Tage Thompson recorded his second career hat trick and had three assists while Jeff Skinner scored the 300th goal of his career as the Buffalo Sabres beat the visiting Detroit Red Wings 8-3 on Monday night.

Thompson has posted nine of his 12 points this season in the past two games for Buffalo, which outshot the Red Wings 46-18 to win for the sixth time in its first nine contests. Thompson is one of six players in franchise history to tally six points in a game, becoming the first to accomplish the feat since Pat LaFontaine did so on Feb. 10, 1993. The franchise record is seven points, set by Gilbert Perreault on Feb. 1, 1976.

Skinner also had two assists while Rasmus Dahlin added a goal and an assist for Buffalo during its highest-scoring game since a 9-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 3, 2018. Jack Quinn also found the net, and Kyle Okposo notched two assists.

Detroit trailed 4-2 after two periods but made things interesting when Dylan Larkin beat Eric Comrie (15 saves) for a short-handed goal 4:19 into the third. However, the Sabres’ defense clamped down and Dahlin, Dylan Cozens, Thompson and Rasmus Asplund each followed with goals.

Olli Maatta and David Perron also scored for Detroit, which is 2-3-2 since winning its first two games of the season. The Red Wings swept all four games against the Sabres during the 2021-22 season.

Buffalo outshot the Red Wings 14-6 in the first period and was first rewarded with 3:08 remaining in the frame. Skinner’s cross-slot pass found Thompson at the opposite circle to beat Alex Nedeljkovic (38 saves).

Detroit tied things 1:26 into the second. Maatta eventually got the puck at the top of the circle and beat Comrie on the far side.

The Sabres took the lead back nearly four minutes later. Thompson skated behind the Detroit net, then backhanded a pass to Quinn, who whipped the puck over Nedeljkovic’s shoulder.

Thompson registered his second assist when he fed Skinner, who was alone in the front of the Red Wings’ net and beat Nedeljkovic for his milestone goal with 5:34 left in the middle frame. The career night continued for Thompson, who showed off some nifty stick work to convert on the power play with 1:30 left in the second.

The Red Wings, however, struck with 57 seconds remaining before the second intermission. Positioned perfectly in front of the net, Perron buried his fifth goal of the campaign.

–Field Level Media

If recent scores are any indication, the Anaheim Ducks and host San Jose Sharks should be evenly matched when they meet for the first time this season on Tuesday night.

The Ducks are coming off a 4-3 overtime win against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday evening. The Sharks beat the Maple Leafs by the same score in overtime on Thursday.

San Jose lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Oct. 25 and the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Saturday. The Ducks lost to the Lightning 4-2 on Wednesday and the Golden Knights 4-0 on Friday.

Both teams begin the week at the bottom of the Pacific Division standings, but there’s hope in each locker room that they can turn their seasons around.

“There’s times in the season when things don’t go your way,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “It’s unfortunate for us that it started right out of the gate, but we will continue to work through it.”

Both teams still have plenty of talent on their rosters.

Anaheim forward Troy Terry, who exploded for 37 goals and 30 assists in 75 games last season, has 10 points (four goals, six assists) through the first nine games this year.

Trevor Zegras scored two goals against the Maple Leafs on Sunday, including the game-winner in overtime, giving the 21-year-old center six goals in the first nine games.

Zegras didn’t score his seventh goal last season until Dec. 15. He went on to post 23 goals and 38 assists in his first full season in the NHL, making him the runner-up for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s best rookie each year.

“I’ve definitely gotten stronger since last year. I can definitely say I’ve got a little bit quicker,” Zegras said. “I think my jump off the line is a little bit better than it was last year.”

The Sharks lost their first five games of the season but are 3-3-0 since.

After beating the Maple Leafs in overtime on Thursday, San Jose was aiming for two wins in a row for the first time this season, but thy gave up the go-ahead goal to Tampa Bay with 57 seconds left.

“I think we’re going in the right direction, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to win hockey games,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “And, unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet.”

One of the early bright spots for the Sharks has been veteran defenseman Erik Karlsson, who didn’t deliver as expected in his first four seasons in San Jose.

Karlsson, who twice won the Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman when he played for the Ottawa Senators, scored two goals against the Lightning to give him six goals and five assists in the first 11 games this season.

He had 27 goals in his first 211 games with San Jose.

Karlsson said the Sharks need to stop worrying about making mistakes that may end up costing them a game, and just play more loosely.

