Home CANADA Call of the Wilde: Montreal Canadiens beat Toronto Maple Leafs in a...

Call of the Wilde: Montreal Canadiens beat Toronto Maple Leafs in a wild one – Montreal

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Face  of  Nation  : Paul Byron scored the only goal in a shootout, and the visiting Montreal Canadiens came back from three goals down to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-5, on Saturday night. Auston Matthews tied the game at 5 on his second goal of the game — and fifth of the season — at 18:45 of the third with Toronto’s goaltender off for an extra attacker.

The goal not only gave Montreal its first win of the season but completed a wild third period and overtime. After William Nylander scored 5:16 into the third to give the Leafs a 4-1 lead, Montreal scored four straight goals, with Phillip Danault’s tally giving Montreal a 5-4 lead at 15:20.

Auston Matthews tied the game at 5 on his second goal of the game — and fifth of the season — at 18:45 of the third with Toronto’s goaltender off for an extra attacker. The Maple Leafs survived a Canadiens power play during overtime, forcing the shootout.

Rangers 4, Senators 1

Mika Zibanejad recorded a hat trick just 32:07 into the game, and New York spoiled Ottawa’s home opener. The ex-Senator Zibanejad had goals of the power-play, even-strength and short-handed variety, the last with 7:53 left in the second period, and also added an assist. According to Rangers stats and information, Zibanejad became the first Rangers player since Derek Stepan in 2014 to score in those three ways.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, Pavel Buchnevich recorded three assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves for the Rangers, who improved to 2-0-0 for the first time since 2015-16. They also snapped a five-game skid at Ottawa.

Hurricanes 3, Capitals 2 (OT)

Jake Gardiner scored with 56 seconds left in overtime to give visiting Carolina a come-from-behind victory over Washington. Gardiner came in on a two-on-one after Andrei Svechnikov pushed the puck forward to him. The defenseman raced up the left wing and beat goalie Braden Holtby with a short-side shot.

The Hurricanes erased a 2-0 deficit to earn two points. The game marked the Capitals’ home opener and a rematch of the first round of last year’s playoffs, when Carolina upset the then-defending champions in seven games.

Bruins 1, Coyotes 0

Brad Marchand’s goal late in the first period stood as the winner as Boston defeated Arizona in its home opener in Glendale, Ariz. Marchand, coming off of four straight 30-goal campaigns, tallied his first of the season at 18:41 of the first, when Patrice Bergeron fed him with a backhand pass off the boards.

The Bruins have wins in the first two games of a four-game Western Conference road trip to open the season. They got 35 saves from Jaroslav Halak in net, two days after Tuukka Rask stopped 28 Dallas Stars shots in a 2-1 win.

Avalanche 4, Wild 2

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and Gabriel Landeskog and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored as Colorado beat Minnesota in Denver. Ryan Graves scored his first goal, Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves for the Avalanche, who have won eight straight regular-season home games dating back to last season.

Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist, and Zach Parise scored the other goal for Minnesota. The Wild have dropped the first two games of the season, both on the road. Devan Dubnyk, who played in his 300th game for the Wild, stopped 28 shots.

Panthers 4, Lightning 3

Mike Hoffman produced a hat trick as host Florida defeated Tampa Bay to win its home opener in Sunrise, Fla., and also answer the Lightning’s home win in both teams’ season opener on Thursday.

Hoffman, who is in the final season of his contract, already has four goals in two games. His first two were power-play wrist shots from the right circle — both on passes from Jonathan Huberdeau. Hoffman’s third goal came on his deflection of an Aaron Ekblad shot just 17 seconds into the third period. Noel Acciari scored his first goal in a Panthers sweater. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves to earn his first win with the Panthers.

Penguins 7, Blue Jackets 2

Jared McCann had two goals and an assist, and Patric Hornqvist also scored twice as host Pittsburgh ripped Columbus. Marcus Pettersson, Kris Letang and Teddy Blueger added goals, and Alex Galchenyuk and Sidney Crosby had two assists each for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray made 28 saves.

Zach Werenski and Gustav Nyquist scored for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins, making his NHL debut after playing in the Swiss League, stopped 33 of 40 Pittsburgh shots.

Blues 3, Stars 2

Brayden Schenn and Sammy Blais scored third-period goals as St. Louis rallied past visiting Dallas. David Perron also scored for the Blues. Goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 28 of 30 shots.