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PITTSBURGH — 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 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 won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins, has four goals and six points in four games against his former team. He scored two goals twice last season, including a March 1 home game against Pittsburgh.
Buffalo’s last game in Pittsburgh was an overtime win in November 2018 when the Sabres snapped an eight-game winless streak in Pittsburgh. The victory Thursday gave Buffalo consecutive road wins in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2012-13.
Evgeni Malkin scored on the power play for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray made 38 saves.
Hurricanes 4, Canadiens 3, SO
RALEIGH, N.C. — Dougie Hamilton scored in the shootout, Petr Mrazek stopped three shots in the tiebreaker and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens in the teams’ opener.
Erik Haula, making his debut with the Hurricanes, tied it at 3 with a power-play goal with 13:05 left in regulation. 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. They are hoping for a carryover of the late-season surge in 2018-19 that propelled them to their first playoff appearance since 2009. Carolina upset Washington and the New York Islanders before being swept out of the Eastern Conference final by Boston.
Jordan Weal, Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each scored 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 for Montreal, which has earned at least one point in six straight openers, going 4-0-2 in that stretch.
Rangers 6, Jets 4
NEW YORK — Brett Howden broke a tie with 4:09 remaining, and the New York Rangers beat the Winnipeg Jets in a wild season opener.
Mika Zibanejad had a goal and three assists, Jacob Trouba had a goal and two assists, and Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist for New York. Marc Staal also scored for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist _ making his 14th consecutive opening-day start _ stopped 43 shots.
On the go-ahead goal, Jesper Fast fired a shot from the left point that was blocked by former Ranger Neal Pionk. The puck went Howden, who scored to give New York its fourth lead of the game.
The Jets went on their fifth power play with 1:37 left, and were skating with a 6-on-4 advantage when but Brendan Smith scored into the empty net with 17 seconds remaining to seal the Rangers’ win.
Blake Wheeler had two goals, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor also scored and Nikolaj Ehlers had three assists for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck finished with 26 saves.
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 the Florida Panthers.
Last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners spoiled goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s debut for the Panthers, who are counting on the two-time Vezina Trophy winner to help transform them into a playoff team.
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 in the final minute.
The Lightning tied the NHL record with 62 wins last season, yet failed to win a single game in the playoffs, where they were swept in the first round by Bobrovsky and the Columbus Blue Jackets.