Booed relentlessly on Saturday night, Mikko Rantanen silenced the Colorado Avalanche fans by scoring the winning goal during the shootout.
His team’s third shooter, Rantanen beat Scott Wedgewood with a quick wrist shot to put pressure on Colorado. His friend and former teammate Nathan MacKinnon was unable to score and the Dallas Stars triumphed 5-4.
Besides his shootout goal, Rantanen was relatively discreet with an assist and two shots on goal.
Drafted by the Avalanche, Rantanen spent ten seasons with Colorado, notably winning a Stanley Cup. He was then traded to the Hurricanes last season, then to the Stars, with whom he agreed to a long-term contract.
Saturday night’s game did not mark his return to Colorado, since he notably faced the Avalanche in the playoffs last season. Rantanen still put in his two cents in the first period, when his pass allowed Thomas Harley to open the scoring with a powerful slap shot.
The two teams then exchanged several goals, so that Dallas’ lead was 3-2 with 20 minutes to play.
In the first minute of the third period, MacKinnon caught a pass with his skate and brilliantly put the puck into the mouth of the net for Artturi Lehkonen, who tied the game with his second goal of the season.
Dallas regained the lead thanks to a breakaway goal from Wyatt Johnston, but MacKinnon once again took charge to make it 4-4. During a power play in the middle of the period, MacKinnon took advantage of a nice pass from Martin Necas to score with a good one-timer.
MacKinnon finished the game with a goal and two assists to bring his tally to six points in three games this season. Necas also helped with a goal and two assists, while Gavin Brindley scored for the first time in his career in the Avalanche loss.
Nathan Bastian and Jason Robertson hit the mark in the victory for the Stars, who were able to count on Jake Oettinger in great form in front of the cage. Oettinger made several spectacular saves at the end of the match, notably with a desperate glove save at the expense of Necas in the last minute of overtime.
Oettinger finished the game with 35 saves.
The Avalanche will return to action against the Buffalo Sabers on Monday, while the Stars will face the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
A tasty return to Pittsburgh for Sullivan
Mike Sullivan’s return to Pittsburgh on Saturday night certainly left a pleasant taste for the head coach.
Now head coach of the New York Rangers, Sullivan enjoyed a 6-1 victory over the Penguins. Sullivan was thus able to take his revenge, after a 3-0 defeat against the same Penguins at Madison Square Garden in his first game of the season.
Fired by the Penguins last April, Sullivan spent ten seasons as the team’s driver between 2015 and 2025. Sullivan notably led them to two consecutive Stanley Cup victories, in 2016 and 2017.
Sullivan had a 409-255-89 record behind the Penguins bench.
On Saturday night, the Rangers scored five unanswered goals to win convincingly.
Adam Fox had a strong game with two goals and an assist. Mika Zibanejad, Will Cuylle, Matt Rempe and Taylor Raddysh also scored for the Rangers.
Fox gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the second period, when he took advantage of heavy traffic in front of the net to score with a good wrist shot. Later in the period, the same power play strategy allowed him to increase New York’s lead to 4-1.
The Penguins’ lone goal in the game came from the team’s 2025 first-round pick, Ben Kindel.
At the start of the second period, Kindel restarted the attack and surprised Igor Shesterkin with an excellent wrist shot from the glove side.
He became the youngest Penguins player to score a goal since Jordan Staal in March 2007.
The Rangers will return to action on Sunday to face the Washington Capitals. For their part, the Penguins have a meeting with the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday evening.
Kane and DeBrincat rule the roost
Lucas Raymond scored two goals, including the 100th of his career, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3.
Raymond’s 100th goal broke a 3-3 tie 6:45 into the third period. He scored on a slap shot following a pass from Patrick Kane on the power play.
Kane had a goal and two assists. Marco Kasper, Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp also scored, while Emmitt Finnie got his first career point with an assist on Raymond’s opening goal.
Alex DeBrincat added three assists. Cam Talbot made 20 saves and also had an assist on an empty-net goal from Edvinsson.
Nicolas Roy, Calle Jarnkrok and Max Domi responded for the Maple Leafs. Anthony Stolarz stopped 29 shots.
In the loss, the Leafs lost the services of forward Steven Lorentz to an upper-body injury.
He played only three shifts for a total of 1:17 of playing time before being injured late in the first period. He was not on his team’s bench for the start of the second period and the team announced that he was not going to return to the game.
Celebrini shines, but the Ducks win
Leo Carlsson scored 46 seconds into overtime and the Anaheim Ducks overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period to win 7-6 over the San Jose Sharks.
