The Ottawa Senators announced Friday that a process has been initiated for the sale of the franchise.

Senators chairman and governor Sheldon Plener said a condition of any sale is keeping the franchise in Canada’s capital. The team has a preliminary agreement to work toward a new downtown arena at LeBreton Flats.

“Galatioto Sports Partners has been retained as financial advisor and a process has been initiated for the sale of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club,” Plener said. “This was a necessary and prudent step to connect with those deeply interested parties who can show us what their vision is for the future of the team.

“A condition of any sale will be that the team remains in Ottawa. The organization will have no further comment on this process at this time.”

Anna and Olivia Melnyk, daughters of late owner Eugene Melynk, inherited the franchise after he died in March.

Sportico valued the Senators’ franchise at $655 million.

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, a noted fan of his hometown Vancouver Canucks, reportedly is among interested parties in ownership of the Senators.

–Field Level Media

The Carolina Hurricanes have worked extra across the past week to gain favorable results.

The Buffalo Sabres have done good work as well, perhaps even in an unexpected manner.

Both teams hold three-game winning streaks going into their Friday night matchup in Raleigh, N.C.

The Hurricanes have played beyond regulation for three consecutive games and prevailed each time. Those outcomes include a 4-3 shootout decision over the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

“We’re sticking to it all the way through the end,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “You hopefully end it earlier, but there are some good teams out there. There are some tight games.”

The Sabres are on the rise after finishing the four-game homestand strong. This next venture will be different on many levels, including having mothers joining the team for the trip that also includes a Saturday night game at Tampa Bay.

Coach Don Granato said the Sabres must prove they can handle road endeavors.

“It’s different when you’re on the road because you have greater swings of momentum,” he said. “The task presents a great opportunity for us to find out about ourselves and find out where we need to improve next.”

Carolina is putting up shots at rapid rates at times, including 55 against the Lightning.

Hurricanes center Seth Jarvis notched his first goal in seven games with a tally at Tampa Bay, his third of the season. He said he hopes that sparks him to more production.

“Everyone yells at me in the dressing room to shoot the puck more,” said Jarvis, a second-year player.

With goalie Frederik Andersen working in net Thursday for the Hurricanes, it likely will be Antti Raanta’s turn for the Buffalo game.

The Sabres feel good about their successes, but the team is evolving, just like their opponents.

“It’s early-season NHL hockey,” Granato said of working on timing. “The one part that is very consistent is it takes a range of five to 15 games for a player (to get that rhythm). For a team, it could take 20 games before they get to that rhythm and sync as a unit.”

Granato said the Hurricanes have reasonable aspirations to win a Stanley Cup this season. The Sabres might not be at that level, but they hope to compete on a more regular basis against some of the top teams.

“To know your team has confidence that they can find a way to win is a nice feeling,” Granato said. “It doesn’t say that you get it done every time.”

Defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin could be back in the Buffalo lineup after returning to practice Thursday. He has missed the past three games with a lower-body injury that he played through for a few games before sitting out.

“Now that he’s on the ice and went full go, I’ll have a conversation with him and see how it goes,” Granato said.

The game marks another return to Raleigh for center Jeff Skinner, who won the Calder Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year) for the Hurricanes in 2010-11. Skinner, in his fifth season with the Sabres, has two goals and shares the team lead with eight assists.

–Field Level Media

Trent Frederic scored the tiebreaking goal 6:04 into the third period as the visiting Boston Bruins continued their early-season surge with a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

The Bruins improved their NHL-best record to 10-1-0 and won their seventh straight. It is Boston’s first seven-game winning streak since winning eight straight since early in the 2019-20 season and the first time it opened with 10 wins in 11 games.

Frederic netted the game-winner after getting into a second-period fight with New York’s Barclay Goodrow. David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk and Hampus Lindholm also tallied for Boston. Linus Ullmark made 18 saves for the win.

The Rangers got goals from Jimmy Vesey and Adam Fox. Igor Shesterkin lost despite making 32 saves.

