David Pastrnak and David Krejci accounted for seven points as the Boston Bruins opened the season with a 5-2 win over the host Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
Pastrnak (one goal, three assists) and Krejci (one goal, two assists) led the way offensively to give Jim Montgomery a victory in his first game as Bruins head coach.
Patrice Bergeron, Taylor Hall and Hampus Lindholm rounded out Boston’s scoring, while Linus Ullmark made 33 saves. The win came at a cost, however, as Jake DeBrusk suffered an upper-body injury and didn’t return for the third period.
Anthony Mantha and Conor Sheary scored for Washington, which had a streak of five consecutive season-opening wins snapped. Darcy Kuemper made 25 stops in his Capitals debut.
Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3
Josh Anderson scored the go-ahead goal with 19 seconds left in the third period to lift host Montreal past Toronto in the season opener for both teams.
Anderson’s winner completed a flurry of goals late in the third period. Sean Monahan gave Montreal a 3-2 lead at 17:30 with William Nylander tying it at 18:10. Cole Caufield scored twice for the Canadiens and Nick Suzuki added two assists.
Michael Bunting and Denis Malgin also scored for Toronto. John Tavares added two assists. Matt Murray made 19 saves in his debut for Toronto, while Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen stopped 29 shots.
Hurricanes 4, Blue Jackets 1
Martin Necas provided a goal and two assists, and Carolina won another season opener, defeating Columbus in Raleigh, N.C.
Seth Jarvis, Brady Skjei and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, who won their fourth straight season opener. Frederik Andersen made 31 saves for the victory.
Columbus’ Patrik Laine began the scoring, but the Blue Jackets fizzled in the latter part of the game. Goalie Elvis Merzlikins was scratched pregame due to an illness, so Daniil Tarasov got the start and stopped 39 shots.
–Field Level Media
