Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves to help the visiting New York Rangers to a 6-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the season opener for both teams on Wednesday night.
It was the first shutout in an opener for a Rangers goalie since Oct. 12, 1956, when Gump Worsley stopped 31 shots in a 3-0 victory over the then-Chicago Black Hawks.
Chris Kreider scored two goals, Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and an assist and Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba had two assists apiece for the Rangers, who finished with the most points in the NHL last season (114).
Sam Carrick, Filip Chytil and Vincent Trocheck were New York’s other goal-scorers.
Tristan Jarry made 35 saves for the Penguins, who went 0-for-3 on the power play and surrendered a short-handed goal.
Jets 6, Oilers 0
Mason Appleton scored a goal and added two assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves as visiting Winnipeg rolled to a season-opening victory over Edmonton.
Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist while Rasmus Kupari, Dylan Samberg and Kyle Connor also scored for Winnipeg. Nino Niederreiter and Josh Morrissey each had two assists. Connor scored in his seventh consecutive season-opening game — an NHL record. Hellebuyck shut out the Oilers for the third time in his career.
Oilers starting goalie Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 13 shots before he was replaced by Calvin Pickard with 8:52 remaining in the second period. Pickard made eight saves in relief.
Flames 6, Canucks 5 (OT)
Connor Zary scored at 1:33 of overtime for visiting Calgary, which rallied from a pair of three-goal deficits to win against Vancouver in the season opener for both teams.
Zary weaved through the slot before sliding the puck past goalie Arturs Silovs for the winning goal. Zary, Anthony Mantha, Martin Pospisil and Rasmus Andersson each had a goal and an assist, Nazem Kadri had two assists and Dan Vladar made 20 saves for Calgary.
Brock Boeser scored two goals, J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, Quinn Hughes had two assists and Silovs made 20 saves in his 10th NHL start for the Canucks.
Canadiens 1, Maple Leafs 0
Sam Montembeault had 48 saves in his second career shutout to power Montreal past Toronto in both teams’ season opener. Cole Caufield scored the deciding goal on a first-period power play.
Montembeault’s first shutout came back on Feb. 23, 2022, in a 4-0 win over Buffalo. Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach logged assists on the winning tally.
The loss ended the Maple Leafs’ league-leading 227-game streak in the regular season without a shutout. The Maple Leafs went 0-for-4 on the power play in coach Craig Berube’s debut.
Golden Knights 8, Avalanche 4
Ivan Barbashev had two goals and two assists, Mark Stone and Victor Olofsson also scored twice and Vegas overcame a hat trick from Mikko Rantanen to beat Colorado at Las Vegas in the opener for both teams.
Jack Eichel contributed four assists, Zach Whitecloud and Brett Howden scored, Shea Theodore had three assists and Adin Hill stopped 28 shots for the Golden Knights.
Casey Mittelstadt scored the other goal for the Avalanche while Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Samuel Girard finished with two assists each for Colorado. Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev allowed five goals on 16 shots before Justus Annunen (two saves) played the third period.
–Field Level Media