NHL roundup: Sabres beat Penguins 3-1 in opener for both teams

Conor Sheary scored twice against his old team and Carter Hutton stopped 26 shots in the Buffalo Sabres’ 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night in Pittsburgh in the opener for both teams.

Rasmus Dahlin also scored to help Buffalo give Ralph Krueger a victory in his Sabres coaching debut. Buffalo beat Pittsburgh in regulation for the first time since April 23, 2013.

Krueger last coached in the NHL in 2012-13 when the Edmonton Oilers had 19 wins during a shortened 48-game regular season. Buffalo went 33-39-10 under Phil Housley last season.

Sheary, who played on two Stanley Cup champion teams with the Penguins, has four goals and six points in four games against his former club.

Evgeni Malkin scored on the power play for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray made 38 saves.

Bruins 2, Stars 1

DALLAS – Brett Ritchie scored on his first shift against his former team barely a minute into the game and Boston beat Dallas to open defense of its Eastern Conference title.

Danton Heinen had a power-play goal in the first period, and Tuukka Rask made 28 saves in a meeting of teams that lost Game 7s in the playoffs to Stanley Cup champion St. Louis last season – the Stars in double overtime in the second round and the Bruins in the Cup finals.

Roope Hintz scored for Dallas. Ben Bishop gave up goals on the first two Boston shots before saving the final 18.

Lightning 5, Panthers 2

TAMPA, Fla. – Reigning NHL MVP Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, Kevin Shattenkirk and Pat Maroon scored in their Tampa Bay debuts, and the Lightning opened the season with a victory over Florida.

Ondrej Palat snapped a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal midway through the third period. Maroon, who helped St. Louis win its first Stanley Cup last season, made it 4-2 before Erik Cernak added an empty-netter.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 35 shots to help Tampa Bay extend its winning streak in season openers to an NHL-best six. Mike Hoffman and Vincent Trocheck scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves in his debut for the Panthers.

Hurricanes 4, Canadiens 3

RALEIGH, N.C. – Dougie Hamilton scored in the shootout, Petr Mrazek stopped three shots in the tiebreaker and Carolina beat Montreal in the teams’ opener.

Erik Haula, making his debut with the Hurricanes, tied it at 3 with 13:05 left. Martin Necas also scored with the man advantage for a Carolina team that struggled in those situations during the postseason.

Lucas Wallmark also scored, Hamilton had two assists and Mrazek made 33 saves for the Hurricanes.

Jordan Weal, Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each scored for Montreal during a three-goal second period that erased an early 2-0 deficit, with the goals by Tatar and Kotkaniemi coming 1:04 apart. Carey Price stopped 40 shots.

Rangers 6, Jets 4

NEW YORK – Brett Howden broke a tie with 4:09 remaining and New York beat Winnipeg in a wild season opener.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and three assists, Jacob Trouba added a goal and two assists, and Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist for New York. Marc Staal also scored, and Henrik Lundqvist – making his 14th consecutive opening-day start – stopped 43 shots.

The Jets went on their fifth power play with 1:37 left, and were skating with a 6-on-4 advantage when Brendan Smith scored into the empty net with 17 seconds remaining.

Blake Wheeler had two goals, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor also scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves.

Predators 5, Wild 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Forsberg each had a goal and an assist and Nashville rallied with four third-period goals to beat Minnesota in the opener for both teams.

Mikael Granlund, Austin Watson and Viktor Arvidsson also scored goals for the Predators, and Pekka Rinne stopped 22 shots. Matt Duchene, who signed a seven-year deal with Nashville as a free agent, had three assists. Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba scored for Minnesota, and Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves.

Ducks 2, Coyotes 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Cam Fowler scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, John Gibson made 32 saves and Anaheim beat Arizona in Dallas Eakins’ debut as coach.

Fowler skated around a pair of Arizona defenders and lofted a wrist shot that beat Darcy Kuemper on his glove side with 32 seconds remaining in the second. Derek Grant also scored for the Ducks, who have won three straight season openers.