Puckline Press

The Flyers came to Boston looking for their first win and left with another lesson in what a real NHL team looks like. Boston won 5-1, and Fraser Minten ran the show with a goal and two assists. Pavel Zacha opened the scoring in the first off a David Pastrnak feed, and Mason Lohrei made it 2-0 late in the second. In the third the Bruins piled on with goals from Marat Khusnutdinov, Casey Mittelstadt and Minten. Philadelphia's lone highlight was Porter Martone's power-play goal at 6:32 of the third, which counted for exactly nothing. Jeremy Swayman had a nap with 14 saves on 15 shots. Dan Vladar faced 32 shots and made 27 saves, mostly because no Flyer stood in front of anything. Philly is still winless, and the Broad Street Bullies are now just Broad Street.

Jake Allen started his 500th NHL game and stopped 20 of 21 shots as New Jersey beat Vancouver 4-1. The Canucks were feeling good for about eight minutes after Linus Karlsson's power-play goal. Then Nico Hischier tied it on a Devils power play, Jesper Boqvist put them ahead late in the first, and Jesper Bratt and Hischier added two more power-play goals in the second. Hischier's second came with ten seconds left in the period, which is a Vancouver penalty kill in a nutshell. Jack Hughes set up both second-period goals. Leevi Merilainen made 31 saves on 34 shots, and when his skate blade came out twice, Kevin Lankinen got 5:27 of emergency cameo work. Three of New Jersey's four goals came on the power play. The Canucks' PK keeps auditioning for a job as the other team's best player.

Edmonton won 3-1 in San Jose with goals from three guys you'd never put on a jersey order. Mattias Ekholm scored the only goal of the first 43 minutes. Vasily Podkolzin, set up by Connor McDavid, made it 2-0 early in the third with his fifth goal, which is already a pace that makes Oilers fans nervous. Alex Formenton added another 2:27 later. Macklin Celebrini spoiled Tristan Jarry's shutout with 8:41 left, and Jarry finished with 19 saves on 20 shots. Yaroslav Askarov stopped 17 of 20 and deserved better than the 20 shots his team managed at the other end. The Sharks got outshot, outscored and out-depth-charted by the Oilers' bottom six. San Jose's rebuild is past the teardown stage and still waiting on a building permit.

Florida threw a home opener and Kirill Kaprizov took over the party, scoring his seventh career hat trick as Minnesota won 4-1. Matt Boldy scored 53 seconds in, before the banner-night buzz had worn off. Kaprizov added a power-play goal at 6:18, and Michael McCarron and Bokondji Imama fought soon after, the most Florida pushback all night. Matthew Tkachuk scored unassisted early in the second to cut it to 2-1. Kaprizov answered less than three minutes later, then finished the hat trick into an empty net with 1:04 left, in the Panthers' own building. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 29 of 30 shots. Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves on 28. Hard to defend the Cup city when you can't defend one guy.

Tage Thompson scored on the power play eight minutes in, and Buffalo's lead lasted 2:12. Then Utah reeled off four straight goals and won 4-1 at KeyBank Center. Kailer Yamamoto tied it, Nick Schmaltz scored his sixth goal on a power play late in the second, and Anders Lee added another 2:01 later. John Marino finished it on the power play early in the third. Barrett Hayton had two assists, and Karel Vejmelka was barely bothered, stopping 23 of 24. Colten Ellis made 26 saves on 30 shots. MacKenzie Weegar and Peyton Krebs fought at the end of the second, which was the only time a Sabre won a puck battle all night. Buffalo's playoff drought now has its own season-ticket package.

Sixty-five minutes, 60 shots and zero goals, and Montreal won 1-0 in a shootout. Jacob Fowler started his second straight game for the Habs and stopped all 30 shots. Daniil Tarasov did the same at the other end, 30 saves on 30 shots, and got nothing for it. The shootout went six rounds of misses (Caufield, Suzuki, Hutson, Raymond, DeBrincat, Larkin) before Zachary Bolduc beat Tarasov. Nate Danielson then missed, and the night was over. One team had a 23-year-old goalie and a reason to celebrate. The other had Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond and couldn't buy one goal in 65 minutes or six attempts. Detroit's offense has the scoring touch of a Zamboni.

