NYI 1 Devils 2
Devils goalie Martin Brodeur stopped a penalty shot and finished with 25 saves and the Devils spoiled Scott Gordon's NHL coaching debut with a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night. With his season opening win, Brodeur, 36 now has 539 wins in his career, 12 shy of the NHL mark held by Patrick Roy.
Chi 2 NYR 4
Fresh off last weekend's season-opening sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Czech Republic, the Rangers showed no signs of jet lag in winning their home opener and starting 3-0 for the first time since 1989. Brandon Dubinsky scored once and added two assists, and newcomers Wade Redden, Aaron Voros and Nikolai Zherdev chipped in with goals, too, leading the Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the vastly improved Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
Fla 4 Car 6
Joni Pitkanen and Dan LaCouture found the perfect way to fit in with their new Carolina teammates: Lead them to a season-opening victory over the team that kept them out of the playoffs. Both of the Hurricanes' newcomers scored in their debut Friday night, and Carolina beat the Florida Panthers 6-4 in the opener for both teams.
Rod Brind'Amour, Tuomu Ruutu and Ray Whitney also scored, Matt Cullen added an empty-net goal, Tim Gleason had three assists and Frantisek Kaberle had two to help Carolina rally from an early two-goal deficit.
Mtl 1 Buf 2 SO
Ales Kotalik has become so good at scoring shootout goals that the Sabres' forward is getting tired talking about them. What mattered more is that he contributed in helping the Sabres open this season by accomplishing something they struggled with all last season - winning a close game.
Kotalik and Drew Stafford scored on consecutive shootout chances in a 2-1 win on Friday night that spoiled the Montreal Canadiens' start to their 100th season. Ryan Miller made 27 saves after allowing Robert Lang to open the scoring on the Canadiens' first shot on net. Add it up and the Sabres began easing the memories of the dreadful collapses and 14-18 record in one-goal games that contributed to costing the team a playoff berth last year.
The Canadiens managed a point, but lacked finish for a team that won the Eastern Conference regular-season title last season. And so much for opening their centennial season with a victory.
Was 4 Atl 7
Thrashers Bryan Little scored two goals, including the go-ahead goal in the third period, as the Thrashers beat the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Friday night. The Caps new goalie Jose Theodore didn't even make it through the 2nd period in his debut with the team, giving up four goals before he was pulled. However, Mike Green scored two goals on one power play in the second period as the Capitals rallied from deficits of 3-1 and 4-2 for a 4-4 tie. The tie held until the Thrashers scored two goals in a span of 29 seconds in the third period.
The 20-year-old Little, who scored one of the three first-period goals against Theodore, gave Atlanta a 5-4 lead with a shot from the right circle with 6:03 left in regulation. Colby Armstrong also beat Washington backup goalie Brent Johnson with another shot from the right circle. Todd White scored on a pass from Ilya Kovalchuk later in the period.
The Thrashers won their opener one year after starting 0-6 last year, which led to a last-place finish in the Southeast Division. Who hasn't been mentioned? Oh yeah, Caps star Alex Ovechkin was held without a point on six shots.
Nas 2 StL 5
Keith Tkachuk scored two of St. Louis' four goals with the man advantage in a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night. 35-year-old Tkachuk was honored during a first-period stoppage for scoring his 500th career goal in the finale last season and his 27th overall.
Brad Boyes and David Backes also scored power-play goals for the Blues, who won their season opener for the first time since 1996 and ended a five-game losing streak against Nashville. St. Louis, last in the NHL with a 14.1-percent success rate last season while finishing 14th in the Western Conference, was 4-for-6 overall on the power play.
Ryan Suter and Joel Ward scored for the Predators, who play their home opener on Saturday against the Stars. Lee Stempniak, Paul Kariya, Andy McDonald and David Perron, one of three Blues players age 20 or younger, added two assists apiece. The Blues had been winless in the previous 10 openers, including two overtime losses, since opening with a victory over the Avalanche in 1996.
CBJ 5 Dal 4 OT
There were plenty of newcomers on the ice for the Columbus Blue Jackets. In the end, though, the franchise scoring leader came through again. Rick Nash scored his 25th game-winning goal, making a shot from the slot on a pass from Jason Chimera with 20 seconds left in overtime, to give the Blue Jackets a 5-4 season-opening victory over the Dallas Stars on Friday night.
The Blue Jackets recovered from twice blowing the lead to win against the Stars for only the second time in their last 19 meetings. Columbus, which led 1-0 after 19-year-old Jakub Voracek scored in the first period of his NHL debut, regained the lead by scoring three goals in less than a 5-minute span of the third period. But Dallas then scored twice in 33 seconds to tie the game and force overtime.
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