It was a very busy 2nd night of the NHL season, with 12 games on the docket. Here is your NHL roundup for games played on Oct. 9th. For a detailed recap of Ottawa’s loss to Nashville, check out Eldrinson’s recap here. Here is what went on elsewhere in the league.
Brendan Gallagher had the shootout winner as the Montreal Canadiens won for the second straight night, 2-1 over the Washington Capitals. Dustin Tokarski got the win a night after Carey Price beat the Maple Leafs. Tokarski made 29 saves and stopped Alex Ovechkin and Andre Burakovsky in the sudden death portion of the shootout to allow Gallagher to be the hero. Tomas Plekanec tied the game for Montreal midway through the third period after Burakovsky had scored his first career goal in his NHL debut 6:43 into the first, a period that Montreal didn’t get a shot on goal and was dominated by the Caps.
Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist scored third period goals for the Detroit Red Wings, allowing them to overcome a 1-0 deficit and beat the Boston Bruins 2-1. Jimmy Howard made 16 saves for the win and was only beaten by Patrice Bergeron after a Red Wing defensive zone turnover. Johan Franzen assisted on both Detroit goals.
With the 1984 Stanley Cup Champion team in the house, the Edmonton Oilers dropped their season opener 5-2 to the provincial rival Calgary Flames. Calgary scored twice in the first period courtesy Mason Raymond and Jiri Hudler goals a minute apart to take a 2-0 lead. Teddy Purcell later in the first and Taylor Hall midway through the second scored power play goals to make the game even after 40 minutes. However, the third was all Flames as Raymond scored two more for the hat trick and T.J. Brodie capped it off with a last minute power play goal. Joe Colborne had assists on all 3 Raymond goals. Karri Ramo made 38 saves for the win in the Flames net.
It was an old-school shootout in Pittsburgh as the Penguins outlasted the Anaheim Ducks 6-4. Corey Perry had a hat trick for the Ducks with Ryan Kesler adding a goal and 2 assists in his Ducks debut, but it wasn’t enough. Pascal Dupuis had a goal and 3 assists for the Pens, with Sidney Crosby adding a pair and an assists and Olli Maatta chipping in 3 assists.
Rick Nash had 2 goals and an assists for the New York Rangers as they upended the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Jaden Schwartz and Paul Stastny scored for the Blues. It was a scary night for the Blues as star free agent signee Stastny went knee to knee with a Rangers’ defender. He left the game but did return. The news wasn’t so good for Rangers prize free agent acquisition Dan Boyle, who broke his hand blocking a shot and left the game.
Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little each had a pair of goals to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. Wheeler added an assist and Tobias Enstrom and Zach Bogosian each had a pair of assists for the Jets. Mark Stuart and Dustin Byfuglien scored the other goals for the Jets, who lost Evander Kane with what appeared to be a knee injury after colliding with teammate Mark Scheifele at the Coyotes blue line. Mikkel Boedker and Martin Hanzal scored for Arizona.
After ending their season with an overtime game 7 winner, the Minnesota Wild dominated the Colorado Avalanche in each team’s season opener 5-0.
In another high scoring affair, the New Jersey Devils outlasted the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4, led by 2 goals from new Devil Mike Cammalleri. Michael Ryder added a goal and 2 assists, while Wayne Simmonds had a two goals and an assist in a losing cause for the Flyers.
Cam Atkinson and Artem Anisimov scored third period goals to break a 1-1 tie as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1. Jack Skille had opened the scoring in the second period for CBJ, while Zemgus Girgensons tied it with the lone Sabres goal. Sergei Bobrovsky had to make just 16 saves for the win while Jhonas Enroth was peppered with 40 shots.
