Sebastian Aho scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:58 remaining in regulation and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied for a 2-1 win over the host San Jose Sharks on Friday night.
Positioned perfectly in front of the net, Aho redirected Brett Pesce’s puck toward the goal and past Sharks netminder James Reimer, who delivered a strong performance with 33 saves.
Martin Necas scored in his second straight game and Antti Raanta stopped 18 shots as the Hurricanes snapped an 0-4-2 slide at San Jose. Evgeny Svechnikov scored for San Jose, which has totaled just four goals while losing its first three games of the season.
Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Brent Burns, who played the previous 11 seasons with the Sharks before approving a trade to Carolina during the summer, was honored with a video tribute prior to the start of Friday night’s contest. Burns recorded two shots on goal in 23:19 of ice time.
Red Wings 3, Canadiens 0
Ville Husso made 29 saves in his debut in Detroit’s season opener, a shutout of visiting Montreal.
Making his NHL debut, 2019 draft pick Elmer Soderblom scored the eventual game-winning goal in the third period for Detroit, which had Derek Lalonde behind the bench in his first game as an NHL head coach. Michael Rasmussen had a hand in all three goals, scoring the second one and assisting on the other two.
Jake Allen made 37 saves for Montreal, which began its season with a 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Lightning 5, Blue Jackets 2
Steven Stamkos scored twice as Tampa Bay recorded its first win of the season over host Columbus.
On a first-period power play, the Lightning’s Corey Perry recorded the 406th goal of his career to put him into the NHL’s top 100, tying Rod Gilbert and John LeClair for 99th. He also had an assist. Ross Colton posted a goal and an assist, Cal Foote also found the net and Andrei Vasilevskiy turned away 26 shots.
Star free-agent signing Johnny Gaudreau scored his first goal with the Blue Jackets, and Gus Nyquist also tallied.
Jets 4, Rangers 1
Connor Hellebuyck made 40 saves, Sam Gagner scored the go-ahead goal at 15:35 of the third period and Winnipeg defeated visiting New York.
Mark Scheifele scored twice to help make the Jets winners on their opening night, and Nikolaj Ehlers had two assists. The Jets were without new coach Rick Bowness, who tested positive for COVID-19. Associate coach Scott Arniel is coaching in Bowness’s absence.
Dryden Hunt scored and Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves in his debut for the Rangers, who were playing the second of back-to-back games. Artemi Panarin picked up his fifth assist. New York had won its first two games.
–Field Level Media
