-1.
Hughes scored on a shot through Kochetkov’s legs 1:16 into the second period to give the Devils a 1-0 lead, and was the 10th goal scorer for New Jersey this season.
LIGHTNING 4, CANUCKS 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored his fourth goal of the season, and Tampa Bay defeated Vancouver in their hurricane-delayed home opener.
Kucherov had a hat trick the last time the Lightning took the ice, and he was the one to open the scoring against the Canucks off of a feed from Darren Raddysh 3:55 into the game.
The Lightning were scheduled to open the home season Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, but the game was postponed due to the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist in the win, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves in net.
Conor Garland scored Vancouver’s only goal on a power play in the third period. Arturs Silovs stopped 24 shots for the Canucks.
PANTHERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Sam Reinhart had a goal and two assists, Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist, Spencer Knight made 35 stops and Florida beat Columbus, spoiling their home opener steeped in tributes to Johnny Gaudreau.
Dmitry Kulikov and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers (3-2-0), who won their second straight game
Cole Sillinger had the first short-handed goal of his career, Sean Monahan and James van Riemsdyk also scored and Elvis Merzlikins made 18 saves for Columbus (1-2-0).
Pregame ceremonies were dedicated to Gaudreau’s life and career as members of his family watched from a box. A banner was raised to the rafters in Nationwide Arena in Gaudreau’s memory while his wife, Meredith, and two children stood on the ice among his former teammates to witness it.
The 31-year-old Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were killed Aug. 29 when police said they were struck by a suspected drunken driver while they were riding their bicycles.
The Blue Jackets were first on the board 41 seconds into the second period, with Sillinger breaking away for a goal he lifted over Knight’s shoulder off a backhand flip pass from Kent Johnson.
WILD 4, BLUES 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves and scored an empty-net goal as Minnesota snapped a two-game losing streak with a win over St. Louis.
Ryan Hartman scored a power-play goal in the first period and Jakub Lauko scored a short-handed goal in the second for the Wild. Marco Rossi added a third-period goal. Kirill Kaprizov had two assists.
Mathieu Joseph, acquired in an offseason trade with Ottawa, scored his first goal as a Blue midway through the third period. Jordan Binnington made 23 saves for St. Louis, who had won their last four home openers.
KRAKEN 7, PREDATORS 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jaden Schwartz, Jared McCann and Adam Larsson each had a goal and an assist to lead Seattle to a victory over Nashville.
Brandon Tanev, Ryker Evans and Jordan Eberle also scored, and Chandler Stephenson added two assists for Seattle. Joey Daccord made 31 saves.
Seattle broke open a tied game early in the third period when Schwartz and Eberle scored 1:21 apart. The Kraken went on to score four unanswered goals in the period.
Michael McCarron, Tommy Novak and Brady Skjei scored and Juuse Saros made 29 saves for the Predators, who dropped their third straight game to open the season.
McCarron and Novak scored in a 2:13 span in the first period to rally Nashville from a two-goal deficit.
STARS 3, SHARKS 2, SO
DALLAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston made Dallas’ third consecutive shot in a shootout, and the Stars remained undefeated with a win over San Jose.
The shot by Johnston ended the game since Jake Oettinger had stopped San Jose’s first shootout attempt. Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene also made their shots for Dallas (4-0) in the shootout.
Oettinger had 25 saves in regulation and overtime. Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 36 of the Stars’ season-high 38 shots.
Tyler Toffoli and Ty Dellandrea had go-ahead goals for San Jose (0-1-2) in the second period, when all the goals were scored. Duchene and Roope Hintz scored for the Stars, who hadn’t trailed while winning each of their first three games in regulation.
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