NEW YORK (AP) — Trent Frederic scored, Stuart Skinner stopped all 30 shots he faced and the back-to-back defending Western Conference-champion Edmonton Oilers beat the New York Rangers 2-0 on Tuesday night.
The Rangers became the first team in NHL history to get shut out in each of their first three home games of a season. Their 180-minute goal drought at Madison Square Garden is the second-longest, behind only the now-defunct Pittsburgh Pirates’ 187:19 in 1928.
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Skinner joined Washington’s Charlie Lindgren and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Arturs Silovs in blanking New York over the past eight days. His best save early came after Evan Bouchard turned the puck over, and Skinner denied Will Cuylle on a high-danger scoring chance in front. He also gloved a shot from Sam Carrick with 2:31 left.
Adam Henrique sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:08 left.
Igor Shesterkin turned aside 20 of the 21 shots the Oilers put on net. The only goal he allowed came midway through the second period when Kasperi Kapanen sprung Frederic in all alone past defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and beat Shesterkin five-hole.
New York had opportunities, including consecutive power plays that included 12 seconds of five-on-three time. Fans booed late in the second of those after Edmonton cleared the puck down the ice and again later to express their dissatisfaction.
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CAPITALS 3, LIGHTNING 2, OT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jacob Chychrun scored 1:19 into overtime and Washington beat Tampa Bay for its third straight win.
Tom Wilson had a goal and two assists, and Aliaksei Protas also scored for Washington, which came in with two straight road wins against the New York Islanders and Rangers. Dylan Strome also had two assists and Logan Thompson finished with 17 saves.
Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point scored for Tampa Bay, and Alexei Vasilevskiy had 25 saves. The Lightning have lost three of four.
With the score tied 1-1 after two periods, Point gave the Lightning the lead with a power-play goal 1:23 into the third as he tipped Victor Hedman’s shot past Thompson.
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Wilson tied it again at 4:56 with Washington’s first power-play goal of the season. The Capitals had failed on their first 10 chances, including two in this game.
The Lightning took a 1-0 lead 7:06 into the game. Off a faceoff in the Capitals’ zone, Anthony Cirelli sent the puck to Ryan McDonagh at the left point. McDonagh then sent a pass to Guentzel on the inside edge at the bottom of the right circle and the forward quickly beat Thompson for his first of the season.
Protas tied it for Washington with 2:22 left in the middle period. Connor McMichael chased down the puck behind the Lightning net and sent a pass back Protas on the left side and he quickly beat Vasilevskiy for his third of the season.
MAPLE LEAFS 7, PREDATORS 4
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TORONTO (AP) — Oliver Ekman-Larsson and John Tavares each had a goal and two assists and Toronto snapped a two-game skid with a win over Nashville.
Auston Matthews had two goals, including an empty-netter, and Jake McCabe and Bobby McMann also scored for Toronto. Cayden Primeau made 26 saves. William Nylander had two assists and added an empty-net goal. Matthew Knies finished with three assists.
Nick Perbix had a goal and an assist, and Michael McCarron, Erik Haula and Roman Josi scored for Nashville. Justus Annunen stopped 21 shots in a matchup of backup goaltenders.
Primeau, who was picked off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes last week with Joseph Woll away from the Maple Leafs due to a family matter, registered his first NHL victory since Nov. 27, 2024, with the Montreal Canadiens.
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Toronto head coach Craig Berube called a timeout after Nashville scored goals 44 seconds apart in the second period to erase a 2-0 deficit. The Maple Leafs pushed ahead when Tavares scored his first goal of the season by banging home a loose puck after a nifty give-and-go between Nylander and Ekman-Larsson. McMann made it 4-2 through 40 minutes.
CANADIENS 5, KRAKEN 4, OT
MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the game at 3:25 of overtime to give Montreal a win over Seattle.
Canadiens rookie standout Ivan Demidov tied the game with less than three minutes left in the third period, forcing OT.
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Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach also scored for Montreal. Samuel Montembeault made 18 saves as the Canadiens ran their winning streak to three games in the opener of a four-game homestand.
Caufield scored in a fourth straight Canadiens home opener. Newhook scored his first goal of the season in his 300th career NHL game. The goal was assisted by defenseman Alexandre Carrier, who played in his 300th game.
Jaden Schwartz, Jani Nyman, Jamie Oleksiak and Jared McCann scored for the Kraken, who dropped their first game of the season and the opener of a six-game trip. Joey Daccord stopped 17 shots.
McCann scored in his third straight game to start the season and also had an assist.