SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers matched the best 11-game start in NHL history and denied the Carolina Hurricanes what would have been a league record-tying start of their own, with Anthony Duclair getting two goals and two assists in a 5-2 victory on Saturday night.
Spencer Knight made 28 saves for Florida (10-0-1), which tied the 1994-95 Pittsburgh Penguins and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres as the only NHL teams to reach 21 points after 11 games.
Carolina (9-1-0) was bidding to join the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs and those ‘06-07 Sabres as the lone teams to start a season 10-0-0. The Hurricanes hadn’t trailed by more than two goals in any of their first nine games, but were down 4-0 in the first period against Florida and couldn’t pull off a comeback.
It was the first game in NHL history pitting two teams with season-opening point streaks of at least nine games.
Frank Vatrano, Anton Lundell and Patric Hornqvist also had goals for Florida, which got two assists from Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour. Duclair had all three of his points in the first period, sparking Florida’s 4-0 game-opening burst.
Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen was pulled after the first period, having given up four goals on 14 shots. But he returned midway through the second when Antti Raanta had to leave the game following a collision with Florida’s Ryan Lomberg. Andersen ended up with 24 saves, and Raanta had four.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist for Carolina, and Jesper Fast also scored for the Hurricanes.
COYOTES 5, KRAKEN 4
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Lawson Crouse scored two goals, including the game-winner with 1:05 remaining, to give Arizona its first win — 5-4 over Seattle.
The Coyotes avoided breaking the franchise record for most losses to start a season, set in 2017-18. The only team with a worse start in NHL history was the 1943-44 New York Rangers, who lost their first 11 and didn’t get their first win until their 16th game.
The lead changes came quick at the end of the third period Saturday. Phil Kessel’s power play goal with 6 minutes to play put the Coyotes on top, then Seattle’s Mark Giordano tied the game — just 13 seconds before Crouse’s goal.
Shayne Gostisbehere had assists on three of Arizona’s goals, adding to his team-high seven assists and eight points. Antoine Roussel and Travis Boyd also scored for the Coyotes.
Scott Wedgewood, who relieved Karel Vejmelka only 59 seconds into the game after the Kraken scored twice, stopped 27 shots. It was Wedgewood’s first appearance of the season for Arizona.
For the Kraken, Jordan Eberle tallied 15 seconds into the game and Yanni Gourde scored at 59 seconds. Nathan Bastian also scored his first of the season. Philipp Grubauer stopped 17 shots for Seattle.
WILD 5, PENGUINS 4, SO
PITTSBURGH — Nick Bjugstad scored the deciding goal in a shootout that came after Minnesota erased two-goal deficit against Pittsburgh in the final five minutes of regulation.
Bjugstad, who had 16 points in 45 games during parts of two seasons with Pittsburgh, beat Tristan Jarry with a wrist shot in the shootout. Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala also scored in the shootout for the Wild, who won for the third time in five games.
The Wild pulled Cam Talbot and got a goal from Jared Spurgeon (his second of the game) with about 4:20 left in the third period. Ryan Hartman tied the game with 1.1 seconds to play in regulation after a net-mouth scramble. Kaprizov also scored in regulation and Talbot made 35 saves.
Pittsburgh’s Kasperi Kapanen scored his first career hat trick in regulation, but he was stopped in the shootout. Kapanen, who netted 11 goals with Pittsburgh last season, hadn’t scored in the team’s first nine games.
Jake Guentzel scored his third goal and Jarry made 36 saves, but Pittsburgh lost for the fourth time in five games.
Kaprizov, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, opened the scoring at 9:44 of the first period. It was his second goal in as many games following an eight-game drought to start the season.
RED WINGS 4, SABRES 3, OT
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Moritz Seider scored 3:45 into overtime and Tyler Bertuzzi had two goals and two assists in Detroit’s rally over Buffalo.
Rookie Lucas Raymond had three assists and Pius Suter added a goal and an assist for the Red Wings. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 29 shots as Detroit snapped a four-game skid to close out a four-game road trip.
Rasmus Dahlin scored his first goal of the season for the Sabres, who have lost four in a row after a 5-1-1 start. Tage Thompson and Arttu Ruotslainen had the other goals, and Rasmus Asplund had two assists to extend his point streak to six games. Dustin Tokarski made 29 saves.
DEVILS 3, SHARKS 2, SO
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Damon Severson scored in the third round of a shootout to help New Jersey snap a three-game skid with a win over San Jose.
Janne Kuokkanen scored for New Jersey with 2:56 left in the third period to force overtime.
Ryan Graves also scored and goalie Jonathan Bernier turned back 25 shots for the Devils, who went to overtime on the road for the second straight day.
Jonathan Dahlen and Rudolfs Balcers had the goals for San Jose, which was seeking its third straight win but blew a pair of leads.
New Jersey was 0 for 4 on the power plays, and the Sharks went 1 for 3.