“In order to win games in this league, you’re going to have to take some risks,” Karlsson said. “Over time, we’re going to learn when those risks are appropriate to take and when they’re not.”

–Field Level Media

The sight of the New Jersey Devils across the ice Tuesday night will offer a reminder to the Vancouver Canucks of who they want to emulate and where they want to go.

The Canucks will look to continue climbing out of their early-season hole Tuesday, when they host the Devils in the first game of the season between the teams.

The Canucks haven’t played since Friday, when they won for the second time in as many nights by cruising past the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-1. The Devils won their third straight Sunday afternoon, when they rolled to a 7-1 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

A big third period against the perennially contending Penguins provided some catharsis for the Canucks, who became the last team in the NHL to earn a win when they edged the Seattle Kraken 5-4 on Thursday.

Vancouver, which became the first team in NHL history to blow multi-goal leads in each of its four games, opened 0-5-2 while being outscored 15-2 in the third period.

The Canucks squandered a pair of one-goal leads against the Kraken before scoring twice in the third and further vanquished their demons Friday, when they scored three unanswered goals over the final 20 minutes despite being outshot 15-10.

“It’s two games but you could tell it was like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders, quite frankly,” said Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau after Friday’s game. “Because every other third period has been like ‘Oh, what’s going to happen that’s negative?’ And I think once we got through the first three minutes, it was like ‘OK, let’s go.’ And everybody just played and I thought it was really good.”

The Devils have authored a pretty solid template for overcoming a slow start. New Jersey, which has missed the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, was outscored 10-4 in losing its first two games but has won six of seven since (6-1-0) while outscoring the opposition 27-13.

The Devils produced perhaps the most dominant win by an NHL team this season in Sunday’s victory. Seven players scored a goal apiece and New Jersey produced 53 shots — tied for the second-most in a game through Sunday — while becoming just the second team to win a game by six goals. The New York Islanders also beat the Anaheim Ducks 7-1 on Oct. 15.

The complete victory Sunday was especially encouraging for the Devils, who edged the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche 1-0 on Friday night.

“This win shows character,” said Devils center Nico Hischier, who had a goal and an assist. “We beat a great team on Friday and then put it behind us. If we win, we can’t get too high and if we lose, we can’t get too low. You need to have this consistency. We came out to play today. It was an all-around fun game. Every line played well.”

–Field Level Media

After rolling up five victories and 11 points in their first nine games of the Paul Maurice era, the Florida Panthers head west for a four-game road trip beginning Tuesday night in Tempe, Ariz., against the Arizona Coyotes.

Florida hit the road following a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, firing a franchise-record 58 shots on goal in the process. That came on the heels of a 51-shot effort in a 4-3 loss at Philadelphia on Thursday.

The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead against the Senators on goals by Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov while outshooting Ottawa an eye-popping 26-4. But Ottawa battled back to tie the game 2-2 early in the second period. Despite finishing with a 58-26 shot advantage, Florida didn’t score the game-winner until Brandon Montour one-timed Barkov’s pass from the top of the right circle with 3:32 remaining.

Matthew Tkachuk sealed the win with an empty-netter with 14 seconds left.

“It was huge for us,” Barkov said of the win. “We wanted to get the win before we go on a long road trip. I think we played really good. In the second period we had some trouble in our own zone and gave up a little too much for them. But at the same time, we battled back and won.”

Verhaeghe finished with two goals and an assist in the victory.

“We’re shooting the puck now, and I think that had been a problem of ours, not shooting it enough,” Verhaeghe said. “I think we’re focusing on that, getting the puck to the net and working to get them in.”

Florida’s road trip also includes San Jose on Thursday and a southern California back-to-back against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. The Panthers then play seven of their next eight games at home beginning with a Nov. 9 contest against Carolina to kick off a five-game homestand.

The Panthers open the trip against the Central Division cellar-dwelling Coyotes, who will be playing their third home game at Mullett Arena on the Arizona State University campus. Arizona dropped the first two by 3-2 scores to Winnipeg in overtime on Friday and the New York Rangers in regulation on Sunday.

The Coyotes are playing 20 of their first 24 games on the road while a new locker room annex is completed at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena, which will be their temporary home for at least the next three seasons until a recently proposed $1.7 billion arena is built in Tempe.

Mika Zibanejad broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal with 7:04 left in the third period to give the Rangers the win on Sunday. Despite the loss, Arizona coach Andre Tourigny was upbeat with the way his rebuilding squad performed against a New York team that reached the Eastern Conference finals last season.

