PITTSBURGH, Penn. – The Pittsburgh Penguins put an end to their slide Thursday night, in addition to slowing down the rise of the Colorado Avalanche.
Buoyed by Reilly Smith’s two-goal performance, the Penguins inflicted their first defeat in seven games this season on Colorado, winning by a score of 4-0.
Pittsburgh thus ended a series of three losses in a row, on the way to a third victory this season.
The Avalanche’s six-game winning streak to start the season still tied an organization record (since the team has been in Colorado), which was set in 2013-2014.
In addition to Smith’s double, the Penguins took advantage of goals from Lars Eller and Sidney Crosby to cruise to victory.
In front of the Penguins cage, Tristan Jarry repelled all 31 shots aimed at him to obtain his second shutout of the season. In the Avalanche camp, Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 24 shots. Ivan Prosvetov scored with just over eight minutes left in the third period.
The Penguins wasted no time in showing their true colors to the Avalanche. In the first minutes of the game, Smith recovered a loose puck at the top of the slot to score with a wrist shot and open the scoring.
Smith returned before the end of the opening period to increase the Penguins’ lead to two goals. This time, he took advantage of a beautiful pass without looking from Evgeni Malkin in excess to score in a free cage.
Pittsburgh maintained its rhythm in the middle period. After six minutes of play, Eller recovered a loose puck in the slot after a turnover caused by Radim Zohorna and the former Canadiens scored his first goal in a Penguins uniform to make the score 3-0.
The Penguins then took advantage of the Avalanche’s defensive generosity to add more in the third period. Midway through the engagement, Jake Guentzel intercepted a pass from Nathan MacKinnon in the opposing zone, before leaving it behind for Crosby. The Penguins captain completed the sequence with a wrist shot to score his fourth goal of the season.
The Penguins face the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, while the Avalanche will look to bounce back quickly with a showdown against the Buffalo Sabers on Sunday.
The Bruins are no longer perfect
In Boston, the Bruins came within two minutes of remaining undefeated in seven games this season. The Anaheim Ducks, however, mounted a late two-goal comeback to steal a 4-3 victory in overtime.
Rookie Leo Carlsson was a key part of the Ducks’ offensive success with a late goal as well as the assist on the game-winning overtime goal, which was scored by Mason McTavish.
Troy Terry scored the tying goal with 15 seconds left in the third period, while Radko Gudas also scored in the Ducks’ triumph. This is the first time this season that the Bruins have allowed more than two goals to a team.
The Bruins were trying to set a new team record with their seventh straight victory to open the season. However, they will not have been able to surpass the mark which had stood since 1937-1938, and which had been equaled on Tuesday.
So, with the losses to the Avalanche and Bruins, the Vegas Golden Knights are the only team still undefeated in the NHL with their record of 7-0-0.
Charlie McAvoy produced offensively with three assists, while Charlie Coyle, Matt Grzelcyk and David Pastrnak were the scorers.
It was the Ducks who opened the scoring when Gudas scored the only goal of the first period.
Boston opened the machine in the middle period with three consecutive goals to build a 3-1 lead with 20 minutes remaining in the game.
The Bruins’ lead held until the very end of the third period. With less than two minutes remaining, Carlsson recovered a puck in the slot and scored his second NHL goal to cut the lead in half.
Then with 15 seconds left in the third period, Terry sent everyone into overtime when his pass attempt in front of the net was accidentally deflected by Brad Marchand behind Linus Ullmark.
In overtime, Carlsson spotted McTavish in excess and the latter ended the match with a sharp wrist shot.
John Gibson signed the victory after a performance of 27 saves, while Ullmark allowed four goals on 32 shots.
Woll still inspiring for the Leafs
A 30-save performance from Joseph Well helped the Toronto Maple Leafs post a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.
Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, while Mitch Marner, Tyler Bertuzzi and John Tavares – the latter in an empty net at 19:50 of the third period – also scored.
Since replacing teammate Ilya Samsonov after ten minutes of play last Saturday, Woll has stopped 94 of the 96 shots he faced, for an efficiency of 97.9%.
Woll also scored three victories for the Leafs (5-2-0) during this brilliant series of individual and collective successes.
Mason Marchment was the only scorer for the Stars (4-1-1), who had won three games in a row.
In front of the Dallas cage, veteran Scott Wedgewood gave up three times on 24 shots.
Necas stuns the Kraken
Martin Necas scored his second match goal on the 45e shot by the Carolina Hurricanes, who had a 3-2 advantage over the Seattle Kraken in overtime.
Necas was spectacular, contributing to his team’s three goals.
His wrist shot into the upper part of the net beat Joey Daccord with only 10 seconds left in overtime.