Stars 7, Coyotes 2

Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists as Dallas rolled over Arizona in Tempe, Ariz.

It was the highest-scoring game of the year for the Stars, who have won their past two games. Jason Robertson scored two goals while Roope Hintz had two assists. Denis Gurianov, Wyatt Johnston, Ty Dellandrea and Jani Hakanpaa scored the Stars’ other goals, and Scott Wedgewood stopped 28 of 30 shots.

Juuso Valimaki and Lawson Crouse scored for Arizona, after the Coyotes already were down 6-0 in the third period. Matias Maccelli assisted on both goals.

Devils 4, Oilers 3

Ryan Graves and Jesper Bratt scored the tying and go-ahead goals seven seconds apart late in the third period to lift New Jersey over host Edmonton. The seven-second span was the fastest in which the Devils have scored twice.

The Devils have won five straight — their longest winning streak since a five-game run from Dec. 15-27, 2017. The Oilers had their five-game winning streak snapped.

Miles Wood had two goals and an assist for New Jersey. Vitek Vanecek, who entered in relief after Mackenzie Blackwood appeared to get injured in the second period, stopped 18 of 19 shots for the win. Connor McDavid, Derek Ryan and Leon Draisaitl scored for Edmonton, and Stuart Skinner made 39 saves.

Predators 4, Flames 1

Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene each had a goal and assist, Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves and visiting Nashville beat Calgary to win for just the second time in nine games.

Forsberg scored 59 seconds into the second period and assisted on Roman Josi’s power-play goal 1:28 later. Meanwhile, ex-Flame Mark Jankowski scored in the first in his season debut and Duchene added an empty-netter for Nashville.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 of 31 shots for the Flames, who have dropped three consecutive games — all at home — after winning five of their first six. Calgary is 3-4-0 during an eight-game home stretch.

Islanders 5, Blues 2

Anders Lee and Brock Nelson each scored a goal and earned an assist to lead visiting New York past slumping St. Louis.

Kyle Palmieri, Josh Bailey and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for the Islanders, who won their fifth straight. Noah Dobson had two assists, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 of 34 shots.

Vladimir Tarasenko tallied a goal and an assist and Robert Thomas also scored for the Blues, who have lost six in a row. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves.

Canucks 8, Ducks 5

Rookie Andrei Kuzmenko recorded his first NHL hat trick and added an assist for Vancouver in a victory over visiting Anaheim.

Elias Pettersson tallied a goal and four assists, Bo Horvat notched two goals and an assist and Spencer Martin made 26 saves for the Canucks, who have won three of four following a seven-game losing streak to start the season.

Troy Terry had a goal and two assists, Ryan Strome and Trevor Zegras each chipped in a goal and an assist and John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, who remain the only NHL team without a win in regulation this season.

Kraken 4, Wild 0

Alex Wennberg scored twice and Martin Jones made 22 saves for his first shutout of the season and the 26th of his NHL career as Seattle won in Saint Paul, Minn.

Morgan Geekie and Jamie Oleksiak also scored and Daniel Sprong had two assists for the Kraken, who scored three times in the second and tied a franchise record with their third consecutive victory.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 19 of 23 shots for the Wild, who had a two-game winning streak snapped and lost in regulation for the second time in their past eight games (5-2-1).

Blackhawks 2, Kings 1 (OT)

Jonathan Toews scored the winning goal at 1:31 of overtime and host Chicago topped Los Angeles to end a four-game losing streak.

Toews started the winning series by claiming a faceoff in his own end. He eventually carried into the zone, and Jake McCabe controlled a bouncing puck to the left of Jonathan Quick and slid a pass across the slot to Toews, who knocked it in.

Jason Dickinson also scored for the Blackhawks, who were 0-2-2 in their last four games. Chicago’s Arvid Soderblom made 32 saves. Blake Lizotte scored for the Kings, and Quick stopped 17 shots.

Hurricanes 4, Lightning 3 (SO)

Sebastian Aho scored in the shootout’s sixth round as Carolina won its third straight game, beating host Tampa Bay.

