Los Angeles blew a two-goal, third-period lead, but Adrian Kempe’s (26) second goal of the night with 11:57 left in regulation broke a tie, and the visiting Kings held on for a 7-6 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
After trailing 3-0 in the first and 6-4 after two, Minnesota got a third power-play goal courtesy of Mats Zuccarello (who also had two assists) just 5:56 into the third and a goal from Sam Steel less than two minutes later. However, Kempe’s third goal in three games came 31 seconds later to put the Kings back on top.
Kempe also had an assist, while former Wild forward Kevin Fiala recorded a goal with two assists and Anze Kopitar added three assists for the Kings, who managed a total of four goals in losing their first two games.
After allowing every goal in Minnesota’s opening 7-3 home loss to the New York Rangers, Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled for giving up four of the 14 shots he faced in the first period. Filip Gustavsson then stopped 17 of 20 shots in his Wild debut.
Blues 5, Blue Jackets 2
Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice as St. Louis opened its season with a victory over visiting Columbus.
Pavel Buchnevich, Ivan Barbashev and Jake Neighbours also scored for the Blues and goaltender Jordan Binnington made 23 saves.
Gustav Nyquist and Sean Kuraly scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost three consecutive games to start their season. Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made 20 saves in his first start of the season after recovering from illness.
Islanders 7, Ducks 1
Defensemen Scott Mayfield and Robin Salo scored two goals each for New York in a win against visiting Anaheim in Elmont, N.Y.
Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom each had a goal and an assist, Anders Lee contributed three assists, and Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves for New York, which was coming off a 3-1 loss to the visiting Florida Panthers in its season opener on Thursday.
Troy Terry scored his third goal in two games for the Ducks in the opener of their five-game road trip. Anaheim goalie John Gibson allowed five goals on 27 shots through two periods before he was replaced by Anthony Stolarz, who finished with nine saves.
Bruins 6, Coyotes 3
A.J. Greer logged two goals and an assist while Derek Forbort scored the go-ahead goal to lift Boston over visiting Arizona.
The Bruins scored twice in the first period and three times in the third en route to their second straight win under new head coach Jim Montgomery. Charlie Coyle, Nick Foligno and Pavel Zacha each had a goal and an assist for Boston. Jeremy Swayman made 21 saves to win his first start of the season.
Clayton Keller, Josh Brown and Shayne Gostisbehere scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 37 stops for the Coyotes, who have lost their first two games.
Flyers 3, Canucks 2
Travis Konecny’s late third-period goal propelled Philadelphia past visiting Vancouver.
Konecny picked up a tight rebound and made no mistake with just over six minutes to go in the final frame, completing a Flyers comeback after they entered the second period in a 2-0 hole. Tony DeAngelo and Scott Laughton also scored for Philadelphia. The win gives the Flyers a 2-0 start under new head coach John Tortorella
The Canucks got the scoring started early on a Kyle Burroughs tally just 1:34 into the contest. Later in the first, Canucks winger Conor Garland slipped a wrister past the blocker of Flyers netminder Carter Hart (28 saves) for a two-goal lead. Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko had 28 saves in a losing effort.
Capitals 3, Canadiens 1
T.J. Oshie collected a goal and an assist as host Washington scored three times in the second period en route to a victory over Montreal.
Fourth-liner Conor Sheary and Anthony Mantha also scored a goal apiece and Darcy Kuemper finished with 21 saves for the Capitals, who improved to 11-4-1 in their last 16 encounters with Montreal. Washington also avoided losing its first three games of a season for the first time since 2012-13.
Captain Nick Suzuki scored early in the second period and Sam Montembeault turned aside 26 shots for the Canadiens, who have lost two in a row following a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the season opener. Montreal also failed to convert all three power-play opportunities to drop to 0-for-10 with the man advantage this season.
Panthers 4, Sabres 3
Aaron Ekblad scored the go-ahead goal on a second-period power play as Florida defeated host Buffalo.
Florida also got goals from Colin White, Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Montour as the game ended with a skirmish as several Sabres went after Tkachuk. In a battle of backup goalies making their first starts of the season, Spencer Knight made 24 saves to earn the win.
Buffalo got goals from Alex Tuch, Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Dahlin. Sabers goalie Eric Comrie took the loss, making 33 saves.
Maple Leafs 3, Senators 2
Justin Holl scored the go-ahead goal at 18:05 of the third period as Toronto defeated visiting Ottawa.
David Kampf and William Nylander also scored for the Maple Leafs, who have won two straight after losing their season opener. Shane Pinto and Claude Giroux scored for the Senators, who have lost their first two games.
Toronto goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves. Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg stopped 29 shots.
Penguins 6, Lightning 2
Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists to lead Pittsburgh past visiting Tampa Bay.
It was Crosby’s second three-point night in as many games. Jake Guentzel and Jeff Carter each had a goal and assist, and Danton Heinen, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell also scored for the Penguins. Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 34 saves.
Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning. Tampa Bay goaltender Brian Elliott stopped 39 shots.