Matt Murray made his first NHL start since January 2024, and Nashville led 2-0 in Ottawa for most of the night before losing 3-2 in a shootout. Ross Colton scored first and Jonathan Marchessault added a power-play goal in the first. Tim Stützle cut it in half on a second-period power play. With Linus Ullmark pulled, Drake Batherson tied it at 18:37 of the third. Ryan O'Reilly scored in the shootout's first round, but Stützle and Shane Pinto answered, and Steven Stamkos missed to end it. Murray stopped 18 of 20 shots and Ullmark stopped 16 of 18. The Preds held a two-goal lead until the final 83 seconds and lost anyway. Nashville protects a lead like it protected its last few playoff hopes.

Forty-five shots, two goals in 65 minutes and a skills competition to settle it: Pittsburgh beat Dallas 2-1 in a shootout. Connor Dewar broke the deadlock 1:57 into the third off a Blake Lizotte feed, so the fourth line did what the stars wouldn't. Then Tyler Seguin, with Jake Oettinger pulled for the extra attacker, tied it with 30 seconds left. It was his first goal since November's ACL injury. Arturs Silovs stopped 24 of 25 and Oettinger made 19 saves on 20, so the goalies earned their pay. In the shootout, Ben Kindel, Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell all scored, Seguin and Wyatt Johnston answered, and Mikko Rantanen's miss in the fourth round ended it. Radek Faksa left with a lower-body injury. Dallas outshot Pittsburgh 25-20 and still lost, which is very Stars: always close, from conference finals to breakaway contests.

Carolina went into Chicago and won 5-2, and the Blackhawks were lucky it was only three. Mark Jankowski scored with 57 seconds left in the first. Early in the second, the Canes scored three goals in under four minutes. Sebastian Aho scored shorthanded for the second straight game, which is great for him and awkward for a Chicago power play that keeps handing the puck to the other team. Jackson Blake added his first of the season, and after Roman Kantserov's solo goal briefly got the United Center up, Taylor Hall made it 4-1. Jordan Martinook added a fifth in the third, and Oliver Moore got one back late. Mike Reilly had two assists, Carolina outshot Chicago 39-26, and Spencer Knight stopped 34 of 39 while getting no help. Brandon Bussi made 24 saves on 26. Chicago's rebuild has reached the stage where it gets beaten by the other team's penalty killers.

Columbus led St. Louis 2-0 after one period and lost 5-3. Being good for 20 minutes is something the Blue Jackets have mastered. Valeri Nichushkin opened the scoring, and Kent Johnson made it 2-0 with 12 seconds left in the first. Ross Johnston and Mathieu Olivier fought 21 seconds into the second, and the Blues took over from there. Jake Neighbours scored, then Jimmy Snuggerud scored twice in 3:30, and Dylan Holloway set up all three goals for a three-assist night. Cole Sillinger tied it 3-3 midway through the third. Less than three minutes later, Jonatan Berggren scored with the extra attacker on to put St. Louis ahead, and Pavel Buchnevich added an empty-netter. Jordan Binnington stopped 20 of 23, and Jet Greaves made 22 saves on 26. Columbus turned a two-goal lead into a two-goal loss in about 40 minutes, which is quick work even by its standards.

William Nylander had five points and reached 700 for his career as Toronto won 6-3 in Denver. Nathan MacKinnon was very good, and the Leafs were better. Nick Blankenburg scored first, then MacKinnon scored twice in the first period on eight shots and put Colorado up 2-1. Nylander tied it on the power play, Brock Nelson put Colorado back ahead, and Nylander tied it again. Then Easton Cowan scored 46 seconds later for a lead Toronto never gave back. Auston Matthews finished with two goals and two assists, a power-play goal and an empty-netter. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves on 33 shots for his first win as a Leaf. Mackenzie Blackwood allowed five goals on 22 shots. Colorado outshot Toronto 33-23 and lost by three at home. That takes a special kind of goaltending, and the Avalanche keep finding it.