Sharks goalie James Reimer made 26 saves.
FLYERS 2, CAPITALS 1
WASHINGTON — Derick Brassard and Sean Couturier scored in the second period and Martin Jones stopped 31 shots as Philadelphia beat Washington.
Brassard, who had just returned to the ice after being penalized for bench interference when he punched Washington’s Garnet Hathaway, scored from the left circle at 11:18, beating Vitek Vanacek. It was his second goal of the season and was assisted by Cam Atkinson and Justin Braun.
Moments later, Jones, who has won each of his three starts this season, stopped Carl Hagelin’s breakaway to keep the Flyers ahead.
Couturier scored on a rebound after Vanacek deflected Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot at 15:44, making it 2-0. It was Couturier’s fifth goal of the season.
Vanacek stopped 30 shots for Washington.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, CANADIENS 2
MONTREAL — Alex Pietrangelo and Chandler Stephenson each had a goal and an assist, and Las Vegas rallied to beat Montreal.
Jonathan Marchessault, Dylan Coghlan and Brayden McNabb also scored for Vegas, which was outshot 20-1 and trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes. Robin Lehner finished with 36 saves.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Toffoli also scored for Montreal, which fell to 3-10-0 after reaching the Stanley Cup final last season. Jake Allen finished with 13 saves on 16 shots.
Vegas scored three times in the second to take the lead. Pietrangelo got the Golden Knights started with a power-play goal that deflected off Jeff Petry and past Allen at 5:16. It was Vegas’ first with the man-advantage this season.
BLUE JACKETS 4, AVALANCHE 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus stretched its winning streak to three games by beating Colorado with a three-goal third period.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored with 30 seconds left in the game, following Cole Sillinger’s goal with 32 seconds earlier and Alexandre Texier’s with about six and a half minutes left. Gabriel Carlsson also scored, while Elvis Merzlikins stopped 33 shots and added an assist for his fifth win this year.
Andre Burakovsky scored twice for the Avalanche, and Darcy Kuemper had 38 saves.
The assist was Jakub Voracek got his 10th assist of the season and fifth in three games, extending his point streak to three games.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, BRUINS 2
TORONTO — Auston Matthews and John Tavares had two goals as Toronto picked up its fifth straight victory by defeating Boston.
Mitch Marner added an empty-netter and had three assists for Toronto, while Jack Campbell made 40 saves. Morgan Rielly chipped in with two assists of his own, and Tavares had one.
Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak scored for Boston, which got 31 stops from Linus Ullmark. Brad Marchand had two assists.
The Leafs and Bruins last played Nov. 15, 2019 — a stretch of more than 720 days — when Boston picked up a 4-2 victory in Toronto in the final days of the Mike Babcock era.
FLAMES 6, RANGERS 0
CALGARY, Alberta — Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and an assist, Jacob Markstrom made 22 saves for his league-best fourth shutout of the season and Calgary extended its point streak to 10 games with a win over New York.
Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and three assists to stretch his point streak to six games, and Sean Monahan, Brad Richardson and Milan Lucic also scored for Calgary. The Flames improved to 7-0-3 for their longest point streak since an 11-game run from Dec. 13, 2017, to Jan. 25, 2018.
Igor Shesterkin had 31 saves to fall to 5-2-2 for the Rangers, who lost their second straight and finished 1-1-2 on a four-game trip.
Markstrom, who improved to 5-1-3, had a big stop early in the second period to preserve a 1-0 lead. Chris Kreider, who entered the night tied for third in the NHL with eight goals, was set up in the slot by Barclay Goodrow on a rush, but was denied by Markstrom.
ISLANDERS 2, JETS 0
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Anders Lee and Brock Nelson scored and Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves as New York ended Winnipeg’s undefeated string at home.
Sorokin, playing his ninth consecutive game to start the season, stopped 24 shots for his third shutout.
Backup goalie Eric Comrie stopped 29 shots for the Jets, falling to 3-1.
The Islanders opened the scoring early when Josh Bailey found Lee all alone in front. His wrist shot beat Comrie high to the glove side at 3:12 of the first period.
New York narrowly missed doubling its lead just a couple of minutes later when Mathew Barzal was by himself in virtually the same spot, but Comrie thwarted him with his right pad.
LIGHTNING 5, SENATORS 3
OTTAWA, Ontario — Steven Stamkos scored his sixth goal of the season to break a tie midway through the third period and Ondrej Palat added the game-winner with under two minutes to play as Tampa Bay beat Ottawa.
Victor Hedman, Jan Rutta, and Anthony Cirelli also scored for the Lightning and Brian Elliott stopped 24 shots.
Connor Brown, newly appointed captain Brady Tkachuk, and Logan Shaw scored for Ottawa and Matt Murray made 29 saves.
Tampa Bay has recorded points in five consecutive games.