National Hockey League Game Capsules

Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – The New York Islanders have had their struggles against the San Jose Sharks at home, but took care of business in a shootout win that sent their Western Conference foe to a rare road loss on Long Island. John Tavares scored the game-winning goal in the fifth round of the shootout to lift the Islanders to a 4-3 win over the Sharks on Thursday. San Jose, which was playing its final game at Nassau Coliseum as the Islanders make the move to Barclays Center next season, had gone 7-1-0 with a tie in its last nine road games against New York. Tavares added two assists in regulation, while Kyle Okposo, Nick Leddy and Josh Bailey each scored for the Islanders, who have opened the season with four straight wins for just the third time in franchise history and first since 2001-02. Jaroslav Halak stopped 20-of-23 shots in the win.

Final Score: Dallas 3, Pittsburgh 2

Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Tyler Seguin scored on the power play with 2.9 seconds left to lift the Dallas Stars over the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, on Thursday. Trailing 2-1 late in the third period, Dallas forward Jason Spezza appeared to tie the game with 3:33 to go. But Seguin made contact with Marc-Andre Fleury and the goal was called off. The Stars took out their frustration with 2:57 left as Jamie Benn scored the tying goal. Benn batted in a loose puck in front of the net to make it 2-2. Dallas went on the power play with 9.6 seconds remaining when Sidney Crosby went off for tripping. Spezza then made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Seguin, whose wrist shot from the left circle got past Fleury. Antoine Roussel scored in the second stanza for the Stars, who snapped a six-game losing streak against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves. Crosby and Chris Kunitz scored power-play goals in the first period for the Penguins, who fell to 2-1-0 on the young season. Fleury stopped 25-of-28 shots.

Final Score: Washington 6, New Jersey 2

Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) – Alex Ovechkin remained hot, scoring in his third consecutive game, and the Washington Capitals posted a 6-2 win over the previously unbeaten New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Marcus Johansson broke a 2-2 tie in the second period and the Capitals scored three times in a span of 7:59 in the third. Braden Holtby made 26 saves for Washington, which has earned at least a point in each of its first four games (2-0-2). Rookie Damon Severson scored two goals in the first period for the Devils, who were seeking their first 4-0 start since 1995-96. Cory Schneider gave up five goals on 26 shots before being replaced by Scott Clemmensen, who stopped 6-of-7 shots in his season debut.

Final Score: NY Rangers 2, Carolina 1 (SO)

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – Rick Nash recorded the lone goal of the shootout to enable the New York Rangers to halt a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 decision over the Carolina Hurricanes from Madison Square Garden. After Nash beat Anton Khudobin down low after faking a backhand attempt to begin the third round, Henrik Lundqvist turned away a hard shot from Ryan Murphy to give New York its first home win after a pair of one-sided setbacks to open its current residency. The Rangers trailed 1-0 before Derick Brassard scored near the midway mark of the third period. Lundqvist, who had been shelled for 12 goals over the previous two games, bounced back to stop 29-of-30 chances and all three Carolina skaters in the shootout. Khudobin came up with 33 saves in the loss, the Hurricanes’ fourth straight to start the season. Chris Terry accounted for Carolina’s only goal.

Final Score: Montreal 6, Boston 4

Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) – Brendan Gallagher and Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau both scored twice as the Montreal Canadiens opened their home schedule with a 6-4 victory over the Boston Bruins at Bell Centre. Max Pacioretty finished with a goal and two assists and Jiri Sekac scored his first career goal for Montreal, which eliminated the rival Bruins from the last season’s playoffs in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. David Desharnais and Alexei Emelin supplied two assists apiece and Carey Price turned aside 25-of-29 shots in the win. Zdeno Chara, Loui Eriksson, Carl Soderberg and Simon Gagne all lit the lamp for Boston, which had Tuukka Rask allow five goals on 23 shots.

Final Score: Ottawa 5, Colorado 3

Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) – Clarke MacArthur scored the tiebreaking goal during a third-period outburst that propelled Ottawa to a 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche in the Senators’ home opener. Bobby Ryan, who signed a seven-year contract extension on Oct. 2, scored his first goal of the season in the third and Chris Neil added an empty-netter for the Senators, who went 2-1-0 on their season-opening road trip. Craig Anderson made 28 saves as Ottawa snapped a seven-game losing streak to a Colorado team that saw its third-string goaltender play the majority of Thursday’s contest at Canadian Tire Centre. The Avalanche placed starter Semyon Varlamov on injured reserve with a groin injury earlier Thursday, then backup Reto Berra left 2:46 into the game after being involved in a collision with the Senators’ Kyle Turris. Colorado head coach Patrick Roy didn’t provide an update on Berra during his post-game press conference. Calvin Pickard, recalled from Lake Erie of the American Hockey League, stopped 23-of-27 shots in his NHL debut. The Avalanche fell to 1-3-1 on the young season after blowing a third-period lead for the second straight game. They were up 2-1 before losing 3-2 in overtime at Toronto on Tuesday.

Final Score: Los Angeles 1, St. Louis 0 (SO)

Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Jonathan Quick made 43 saves during regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. Jeff Carter scored the lone goal of the shootout as the Kings’ first skater, beating Brian Elliott with a wrist shot over the netminder’s pad and under his blocker. Quick stopped T.J. Oshie, Alex Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko to seal the Kings’ fifth straight home win against the Blues. Quick notched his 32nd career shutout, tying Rogie Vachon for first all-time in Kings history. Elliott was outstanding in defeat, making 18 saves for his 26th career shutout.

Categorized in: NHL