The Hurricanes’ Martin Necas scored his sixth goal, with an assist from Brent Burns — giving each a five-game point streak. Seth Jarvis and Brady Skjei also found the net, and Frederik Andersen posted 23 saves.

The Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov stretched his goal streak to five games and points streak to nine. Ross Colton and Nicholas Paul also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 52 saves as Tampa Bay lost for the first time in four games.

Red Wings 3, Capitals 1

Alex Ovechkin tied Detroit legend Gordie Howe for the most all-time goals with one team, but the Red Wings defeated visiting Washington.

Ovechkin’s 786th goal with the Capitals came during the second period. Howe played in 1,687 regular-season games during 25 seasons with the Red Wings (1946-71). Ovechkin reached the milestone in 1,285 games during 17 seasons with the Capitals.

Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist, and Lucas Raymond and Andrew Copp also scored for the Red Wings. Ville Husso made 33 saves for Detroit, which is 4-1-1 at home this season. Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots for the Capitals.

Jets 3, Canadiens 2 (OT)

Kyle Connor scored 1:45 into overtime to lift host Winnipeg over Montreal.

Pierre-Luc Dubois and Connor each had a goal and an assist and Blake Wheeler added a goal for Winnipeg, which won for the fourth time in five games. Connor Hellebuyck saved 20 shots.

Nick Suzuki notched a goal and an assist, Kirby Dach contributed a goal and Cole Caufield had two assists for the Canadiens, who lost their second game in a row. Sam Montembeault made 33 saves.

Panthers 4, Sharks 3 (SO)

Sam Reinhart scored the only goal in a four-round shootout and Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves through regulation and overtime as Florida won at San Jose.

Aleksander Barkov, Radko Gudas and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers, and Matthew Tkachuk tallied three assists.

Erik Karlsson led the Sharks with a goal and two assists, but his shootout attempt missed when he hit the post. Matt Benning and Timo Meier had San Jose’s other goals, and James Reimer stopped 41 shots.

Golden Knights 5, Senators 4

Mark Stone had a goal and an assist and Chandler Stephenson contributed a short-handed goal as Vegas edged host Ottawa.

The Golden Knights also received goals from William Carrier, Reilly Smith and Zach Whitecloud. Logan Thompson made 42 saves for Vegas, which has won 10 of its 12 games and notched its seventh consecutive victory over Ottawa.

The Senators received two goals apiece from Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle. Anton Forsberg was lifted midway through the game after allowing five goals on 19 shots.

–Field Level Media

Sam Reinhart scored the only goal in a four-round shootout as the Florida Panthers defeated the host San Jose Sharks 4-3 on Thursday night.

Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed a pair of long goals in regulation, made 36 saves through overtime and came up big in the shootout. He stopped three San Jose attempts in the tiebreaker, and Erik Karlsson missed on his shot when it hit the goalpost.

James Reimer, a former Panthers goalie, stopped 41 shots but took the loss.

Karlsson led San Jose with one goal and two assists. He leads all NHL defensemen with 10 goals and 18 points.

Matt Benning and Timo Meier had San Jose’s other goals.

Aleksander Barkov, Radko Gudas and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers. Matthew Tkachuk tallied three assists. He leads Florida with 16 points and has produced at least one point in nine of the team’s 11 games.

Florida opened the scoring on Barkov’s power-play goal with 13:43 expired in the first period. Barkov, working from the left circle, passed up a shot and tossed the puck to Anton Lundell in the slot. Lundell gave it right back, and Barkov found the open left side of the net.

The Panthers closed the first period with a 19-9 shots-on-goal advantage.

Florida made it 2-0 with 15:50 gone in the second period as Gudas — not known for his scoring — unleashed a long blast past Reimer’s stick. It was his first goal of the season.

San Jose got on the board with 18:56 left in the third, scoring on a five-on-three power play after penalties on Gudas (boarding) and Gustav Forsling (delay of game for firing the puck over the glass).

