Vladislav Gavrikov scored at 3:21 of overtime as the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied for a 4-3 home victory over Vancouver on Tuesday as the Canucks blew a multi-goal lead and lost for a record fourth straight game to open the season.
Off a two-on-one, Yegor Chinakhov (two assists) slid a cross-slot pass to Gavrikov, who blew it past Vancouver goaltender Spencer Martin (29 saves) for the Blue Jackets’ first win in four tries this season.
Gavrikov also added an assist, Johnny Gaudreau registered a goal and an assist, and Justin Danforth and Zach Werenski also scored for Columbus, which got 32 saves from Elvis Merzlikins.
Bo Horvat scored twice and Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, who already had set an NHL record by losing their first three contests in a season while holding multi-goal leads in each one. That happened again Tuesday after Vancouver, which has opened with four straight defeats for the first time in club history, led 2-0 following the first period.
Flames 3, Golden Knights 2
Mikael Backlund scored the game-winner with 4:29 remaining as Calgary rallied from a two-goal, first-period deficit to defeat visiting Vegas.
Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli also scored goals and Jonathan Huberdeau had two assists for Calgary, which improved to 3-0-0 to start a season for the first time since winning their first four in 2009-10. Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves.
William Carrier and Brett Howden scored goals for Vegas, which took its first loss in four games this season. Thompson finished with 37 saves.
Kings 4, Predators 3 (SO)
Defenseman Matt Roy scored twice in the third period to tie the game and Gabriel Vilardi had a goal in regulation and the lone shootout tally as Los Angeles rallied to win in Nashville.
Down 3-1 after two periods, Los Angeles was relentless during the third, when it owned a 15-3 shots-on-goal advantage. Roy, who had no more than four goals in any of his four previous seasons, scored two of his three on the young campaign to force overtime and beyond.
Cody Glass, Filip Forsberg and Tanner Jeannot all scored for Nashville.
Islanders 5, Sharks 2
Oliver Wahlstrom scored twice and New York defeated visiting San Jose in Elmont, N.Y.
Anders Lee, Zach Parise and Cal Clutterbuck also scored for the Islanders, who have won two in a row after dropping their season opener. Brock Nelson, Noah Dobson and Adam Pelech each added two assists. Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves.
Evgeny Svechnikov had a goal and an assist and Nico Sturm scored a goal for the Sharks, who have lost their first five games of the season. James Reimer stopped 41 shots for the Sharks in the opener of their four-game road trip.
Senators 7, Bruins 5
Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson all had one goal and two assists as Ottawa beat visiting Boston.
The Senators scored three goals in each of the first two periods and overcame a four-goal middle frame by Boston. Artem Zub also had a multi-point night with a goal and an assist. Anton Forsberg made 29 saves as Ottawa’s winning netminder.
Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak each had a goal and two assists, while Jake DeBrusk dished out two helpers. Jeremy Swayman made 19 saves in two periods for Boston. Linus Ullmark had five more during the final frame.
Flyers 3, Lightning 2
Noah Cates notched the winning goal off a turnover as visiting Philadelphia won its third straight to open the season, rallying to beat Tampa Bay.
With the game tied at 2 in the third period, Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak turned the puck over in front of his crease. Cates found the puck in the slot, spun quickly and whipped in his first goal at 12:44 for the winning marker. Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Philadelphia recorded its third consecutive comeback win behind goals from Scott Laughton and James van Riemsdyk. Carter Hart stopped 36 of 38 shots.
Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, whose career-best to open a season was three straight games with a goal in 2010-11, netted a pair of one-timers on the power play in a span of 2:47 to set the second-longest season-opening streak in franchise history. Nikita Kucherov scored eight times over the first seven games of the 2017-18 campaign.
Devils 4, Ducks 2
Nico Hischier had a goal and an assist as New Jersey earned its first win by beating Anaheim in Newark, N.J.
Ondrej Palat, Dougie Hamilton and Dawson Mercer also scored and Mackenzie Blackwood made 18 saves for the Devils, who had started the season with consecutive 5-2 losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings. New Jersey’s Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes added two assists apiece.
Jakob Silfverberg scored two goals and Anthony Stolarz made 37 saves for the Ducks, who have dropped the first three games of their five-game road trip. They won their home opener before starting the trek.
Sabers 4, Oilers 2
Eric Comrie made a career-high 46 saves to help Buffalo to a win against host Edmonton.
Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, JJ Peterka and Alex Tuch scored for the Sabres. Darnell Nurse and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers, and Stuart Skinner made 20 saves.
Dahlin got Buffalo on the board first with a power-play goal at 4:00 of the first period. After center Casey Mittelstadt won the faceoff, Dahlin took the loose puck to the high slot for his third goal of the season and the 1-0 lead. With the tally, the 22-year-old became the second defenseman in Sabres history to score in each of the team’s first three games.
–Field Level Media