“I felt passion, I felt guys who really care, and I saw a bunch of guys who compete like mad dogs out there,” Tourigny said. “I’m really proud of the boys. They compete, they’re right there. They believe in themselves. They know we’re getting closer every day.”

After completing their four-game homestand on Thursday against Dallas, Arizona departs on a 14-game road trip. The Coyotes won’t play another home game until Dec. 9 against the Boston Bruins.

–Field Level Media

Jordan Eberle’s and Martin Jones’ wives both gave birth to baby boys last Friday.

The next night, their husbands delivered in their own way.

Eberle scored his first goal of the season and Jones made 32 saves to lead the Seattle Kraken to a 3-1 victory against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Kraken are scheduled to open a three-game trip at Calgary on Tuesday night.

“Obviously, midseason you have a baby there’s a lot going through your head, but once you get out there you kind of just zone into it a bit,” said Eberle, who has been through this once before.

For Jones, it was a first.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” Jones said. “Just tried to wrap my head around playing hockey (Saturday) and sometimes when you’re not thinking too much things work out for you.”

Jones is 3-2-0 since replacing an injured Philipp Grubauer (lower body) midway through the third period of an Oct. 21 game at Colorado.

Eberle said their baby was 10 days overdue and he wasn’t sure whether the Kraken would still be at home when “go” time came.

“This is special. Something you always remember,” Eberle said. “I’ll be able to tell him I scored after he was born.

“I think more importantly, we got the win.”

Jaden Schwartz had a goal and an assist for the Kraken. The victory could have been even more decisive had Seattle not had two goals overturned by video reviews in a three-minute span midway through the second period.

“We did keep our foot on the gas, but we sagged with the puck a little bit,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “You have different sequences where you give the puck back after defending well and it comes right back at you. Now you have to defend again.

“To the guys’ credit, they did defend well. When we needed a save, Jonesy was there. We did a lot of little things right in terms of winning some of the right battles, including faceoffs at key times.”

The Flames suffered just their second loss in seven games this season Saturday, dropping a 3-2 decision to visiting Edmonton. Zach Hyman scored twice for the Oilers and Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists.

Mikael Backlund and Brett Ritchie scored and Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves for the Flames, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.

“It just wasn’t good enough from the whole team,” Backlund said. “We can play better than that. … We know that we were sloppy.”

Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau said the game came down to a “few bad bounces.”

“We were up 2-1 and they scored two quick goals. But I thought overall we’re a good team. I think we know what we can do. That’s all it is,” Huberdeau said. “They’re good offensively, but I think if we play in their zone that’s how we’re going to beat them.”

Calgary center Nazem Kadri had a six-game point streak come to an end. He had four goals and five assists during the streak.

–Field Level Media

The Edmonton Oilers will eye a fifth straight win when they host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

Edmonton has trailed in three of its past four wins, including Saturday’s victory against the Calgary Flames in which they faced a 2-1 deficit in the third period.

“You don’t like being behind, but I think we’re one of the teams out there that can come from behind,” forward Zach Hyman said after scoring twice against Calgary. “We have enough skill and our ability to score goals, we’re confident in that. I think we’re not deterred by a deficit. We don’t like to be down, but when we’re down, we have a lot of belief in the locker room that we can get back to even and win the game.”

The Oilers have been among the NHL’s best teams offensively, averaging 3.78 goals per game. Through nine games, they’ve been held to two goals or fewer only twice, both coming in losses (4-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 18 and 2-0 to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 22).

While Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have unsurprisingly led the way, Edmonton is also getting the goods from Hyman, who is tied for third on the team with 11 points. His six goals rank second behind McDavid.

The Predators have struggled since returning from Prague, where they opened their season with a pair of wins against the San Jose Sharks. Nashville is 1-5-1 since and heads into Tuesday’s tilt after a 3-0 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

The Predators’ offense has yet to find its rhythm, held to one goal or fewer in four their past seven games. Overall, they rank near the bottom of the NHL with 22 goals scored through nine games, an average of 2.44 per game. Last season, the team finished tied for 12th with an average of 3.2 goals per game (262 total).

One contributing factor in their offensive struggles has been a woeful power play that has converted on only three of 36 opportunities thus far, a meager 8.3 percent success rate.

“We’re always looking for solutions, and obviously the power play is one part of it,” coach John Hynes said. “It’s trying to find a way and find solutions where we can get that to be better. I think there’s real capable guys on there and they’ve proven that they can be a dynamic power-play unit. But right now, it’s not going in for them and I think that’s where you got to have some — I think some mental toughness and some stick-to-it-iveness, but also a collaboration.