Meier took advantage, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle. He fired the puck past the glove of a diving Bobrovsky.

San Jose tied the score on Karlsson’s goal with 13:26 left in the third. After a faceoff win, Karlsson scored from beyond the left circle.

Karlsson then got the primary assist, making a blind between-the-legs pass to Benning, who scored on a long shot from the point for a 3-2 Sharks lead.

The Panthers pulled Bobrovsky and got the tying goal by Verhaeghe on a bad-angle shot from below the left circle with just 1:22 left in the third, sending the game to overtime.

–Field Level Media

Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists as the Dallas Stars rolled to a 7-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday in Tempe, Ariz.

It was the highest-scoring game of the year for the Central Division-leading Stars, who have won their past two games.

Dallas’ Jason Robertson scored two goals while Roope Hintz had two assists. Denis Gurianov, Wyatt Johnston, Ty Dellandrea and Jani Hakanpaa scored the Stars’ other goals.

It was a well-rounded team effort for the Stars, as 13 players collected at least one point. Gurianov opened the scoring after 87 seconds, and Dallas was up 4-0 after one period.

Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 28 of 30 shots for his second consecutive victory.

Juuso Valimaki and Lawson Crouse scored for Arizona, after the Coyotes were already down 6-0 in the third period. Matias Maccelli assisted on both goals.

Arizona goaltender Connor Ingram was pulled less than 12 minutes into the game after he allowed three goals on 10 shots. Ingram was hampered by some poor defending from his teammates, including a bad pass from defenseman Dysin Mayo that led to Johnston’s goal.

Karol Vejmelka stopped 22 of 26 shots in relief. Vejmelka made a poor clearing pass of his own early in the third period, sending the puck directly to Benn for an easy goal.

After collecting three assists without scoring a goal in his first nine games, Benn has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past two games.

Robertson also has been hot, with eight points (five goals, three assists) over his past four outings. Robertson leads the Stars in both goals (seven) and points (15).

The Stars won the special teams battle, going 1-for-4 with the extra attacker and killing off Arizona’s lone power-play chance.

Arizona went 1-2-1 in its first homestand in its new venue, 5,000-seat Mullett Arena at Arizona State University. The Coyotes don’t have another home game until Dec. 9 as the team now embarks on a 14-game road trip.

–Field Level Media

Rookie Andrei Kuzmenko recorded his first NHL hat trick and added an assist for the Vancouver Canucks in an 8-5 win against the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.

Elias Pettersson tallied a goal and four assists, Bo Horvat notched two goals and an assist and Spencer Martin made 26 saves for the Canucks, who have won three of four following a seven-game losing streak to start the season.

Troy Terry had a goal and two assists, Ryan Strome and Trevor Zegras each chipped in a goal and an assist and John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, who remain the only NHL team without a win in regulation this season.

Terry scored a power-play goal at 16:30 of the first period to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.

Horvat tied it 1-1 with 20 seconds left in the opening period. He tipped in a slap shot from Quinn Hughes with Vancouver on a power play.

The Canucks moved ahead 2-1 at 9:07 of the second period. Pettersson received a centering pass while stationed in front of the Anaheim net and kept the puck away from two defenders before sweeping it past Gibson.

J.T. Miller scored at 13:06 for Vancouver to make it 3-1.

Strome took a feed from Zegras in the right circle and scored with a wrist shot to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 46 seconds left in the second period.

Vancouver’s Dakota Joshua got to a loose puck in front of the crease and scored 5:30 into the third period. The Ducks challenged for goalie interference, but the goal was upheld and the Canucks went on a power play for delay of game.

Kuzmenko then scored 24 seconds into the man advantage to make it 5-2.

Anaheim then got within one with consecutive tallies. Max Comtois scored on a breakaway to cut it to 5-3 at 7:51, and Zegras followed with a power-play goal on a long wrist shot to make it 5-4 at 13:35.

Kuzmenko then rattled off two scores in two minutes to put the game out of reach.