Brandon Hagel scored a hat trick and the winner as Tampa Bay won 5-3 on Long Island. The Islanders had already spent the night climbing back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits. Jake Guentzel scored twice for the Lightning, once at even strength and once on the power play. Tony DeAngelo and Jean-Gabriel Pageau got New York back within one, and Brayden Schenn tied it 3-3 on the power play with seven seconds left in the second. The third period was scoreless until Hagel's go-ahead goal with 1:44 left, and 21 seconds later his empty-netter completed the hat trick. Nikita Kucherov had two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 of 23, and Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves on 25. Matthew Schaefer had eight shots in 27 minutes, and Scott Sabourin and Logan Stanley fought. The Islanders tied it twice and then left the slot open for the winner.

Anaheim won 4-2 in Calgary, and the Flames are 0-5 for the first time in franchise history. They're the only team without a point and have been outscored 27-8. Jackson LaCombe opened the scoring on the power play, Morgan Frost tied it, and Frank Vatrano put the Ducks back in front 45 seconds before the first intermission. Aydar Suniev scored his first NHL goal late in the second to tie it 2-2, which was the high point of Calgary's season so far. Then Ryan Poehling scored the shorthanded winner 5:35 into the third, because the Flames' power play hasn't hurt anyone except the Flames. Nikita Nesterenko added insurance, and Mikael Granlund had two assists. Ville Husso stopped 27 of 29, and Dustin Wolf made 24 saves on 28. Cutter Gauthier left early with an upper-body injury. Calgary's new arena should open before its first point arrives.

Every goal came on the power play, including Mitch Marner's in overtime, as Vegas beat Los Angeles 2-1. The Kings put themselves on the wrong side of special teams again. Trevor Connelly scored 2:37 into the second on the power play, and Artemi Panarin answered with a power-play goal less than four minutes later. Then the goalies took over. Carter Hart stopped 26 of 27 and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves on 32, enough to get the Kings a point. Scott Laughton and Nic Dowd fought in the second. Overtime ended at 2:40 with Marner scoring on the power play, set up by Mark Stone and Connelly, who each had two points. Stone had both assists on the winner. Los Angeles hung around, kept it close and still found a way to lose, the same thing it did in four straight first-round series against Edmonton.

Detroit outshot Seattle 40-24 at home and lost 6-3, which is about the most Red Wings sentence you can write right now. The Wings even led twice: 1-0 on Viktor Arvidsson's power-play goal and 2-1 on William Wallinder's first NHL goal. Then the second period showed up. Seattle scored four straight in under ten minutes, two from Frederick Gaudreau with Mackie Samoskevich and Ben Meyers in between, and John Gibson was done after 34 minutes and 10 saves on 15 shots. Daniil Tarasov made his Red Wings debut in relief (8 of 9). Meyers finished with a goal and two assists, Berkly Catton a goal and an assist, Brandon Montour two helpers, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 37. Vince Dunn added a power-play goal and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård scored his first NHL goal late. Forty shots and three goals: Detroit's offense works about as well as its PR department this month.

The Rangers scored first and then spent 50 minutes finding out what Logan Thompson looks like on a good night. Alexis Lafrenière's power-play goal in the first, his fourth already, held until the second, when Timothy Liljegren tied it and Boone Jenner went in alone at 17:38 to put Washington ahead for good. Tom Wilson's empty-netter with one second left made it 3-1. Thompson stopped 21 of 22. Igor Shesterkin left after 28 minutes (13 saves on 14 shots) and Dylan Garand finished it, 11 of 12, so New York's goaltending held up fine. The rest of the lineup put 22 shots on net in 60 minutes. The Rangers' power play scored once; the other 58 minutes looked like a team waiting for a cab on Seventh Avenue in the rain.

Columbus outshot Pittsburgh 45-22 and still needed a shootout, because Sergei Murashov decided he'd be the whole Penguins team. Damon Severson, in his season debut, scored the opener and set up Mathieu Olivier for 2-0 in the second, Cole Sillinger assisting on both. Then the Penguins remembered they employ Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin: Rust got one back in the second and Malkin tied it 3:19 into the third, his third of the year. Murashov made 43 saves through 65 minutes. Cam Talbot, in his Blue Jackets debut, needed only 20 on 22 shots. The shootout lasted one goal: Kent Johnson scored in the first round, and Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov and Ben Kindel all missed. Pittsburgh got outshot two to one and left with a point, the hockey version of leaving the casino up five bucks after losing your car.