“You know what needs to change and yield the areas that can be better … The second part is going out and executing it at a high level.”

It’s been a slow start for Predators captain Roman Josi. After a remarkable 96 points (23 goals, 73 assists) last season, the defenseman has four points through nine games, three of which (one goal, two assists) came Oct. 27 in their win against the St. Louis Blues.

–Field Level Media

The New York Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks achieved different results over the weekend while playing the two teams that finished last season with the most points in the Western Conference.

But the bottom line was the same: The Islanders and Blackhawks both might be better than expected this season.

Both teams will be looking to extend point streaks Tuesday night, when the Islanders are slated to visit the Blackhawks.

The Islanders are opening a three-game road trip after winning their third straight Saturday night, when New York scored five consecutive goals in a 5-4 comeback win over the Colorado Avalanche. The host Blackhawks earned a point for the second consecutive game Sunday, when they fell to the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a shootout.

The win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche completed an impressive week for the Islanders, who blanked the rival New York Rangers 3-0 last Wednesday before they headed south to Carolina and never trailed in a 6-2 win over the Hurricanes on Friday. All three teams made the playoffs last season.

It was a doubly timely winning streak for the Islanders, who entered the game against the Rangers 2-4-0 after only adding defenseman Alexander Romanov to a team that finished in ninth place in the Eastern Conference last season, 16 points out of the last playoff spot.

“I think we’re confident with those twins — I think it only helps,” said defenseman Scott Mayfield, who scored the game-tying goal with 9:21 left Saturday night — 17 seconds before Anthony Beauvillier put the Islanders ahead for good. “I think we know the guys in this room, too. We have confidence in here no matter how it’s going.”

The Blackhawks, whose 68 points last season were the third-fewest in the Western Conference, were expected to contend for the No. 1 overall pick. They traded away their second- and eighth-leading scorers — right winger Alex DeBrincat and center Kirby Dach — to the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, respectively. Center Dylan Strome and left winger Dominik Kubalik, who ranked fourth and seventh on Chicago in scoring, also exited as free agents.

But the Blackhawks will enter Tuesday in sole possession of third place in the Central Division, one point ahead of the Avalanche, despite a three-game winless streak filled with plenty of teachable moments for a young team.

The Blackhawks won four straight games before squandering a trio of one-goal leads last Thursday and falling to the Edmonton Oilers, 6-5, on Leon Draisaitl’s goal with 38 seconds left. Chicago had a two-goal third-period lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday and also led in the third period Saturday against the Wild, whose 113 points last season ranked behind only the Avalanche in the Western Conference.

“We have to make sure there’s lessons learned early in the season that don’t carry on through the season,” first-year head coach Luke Richardson told reporters Sunday night. “If we get scored on or the other team gets scored on, I think we have to be the ones that dictate what goes on in the game.”

–Field Level Media

The Anaheim Ducks announced Monday that defenseman Jamie Drysdale is expected to miss the next four to six months after suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder on Friday.

The injury occurred during a 4-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Ducks said Drysdale will undergo surgery “in the near future.”

Drysdale, 20, was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. He had played eight games to begin his third year with the Ducks, picking up two penalty minutes without a goal or an assist.

He played 81 of a possible 82 games a year ago and scored 32 points (four goals, 28 assists). In 113 career games, Drysdale has tallied seven goals and 33 assists for Anaheim.

Drysdale’s projected timetable means he could return in March at the earliest. The Ducks’ regular season ends April 13.

The Ducks have the worst record in the NHL (2-6-1, 5 points) but are coming off a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.

–Field Level Media

Following a successful first road trip of the season, which included a victory at Montreal, the Minnesota Wild will look to string together some wins at home.

The Wild can start while trying for a ninth consecutive home victory over the Canadiens, who will aim for a third straight road win, on Tuesday night in Saint Paul, Minn.

Minnesota overcame a one-goal, third-period deficit on Matt Boldy’s second goal of the night, then won 4-3 at Chicago in a shootout on Sunday. That capped a 3-1-1 trip for the Wild, who have seen five of their nine games decided by a goal.

“This is an extremely special group here,” Minnesota’s Mason Shaw, who recorded a goal and assist for his first career points Sunday, told the NHL’s official website.

“To cap off a great road trip. I’m glad I could be a part of it.”