Cutter Gauthier and Chris Kreider each scored two goals for the Ducks. Beckett Sennecke added her second goal of the season, while Alex Killorn also scored. Mason McTavish collected three assists. Petr Mrazek blocked 17 shots.
After the Sharks missed an empty-net shot late in the third period, Kreider scored his second goal with 49.5 seconds left, forcing overtime.
The Sharks won the faceoff in overtime, but Macklin Celebrini missed a shot and the Ducks recovered the puck to set up Carlsson’s game-winning goal.
Celebrini had a strong game with three assists, as did his teammate Will Smith.
Tyler Toffoli, Ryan Reaves, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg, Adam Gaudette and Jeff Skinner all moved the ropes for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 36 saves.
Marchenko takes matters into his own hands
Kirill Marchenko scored the fourth hat trick of his career, Elvis Merzlikins made 48 saves in his first game of the season, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Minnesota Wild 7-4.
Zach Werenski and Boone Jenner each had a goal and two assists, while Adam Fantilli scored for the Blue Jackets, who took the lead on a Miles Wood wrist shot just 2:29 into the game and never trailed.
Kirill Kaprizov scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist for the Wild, just 11 days after signing the most lucrative contract in NHL history.
Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, while Zeev Buium scored his first NHL goal.
The Wild outshot 52-32, but lost 62% of faceoffs and wasted several early scoring opportunities due to erratic play.
Guenther shines in overtime
Dylan Guenther scored 2:56 into overtime and the Utah Mammoth rallied to win 3-2 against the Nashville Predators.
Logan Cooley and Jack McBain also scored for Mammoth, and Guenther added an assist. Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves.
Filip Forsberg and Erik Haula responded for the Predators, and Juuse Saros blocked 20 shots in the loss.
In overtime, Guenther caused a turnover from Fedor Svechkov and then headed alone in front of Saros before beating him with a backhand between the pads.
The Bruins continue to win
Jeremy Swayman made 21 saves, Pavel Zacha, Mark Kastelic and Sean Kuraly scored and the Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabers 3-1.
The Bruins thus extended their winning streak at the start of the season to three.
Jason Zucker was the only scorer for the Sabres. Alex Lyon stopped 28 shots in his second consecutive loss to start the season.
Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jordan Harris made his debut in a Bruins uniform in the absence of defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who was injured in his lower body.
Harris had an assist on Zacha’s first goal of the season in the first period.
The Devils have the last word
Connor Brown scored twice, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier each had a goal and two assists, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3.
It was a first victory this season for the Devils.
Jesper Bratt also scored for the Devils, while rookie Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes each had two assists.
Jacob Markstrom finished the game with 14 saves.
Darren Raddysh, Yanni Gourde and Ryan McDonagh responded for the Lightning, who started the season 0-2 for the first time under Jon Cooper and the first time since 2008-09.
Andrei Vasilevskiy rested 22 rounds.
Edmonton has the upper hand over Vancouver
A Leon Draisaitl backhand shot into an empty net sealed the victory for the Edmonton Oilers, who beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1.
Noah Philp and Andrew Mangiapane also found the back of the net for the Oilers, who got their first win of the season.
Brock Boeser responded for the Canucks, who failed to qualify for the playoffs last spring after finishing first in the Pacific Division the previous season.
Calvin Pickard only needed 14 saves for the Oilers’ victory, while Thatcher Demko stopped 34 shots for the Canucks.
In the loss, Quinn Hughes collected his 410th point, surpassing Alexander Edler for first place in Canucks history for points by a defenseman.
Vegas falls to McCann
Jared McCann scored with four seconds remaining in overtime to lead the Seattle Kraken to a 2-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
McCann, posted in front of the opposing net, recovered a return shot from Matty Beniers.
Beniers also scored the Kraken’s only goal in regulation time, while Vince Dunn collected two assists. Joey Daccord made 26 saves.
Pavel Dorofeyev responded for the Golden Knights with his NHL-high fifth goal of the campaign. Adin Hill stopped 20 pucks.
Jarvis plays the hero
Seth Jarvis scored with 16.7 seconds left in overtime, giving the Carolina Hurricanes a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Jarvis also scored the deciding goal in the Hurricanes’ first game this season against the Devils. Jarvis, who already has three goals, continues his momentum from the 2024-2025 season, when he finished first among his team’s scorers.
Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal also made moves for the Hurricanes. Frederik Andersen made 20 saves.
Bobby Brink had a goal and an assist, while Owen Tippett and Travis Sanheim also scored for the Flyers. Samuel Ersson stopped 35 shots.
The Flyers lost their first two games of a season for the first time in 10 years.
Defenseman Jaccob Slavin missed the majority of the third period and his condition is unknown.
