In brief: Tomas Plekanec lifts Canadiens past Maple Leafs
NHL: Tomas Plekanec banked a shot off Toronto defenseman Stuart Percy’s skate with 43 seconds left to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the host Maple Leafs on Wednesday night in the season opener.
Plekanec scored his second goal of the game after Morgan Rielly tied it for Toronto with 2:19 to play.
P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty also scored for Montreal and Carey Price made 24 saves.
• Sharks spoil Kings’ party: Tommy Wingels scored two goals, Antti Niemi made 34 saves in his 28th career shutout, and the San Jose Sharks crashed the host Los Angeles Kings’ Stanley Cup banner celebration with a 4-0 victory.
The Kings raised their championship banner to the Staples Center rafters in a pregame ceremony commemorating their 26-game playoff run to their second title in three years. Los Angeles started that charge with a seven-game, first-round victory over the Sharks, who extracted a bit of belated revenge.
• Bruins put away Flyers: Chris Kelly scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:51 left in the third period, and Tuukka Rask made 21 saves to lead the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 home victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
It was 1-all when Mason deflected Adam McQuaid’s slap shot from the blue line into the air. It came down in the crease, and Kelly swiped it in while Boston’s Loui Eriksson also had a shot at it.
• Canucks down Flames: Ryan Miller made 23 saves to win his Vancouver debut and the Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 4-2 in Calgary, Alberta, giving new coach Willie Desjardins a victory in his first game at the helm.
Zack Kassian scored for Vancouver to snap a 1-all tie early in the second period.
• Chicago loses Versteeg: Blackhawks forward Kris Versteeg will be sidelined for about three weeks after he left practice on Tuesday with a lower-body injury.
Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said Versteeg’s injury “is not a surgical case,” and he doesn’t think the winger will be placed on long-term injured reserve.
• Blue Jackets’ Dubinsky sidelined: Columbus will be without center Brandon Dubinsky for the next six weeks after he underwent abdominal surgery.
Columbus center Ryan Johansen returned to the ice for the Blue Jackets after missing most of training camp during a contract holdout.
Federer wins thriller over Mayer
TENNIS: Roger Federer saved five match points and rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the third-set tiebreaker before finally beating Leonardo Mayer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7) in a thrilling second-round match at the Shanghai Masters.
Rafael Nadal lost to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (6) only days after appendicitis left him bedridden and uncertain if he’d be able to compete.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic also moved into the third round with wins.
Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka were among a number of seeds to be knocked out.
• Keys defeats Doi: American teenager Madison Keys reached the quarterfinals of the Japan Women’s Open with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Misaki Doi in Osaka, Japan.
The second-seeded Keys was broken twice in the second set but still managed to win. Keys will next face Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand.
U.S. wins gold medal at worlds
MISCELLANY: World all-around champion Simone Biles led the United States to the gold medal in the women’s team event at the gymnastics world championships in Nanning, China.
The U.S. finished with a total of 179.280 points to defend the title it won at the 2011 worlds in Tokyo. Host China was second with 172.587.
• Alba Berlin beats Spurs: Jamel McLean made a running bank shot as time expired to give Alba Berlin a 94-93 exhibition victory over the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs in Berlin.
McLean, the American forward who played at Tulsa and Xavier, had 18 points for eight-time German champion Alba.
• Izzo has surgery: Michigan State said men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo had successful hernia surgery. The Spartans open the regular season Nov. 14 at Navy, kicking off Izzo’s 20th season as the head coach.
• Tubman makes plea: Kentucky freshman defensive lineman Lloyd Tubman pleaded not guilty to first-degree rape and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing later this month.
Tubman was arrested Tuesday for the Oct. 2 incident involving a female student in a campus dormitory. His preliminary hearing will be Oct. 23. First-degree rape is a felony in Kentucky and Tubman faces up 20 years in prison.