Anaheim walked into Winnipeg and won 5-1 with goals from guys the Jets' scouting report probably listed as "also dressed." Judd Caulfield opened it late in the first, Tim Washe made it 2-0 in the second, and Jeff Malott set up both. Sam Colangelo made it 3-0 early in the third before Kyle Connor, already at six goals, got Winnipeg on the board. Mikael Granlund answered three and a half minutes later, and Nikita Nesterenko added the empty-netter. Lukas Dostal stopped 15 of 16. Clay Stevenson made 12 saves on 16 shots at the other end. Travis Mitchell and Adam Lowry dropped the gloves at the end of the first, the most pushback Winnipeg offered all night. Sixteen shots on goal at home: the Jets' offense is about as easy to find as Connor Hellebuyck this month.

Utah outshot Boston 37-22 and lost by five, which is like winning the argument and getting dumped anyway. The Bruins scored three in the first, Mittelstadt, Pastrnak on the power play and Lohrei, and Sebastian Cossa was on the bench after five saves on eight shots. Karel Vejmelka didn't stop the bleeding: Pastrnak and Geekie scored on the power play early in the second, and Matthew Poitras, the kid Friedman says Edmonton asked about, made it 6-0. Pastrnak finished with two goals and two assists, Geekie a goal and two helpers, and Boston scored three times on the man advantage. Jeremy Swayman stopped 36 of 37 and lost the shutout to Jack McBain midway through the third. Utah's penalty kill spent the night holding the door open, and the Mammoth's shot total will look great on a poster nobody buys.

Dallas needed only 18 shots to score four in Buffalo, and the Sabres made every one of them feel like a bargain. Jason Robertson opened it in the first, then the Stars put it away in a six-minute stretch of the second: Sam Steel, Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz on the power play. Rantanen had a goal and three assists, Wyatt Johnston three helpers, and the top of the lineup finally looked like the team that was supposed to show up in week one. Jake Oettinger stopped all 26 shots for the shutout. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 14 saves on 18, and Tage Thompson fired six shots with nothing to show for it. Buffalo outshot Dallas and still never scored, which is a pretty good summary of the last decade and a half of Sabres hockey: plenty of effort, no playoff tickets printed.

Montreal led 2-0 midway through the second, outshot Nashville 34-20, and lost by three. Nick Suzuki scored unassisted and Alex Newhook added one from Josh Anderson, and the Bell Centre was warming up the party. Then Alexander Kerfoot got the Predators on the board and Matthew Wood tied it on the power play with 32 seconds left in the second. Ryan O'Reilly won it on another power play with 3:16 to go, and Adam Edstrom scored two empty-netters 71 seconds apart, his only two goals of the season, both into a vacant cage. Roman Josi and Steven Stamkos had two assists each, and Juuse Saros made 32 saves. Jacob Fowler stopped 15 of 18, and Arber Xhekaj logged 10 penalty minutes on a night Nashville scored twice on the power play. The Habs built a two-goal lead and then handed it back like a rental car with an empty tank.

Philadelphia played a tight, tidy road game in Ottawa and lost it anyway, which is now a Flyers tradition five games long. Nick Cousins gave the Senators the lead in the first, Matvei Michkov tied it on a second-period power play from Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny, and the game sat at 1-1 until Carter Yakemchuk's power-play goal with just under seven minutes left. Claude Giroux had an assist on the winner, back to haunt his old team for a few more minutes. Linus Ullmark stopped 28 of 29 and never looked bothered. Joseph Woll made 24 saves on 26 for Philly and deserved more company on the scoresheet. The Flyers are 0-3-2 and have found every way there is not to win: blowouts, overtimes, and now the classic one-goal special. At this rate the Broad Street Bullies are going to need a Broad Street rebrand.

Tampa scored twice in 36 seconds early in the first and spent the rest of the night guarding the lead like a beach parking spot in July. Anthony Cirelli opened it at 5:26, and John Carlson, wearing the wrong shade of blue for anyone who still has Capitals muscle memory, made it 2-0 at 6:02. Quinn Hughes answered for Minnesota early in the second; Carlson got that one back on the power play off Nikita Kucherov, his second goal on a night he put nine shots on net. Blake Coleman's power-play goal cut it to 3-2 at 14:01 of the second, and that's where it stayed: Dennis Hildeby stopped 34 of 36 and shut the door for the last 26 minutes. Hughes played 32:36, with a goal and an assist, which is a lot of hockey to end with an empty feeling. Jesper Wallstedt made 32 saves in the loss. The Wild outshot Tampa and still went home with nothing, a Minnesota specialty that's lasted longer than most of their playoff runs.