Now, the Wild play two games at home, where they opened with three straight losses before winning 4-3 over Vancouver in overtime on Oct. 20 before heading on the road. Based on history, it would seem Minnesota has a good chance to post back-to-back home wins.

The Wild have outscored the Canadiens 40-15 during an eight-game home winning streak, dating to an 8-1 loss there in March 2011. Boldy, who already has five goals and three assists on the season, had one of each during last season’s 8-2 home victory over Montreal, which has lost four straight and 13 of its past 14 overall to Minnesota after falling 3-1 at home on Oct. 25.

However, since that loss to the Wild, the Canadiens scored 10 goals in back-to-back road victories at Buffalo and St. Louis. Christian Dvorak recorded his first NHL hat trick, while Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki combined for three goals and three assists during Saturday’s 7-4 victory over the Blues. Montreal has won five of its first nine games this season.

The Canadiens also hope they’ve figured things out on the power play, which was 1-for-24 in the eight games before converting on two of three chances at St. Louis. One of Caufield’s two goals came with the man-advantage, and he has a team-leading seven, plus 10 points, on the season.

“I know he’s over there somewhere,” Suzuki, who also has 10 points, told the Montreal Gazette, about Caufield. “He’s always ready to shoot. His shot radius is pretty big for how big he is. Just get it over to his side.”

Caufield scored Montreal’s lone goal against the Wild last week, while teammate Jake Allen (3-3-0, 2.85 goals-against average) made 28 of 30 saves. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26 shots in that contest.

Beginning with that result, Fleury has a 1.95 goals-against average and .927 save percentage during his current three-start winning streak. Teammate Mats Zuccarello did not register a point against the Canadiens last week or Sunday at Chicago, but posted eight (four goals, four assists) of his team-leading 12 points in Minnesota’s four home contests.

–Field Level Media

The visiting Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins come into their meeting Tuesday in opposite moods.

Coach Jim Montgomery gave the Bruins a full weekend off following back-to-back wins Thursday and Friday against the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-1 and 4-0, respectively, with the latter coming on the road.

That left Boston with one loss in its first nine games, the best start through that many games in franchise history. In seven of the nine games, the Bruins never trailed.

“You’ve got to enjoy it a little bit,” Bruins forward Charlie Coyle said. “We (were given days) to rest and have a good Halloween weekend — and we deserve it right now.”

Veteran feisty winger Brad Marchand, who had surgery on both hips during the offseason, returned for Boston about a month earlier than originally expected when he played against Detroit and had two goals and an assist. He was held out against Columbus as a precaution but is expected to be available against Pittsburgh.

“It’s amazing how he comes up with pucks,” Montgomery said. “Like the puck’s in between two bodies and he’s like a little Tasmanian devil — he’s twirling all around and the puck just seems to follow him. It’s amazing. He tracks it. He fights for it. He’ll bite your leg off for it.”

However, Boston center David Krejci left Thursday’s game and missed Friday’s game because of an upper-body injury, and his status remains unclear. Top defenseman Charlie McAvoy has yet to play because of offseason shoulder surgery.

Given some of the injuries and questions, Montgomery is as flabbergasted as he is thrilled with the Bruins’ October showing.

“If you had told me we’d be 8-1, I would have been, like, ‘I’ve got some swampland I want to sell you,'” he said.

Quips like that are hard to come by around Pittsburgh right now.

After starting 4-0-1 with six goals in each of those wins, the Penguins headed west and went 0-4 through Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle, netting just one goal in each of the final three games.

“Our guys are discouraged,” said coach Mike Sullivan, who tied Eddie Johnston on Saturday and on Tuesday will become the all-time franchise leader in Penguins games coached with 517.

Not that the last handful have been all that memorable for him or the players.

“As you know, they’re proud guys,” Sullivan said of his team. “They care about winning. And when you go through times like this, everybody feels it because they care. We all do.”

Pittsburgh defenseman Marcus Pettersson suggested the team has been playing a style a little too open and risky.

“I think it gets the opponent some chances,” Pettersson said. “We’ve got to dig in. We know we have it in this (locker) room.”

The Penguins certainly did in their first five games, but that might seem like long ago at this point after they were outscored 18-6 during the four-game losing skid.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we turn our discouragement into determination and make sure that we continue to work at finding the solution,” Sullivan said.

Veteran Pittsburgh forward Jeff Carter left in the first period of Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Seattle because of a lower-body injury. His status remains unclear.

–Field Level Media