The Kraken (2-4-2) thought they were heading for a two-point haul, but Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is off to a smoldering start to the season, tied the game with 4:24 left in the third period.
The Finnish center has nine points (4-5) in eight games.
Seattle started the game well by hitting the target twice in less than four minutes at the expense of Frederik Andersen, halfway through the first.
Olivier Bjorkstrand scored his second goal of the campaign, before helping the visitors double the lead when he fed Devin Shore.
The Canes (4-4-0), however, showed resilience to overcome the Kraken, challenging Daccord abundantly during the last two engagements.
Sharks humiliated in Tampa Bay
Faced with a team still without a victory, the Tampa Bay Lightning had a real offensive feast to win 6-0 against the San Jose Sharks.
The Sharks therefore remain the only team on the Bettman circuit without a win this season, with their record of 0-6-1 in seven games.
Brayden Point, Michael Eyssimont, Steven Stamkos, Brandon Hagel, Nicholas Paul and Luke Glendening all scored in the Lightning’s victory.
Defensemen Nick Perbix, Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev all finished the game with two assists. In the victory, only four Lightning players did not collect a point.
Jonas Johansson stopped all 23 pucks aimed at him to earn a second straight shutout, after shutting out the Hurricanes on Tuesday.
Mackenzie Blackwood was removed from the game after giving up five goals on 21 shots. In relief, Kaapo Kahkonen blocked nine pucks.
Hellebuyck stands in front of the Wings
Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves, including 19 in the third period, as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1.
Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor scored 62 seconds apart in the first period, while Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter each had a goal and an assist for the Jets (4-3-0).
The Winnipeg team has won three consecutive games since it started the year losing three of its first four meetings.
Lucas Raymond was the only scorer for the Wings (5-2-1), who lost two games in a row (0-1-1) after a series of five victories. James Reimer made 24 saves.
Captain Dylan Larkin provided an assist to extend his point streak to eight games.
This is the longest such streak by a Detroit player since Henrik Zetterberg began the 2017-2018 calendar by collecting a point or more in his first 17 games, a team record.
The Jets still have to make do without their head coach, who is at his wife’s bedside.
Things don’t change in Edmonton
Leon Draisaitl said Thursday morning that while he wasn’t ready to hit the panic button, things needed to change. His message was clearly not heard since the Edmonton Oilers suffered a 3-0 loss against the New York Rangers.
Edmonton has now allowed 30 goals in seven games this season, putting the team at over four goals allowed per game. In front of the Oilers net, Stuart Skinner’s 29 saves were not enough for him to obtain his first victory of the season.
The Oilers have now lost their last four games, while the Rangers have triumphed in their last three outings.
Adam Fox, Braden Schneider and Alexis Lafrenière scored to lead the Rangers to victory.
The Quebecer is off to a good start to the campaign with four goals in seven duels. Fox, Schneider and Artemi Panarin all finished the game with two points.
Jonathan Quick repelled the 29 shots aimed at him to heal the 59e shutout of his career. He joined Evgeni Nabokov at 20e rank in NHL history in this regard.
Flyers feast at Wild’s expense
Bobby Brink scored his first two goals in the National Hockey League, Sean Couturier, Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim also scored and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Minnesota Wild 6-2.
Goaltender Carter Hart blocked 26 pucks in front of the Flyers (4-2-1) net while Cam Atkinson contributed to the winning attack with three assists.
Dakota Mermis and Marcus Foligno scored the goals for the Wild (3-3-1), who began a trip of three games in four days on the east coast on Thursday. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson blocked 29 pucks.
The Flyers entered Thursday’s game with a 1-for-20 power play record, the worst in the NHL through the first two weeks or so of the season.
On Thursday night, they scored twice in three attempts with goals scored midway through the second period to pull away from their rivals.
First, Couturier took advantage of a loose puck, which he slipped into the goal off Gustavsson’s left pad for his second goal of the season, after missing the entire 2022-23 season due to two surgeries in the back.
Brink followed up less than three minutes later with his first career goal.
The flame was very pale in Calgary
Kasperi Kapanen and Nick Leddy each scored their first goal of the campaign, and the St. Louis Blues blanked the Calgary Flames, 3-0.
Rookie goaltender Joel Hofer recorded his first NHL shutout victory, making 26 saves.
Hofer, 23, played in two games with the Blues in 2021-2022, then six more last season.
Kapanen’s goal, scored against Jacob Markstrom while shorthanded, was followed 2:01 later by Leddy’s goal.
Oskar Sundqvist took advantage of an ill-advised pass from Nazem Kadri to send Kapanen on a breakaway.
Leddy hit the target with a slapshot from the point.
The 2-0 score remained until Sundqvist completed the scoring into an empty net with just under two minutes remaining in the third period.