Vancouver flew all the way to Raleigh to serve as a power-play clinic. K'Andre Miller scored 78 seconds in, Andrei Svechnikov added two power-play goals before the first was half over, and it was 4-0 when Mark Jankowski scored early in the second. Logan Stankoven then took over: a shorthanded goal, a power-play goal 58 seconds before the second intermission, and the hat trick in the third, all three with Sean Walker getting an assist. Carolina scored four goals with somebody in the box, three on its own power play and one on Vancouver's. Kevin Lankinen allowed six on 18 shots and gave way to Leevi Meriläinen for the third, who stopped 15 of 16. Jake DeBrusk scored both Canucks goals, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 18 saves. The Canucks' penalty kill has the structural integrity of a wet napkin, and Carolina noticed.

The Islanders did just enough on Long Island, and Chicago did just enough to make sure it wasn't close. Bo Horvat scored on the power play with 59 seconds left in the first off rookie Matthew Schaefer, and Emil Heineman and Anthony Duclair made it 3-0 in the second. Ilya Sorokin stopped 22 of 23 and only lost the shutout when Frank Nazar scored with Arvid Soderblom pulled at 17:26 of the third, with Patrick Kane on the assist. Horvat hit the empty net 61 seconds later for his second of the night. Nazar's night ended with a match penalty for an illegal check to Horvat's head, and the Sun-Times reports the league could take a look. Soderblom made 15 saves on 18. The Blackhawks keep promising the rebuild is almost done, and the scoreboard keeps asking for another year's rent.

San Jose has decided regulation is for other teams. Connor McMichael gave St. Louis the lead 3:52 in, Tyler Toffoli tied it in the second off a feed from Michael Misa, and Dillon Dube put the Blues back in front with a shorthanded goal 99 seconds into the third. Collin Graf answered at 6:05, and then Darnell Nurse, of all people, ended it 63 seconds into overtime from Ivar Stenberg and Alexander Wennberg. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 24 of 26 for the Sharks, and Joel Hofer made 24 saves on 27 for the Blues. Toffoli finished with a goal and an assist. The Sharks' first two wins this season also came in overtime, so the kids are learning to close; the Blues, meanwhile, scored a shorthanded go-ahead goal in the third on home ice and still let a team full of teenagers walk out with the extra point.

Colorado's defensemen outscored Calgary on their own. Devon Toews scored twice, Cale Makar added two goals and an assist, and Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two helpers in a 7-3 romp at the Saddledome. Adam Klapka tied it 1-1 late in the first, and that was the last time this one looked like a contest: the Avs scored three in under five minutes of the second and two more early in the third. Jaden Schwartz scored twice, Noah Juulsen picked up his first point as an Avalanche player on the Toews goal, and Zachary L'Heureux dropped the gloves with Matt Coronato in the second. Mikael Backlund and Kevin Bahl scored 71 seconds apart in the third, which made it 6-3 for about a minute before Schwartz answered. Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves; Devin Cooley stopped 23 of 30. Calgary's season is starting to look less like a rebuild and more like a demolition with season tickets.

Toronto led 3-0 eight and a half minutes into the game and still lost, in Vegas, with Mitch Marner on the other bench. Jack Roslovic scored 34 seconds in, Easton Cowan and Nick Paul followed, and then the Leafs did the thing. Mark Stone got one back late in the first, Brett Howden scored early in the second with Marner picking up an assist against his old team, and Jack Eichel tied it with an extra skater on at 3:58 of the second. After that, nobody scored for 56 minutes. Sergei Bobrovsky made 40 saves on 43 and dragged Toronto to a shootout; Adin Hill stopped 21 of 24. Braeden Bowman and Kirill Marchenko traded goals, Matthews, Nylander, McKenna and Tavares all missed, and rookie Trevor Connelly won it in the fifth round. A three-goal lead, a shootout and Marner on the winning side: it's every Leafs fan's recurring nightmare, now available in Nevada.