He scored his second of the game, on a tip, to make it 6-4 at 14:48. He then completed his hat trick with 3:12 left for a 7-4 lead.

Max Jones cut it to 7-5 with 2:22 left.

Horvat scored short-handed into an empty net with 56 seconds left to make it 8-5. It was his sixth goal in the past three games.

–Field Level Media

Ryan Graves and Jesper Bratt scored the tying and go-ahead goals seven seconds apart late in the third period Thursday night to lift the red-hot New Jersey Devils over the host Edmonton Oilers, 4-3.

The Devils have won five straight — their longest winning streak since a five-game run from Dec. 15-27, 2017. The Oilers had their five-game winning streak snapped.

The Oilers carried a 3-1 lead into the third after scoring twice in an 86-second span shortly before the midway point of the second. Miles Wood then scored his second goal of the game 1:14 into the third for the Devils before they mounted the historic rally.

After taking a pass from Tomas Tatar, Graves was tripped by Oilers center Ryan McLeod and sent an off-balance shot that trickled under Stuart Skinner’s legs at 16:45 of the third after the goalie could not cover up the puck.

The Devils’ Nico Hischier won the subsequent faceoff against Leon Draisaitl and the puck bounced backwards to John Marino, whose pass through the neutral zone hit Bratt in stride. Bratt shuffled the puck for a handful of strides before his shot glanced off the far post and into the net.

The goal extended Bratt’s season-opening point streak to a franchise-record 11 games.

The seven-second span was the fastest in which the Devils have scored two goals. John Madden and Patrik Elias scored eight seconds apart for New Jersey against the Boston Bruins on April 6, 2001.

The Oilers pulled Skinner shortly after Bratt’s goal but could get just one shot against Vitek Vanecek, who earned the win after stopping 18 of 19 shots in relief. Starter Mackenzie Blackwood exited 8:41 into the second after he appeared to hurt himself kicking a puck out of the crease. Blackwood had 16 saves on 18 shots.

Connor McDavid scored 9:20 into the first for the Oilers to open the scoring, and Wood answered at the 12:22 mark. Edmonton’s Derek Ryan broke the tie exactly eight minutes into the second, and Draisaitl extended Edmonton’s lead to two goals by scoring on the power play 86 seconds later.

Skinner recorded 39 saves.

–Field Level Media

Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene each had a goal with an assist, and Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves, as the visiting Nashville Predators won for just the second time in nine games, 4-1 over the skidding Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

Forsberg scored 59 seconds into the second period and assisted on Roman Josi’s power-play goal 1:28 later. Meanwhile, ex-Flame Mark Jankowski scored in the first in his season debut and Duchene added an empty-netter for Nashville. Lankinen was solid all night en route to his second win in three starts with his new club — all coming away from home.

After taking two games from San Jose in Prague to open the season, the Predators went 1-6-1 before Thursday’s triumph.

Down 3-0, Calgary finally got on the board 1:43 into the third period, when Blake Coleman beat Lankinen after the netminder’s behind-the-net clearing attempt was intercepted. The Flames recorded the first five shots of the final frame; however, Lankinen regrouped and the Predators’ defense remained stout to record their first victory across four true road contests in North America.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 of 31 shots for Calgary, which has dropped three consecutive games — all at home — after winning five of its first six. The Flames are 3-4-0 during an eight-game home stretch.

Nashville played the aggressor most of the first period, outshooting the Flames 12-3. The Predators were eventually rewarded with 28.6 seconds remaining in the opening frame when Jankowski, who spent his first four NHL seasons (2016-20) with Calgary, rang the post in his Nashville debut after totaling five goals and four assists in seven games with Milwaukee of the AHL.

The Predators made it 2-0 when Forsberg took a stretch pass from Duchene, broke free and beat Markstrom over the top of his glove. Less than two minutes later, Josi converted a hard wrister from the blue line.

Nashville killed all three Calgary power-play chances and blocked a whopping 24 shots on the night.

–Field Level Media