The Florida Panthers, who lead the NHL with 12 points, ran their season-opening winning streak to six games by defeating the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Monday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Florida got goals from Joe Thornton, Frank Vatrano, Aaron Ekblad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Anthony Duclair. Sam Bennett and Brandon Montour added two assists each, and Huberdeau also had a two-point night.
Panthers 20-year-old rookie goalie Spencer Knight made 18 saves and improved to 6-0-0 since making his NHL debut late last season.
Arizona, winless in six games (0-5-1), lost starting goalie Carter Hutton due to a lower-body injury. He made 10 saves on 11 shots but left after the first period. The Coyotes got goals from Clayton Keller, Liam O’Brien and Phil Kessel. Karel Vejmelka, who replaced Hutton for the final two periods, made 26 saves.
Sabres 5, Lightning 1
Victor Olofsson scored twice, Craig Anderson made 35 saves and host Buffalo beat Tampa Bay for the first time in almost three years.
Olofsson, who has a team-leading four goals, notched the first tally and finished the scoring with an empty-netter late in the third period. Robert Hagg posted a goal and an assist, Vinnie Hinostroza and Drake Caggiula scored and Tage Thompson added two assists.
Alex Killorn tallied for the Lightning, who still have not scored in the first period or led at any point of regulation in their six games. Backup goalie Brian Elliott made his first start for the Lightning and stopped 20 of 23 shots.
Hurricanes 4, Maple Leafs 1
Sebastian Aho, Steven Lorentz and Nino Niederreiter scored second-period goals as Carolina defeated Toronto Maple in Raleigh, N.C., running its franchise-best start to 5-0-0.
Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen, playing against his former team, made 24 saves. Andersen has been the winning goaltender in every Carolina game this season. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net goal to go with an assist on the team’s first goal. Jaccob Slavin had two assists.
Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs. Toronto goalie Jack Campbell stopped 31 shots, including all 15 that he faced in the first period.
Capitals 7, Senators 5
T.J. Oshie had a hat trick and Alex Ovechkin scored twice to lead visiting Washington to a wild win over Ottawa.
Nick Jensen and John Carlson also scored goals and 20-year-old center Connor McMichael garnered the first two assists of his career for the Capitals.
Drake Batherson had a hat trick and an assist, Josh Norris added a goal and an assist and Chris Tierney also scored a goal for Ottawa, which lost its third straight game.
Blues 3, Kings 0
Ville Husso made 34 saves for his second career shutout as St. Louis blanked visiting Los Angeles.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and David Perron added an empty-net goal for the Blues, who have started 5-0-0 for the first time in franchise history.
Jonathan Quick stopped 32 of 34 shots for the Kings, who are winless (0-4-1) in their past five games. The Kings, who were already missing cornerstone defenseman Drew Doughty (lower-body injury), lost defenseman Sean Walker to a right leg injury during the first period.
Blue Jackets 4, Stars 1
Gregory Hofmann, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Zach Werenski each had a goal and an assist and Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves as Columbus beat visiting Dallas.
Alexandre Texier also scored for the Jackets, collecting an empty-net goal late in the third period.
Tyler Seguin scored for Dallas, which outshot Columbus by a 32-26 margin but delivered another inconsistent offensive performance. Stars goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 22 of 25 shots.
Flames 5, Rangers 1
Andrew Mangiapane tallied twice while Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund both collected one goal and one assist to lead visiting Calgary past New York.
Chris Tanev also scored in the win, and Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves for the Flames, who have won three consecutive games to kick off a five-game road trip.
Dryden Hunt replied for the Rangers, whose four-game winning streak was snapped. Goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 32 shots.
–Field Level Media
