Buffalo, NY (Sports Network) - Thomas Vanek had two goals and three assists to
help the Buffalo Sabres open their season with a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia
Flyers on Sunday. Jason Pominville also had three assists, while Steve
Ott, Cody Hodgson and Tyler Myers all scored for the Sabres, who missed the
playoffs for the third time in the past five seasons after an 89-point
performance in 2011-12. Ryan Miller stopped 27-of-29 shots. Sean Couturier
and Claude Giroux each lit the lamp for the Flyers, who opened the season on
Saturday with a home loss to the Penguins. Ilya Bryzgalov gave up four goals
on 40 shots in the loss.
Final Score: San Jose 4, Calgary 1
Calgary, AB (Sports Network) - Patrick Marleau tallied twice in a three-goal
second period as the San Jose Sharks posted a 4-1 victory over the Calgary
Flames at the Saddledome. Martin Havlat and Dan Boyle added scores for the
Sharks, who opened up their abbreviated 2013 slate with a win in a brief
western Canadian trip. Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton posted two assists each,
while Antti Niemi stopped 31 shots. Lee Stempniak provided the sole offense
for the Flames, who host Anaheim on Monday. Miikka Kiprusoff made 25 saves in
defeat.
Final Score: Pittsburgh 6, NY Rangers 3
New York, NY (Sports Network) - James Neal tallied two goals and Evgeni Malkin
added three assists, as the Pittsburgh Penguins downed the Rangers, 6-3, on
Sunday, ruining New York's home opener at the renovated Madison Square Garden.
Tyler Kennedy, Matt Niskanen, Pascal Dupuis and Kris Letang each scored once,
while Sidney Crosby notched his first point of the season with an assist for
the Penguins, who opened the season with a 3-1 win over Philadelphia. Tomas
Vokoun started in place of Marc-Andre Fleury and made 31 saves in the victory.
Rick Nash recorded his first goal as a Ranger, while Taylor Pyatt and Ryan
Callahan also lit the lamp for New York, which fell to 0-2 on the season.
Henrik Lundqvist surrendered four goals on 18 shots before being removed in
favor of Martin Biron, who stopped all but one of the 20 shots he faced.
Final Score: Minnesota 1, Dallas 0
St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Zach Parise scored the lone goal of the
contest and Josh Harding stopped all 24 shots he faced as the Minnesota Wild
edged the Dallas Stars, 1-0, at Xcel Energy Center. Harding recorded his
seventh career shutout for the Wild, who were coming off a season-opening 4-2
win at Colorado on Saturday. It stole the spotlight from Christopher Nilstorp,
who made 31 saves in his first NHL game for the Stars, who won 4-3 in Phoenix
less than 24 hours prior.
Final Score: Edmonton 3, Vancouver 2 (SO)
Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Ales Hemsky netted the deciding goal in the
shootout, as the Edmonton Oilers rallied from a two-goal deficit to
overcome the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, at Rogers Centre. Hemsky beat Canucks
netminder Roberto Luongo cleanly with a wrister to end the second round,
following up Sam Gagner's backhander on Edmonton's first try. Devan Dubnyk
stopped both Alex Edler and Alex Burrows to salt away the victory. Hemsky and
Jordan Eberle scored in regulation for the Oilers, who halted a four-game
slide to their division rivals in their season opener. Dubnyk ended up with
27 saves. Edler and Zack Kassian tallied for the Canucks, who put together
a better effort than Saturday's 7-3 loss to Anaheim but were lucky to come up
with one point. Luongo finished with 30 stops in his first start of the year.
Final Score: Chicago 6, Phoenix 4
Glendale, AZ (Sports Network) - Marian Hossa exacted his revenge against the
Phoenix Coyotes for ending his season early last year. Hossa, who had to be
taken off on a stretcher after a vicious check from Phoenix forward Raffi
Torres in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal, posted a pair of
goals in Sunday's rematch, as the Chicago Blackhawks bested the Coyotes, 6-4,
at Jobing.com Arena. Torres still has six games left on his 21-game
suspension, while Hossa bounced back admirably from the cheap shot,
registering two goals and an assist in Chicago's season-opening win over the
defending champion Los Angeles Kings. Dave Bolland added two goals and an
assist for the Blackhawks, who went on to lose their postseason matchup
against the Coyotes in six games. Shane Doan, playing in his 1,200th NHL game
-- all with Phoenix -- recorded a goal and an assist, while Mike Smith allowed
all six goals on 31 shots for the Coyotes, who lost their opener on Saturday,
falling 4-3 to the Dallas Stars.
The Sports Network