Sebastian Aho powers Hurricanes to OT win and ties road‑opener record

Sebastian Aho delivered a standout performance with two goals and an assist on Shayne Gostisbehere’s overtime winner as the Carolina Hurricanes edged the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Saturday night. The deciding goal came on a power play at 2:51 of overtime, when Gostisbehere, facing his former team, hammered a slap shot past Joseph Woll.

Aho opened the scoring just 10 seconds into regulation by finishing off a feed from William Carrier behind the net, then tied the game 2-2 in the third period on a one-timer set up by Nikolai Ehlers with the man advantage. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 16 shots for Carolina.

The victory, Carolina’s first of the season after two losses to start its Stanley Cup title defence, also carried historical weight. The Hurricanes have now won their road opener in nine consecutive seasons, matching an NHL record originally set by the Flyers from 1980 to 1988. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour becomes the first bench boss to win nine straight road openers.

Chabot scores as captain, Halliday lifts Senators past Maple Leafs

In Toronto, the Ottawa Senators spoiled the Maple Leafs’ home opener with a 3-2 win. Stephen Halliday snapped a third-period tie at 9:46, and Linus Ullmark made 27 saves. Thomas Chabot had a goal and an assist in his debut as captain, while Michael Amadio supplied the other Ottawa goal. Claude Giroux chipped in two assists.

Auston Matthews and Kirill Marchenko replied for Toronto. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 26 shots but took the loss as the Maple Leafs dropped to 1-2 on the young season.

Lightning bounce back, Penguins survive scare, Mammoth roll

In Tampa, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves to backstop the Lightning to a 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals in their home opener. Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Conor Geekie scored in the first period, both set up by Brandon Hagel, who finished with two assists. Jake Guentzel added an empty-netter and an assist. Justin Sourdif had the lone Washington goal, while Charlie Lindgren stopped 27 shots for the Capitals.

In Pittsburgh, Tommy Novak completed a two-goal night by scoring at 1:33 of overtime to give the Penguins a 6-5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Pittsburgh blew a four-goal second-period lead before regrouping in extra time. Evgeni Malkin recorded a power-play goal and two assists, reaching 1,411 career points to move past Dale Hawerchuk for 22nd on the NHL’s all-time list. Ben Kindel, Sam Girard and Declan Carlile also scored for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby picked up an assist, the 1,109th of his career, tying Hall of Famer Joe Thornton for seventh all-time.

In Columbus, Nick Schmaltz scored twice and the Utah Mammoth struck three times on the power play in a 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Mikhail Sergachev and Dylan Guenther also converted with the man advantage. Sebastian Cossa made 15 saves in his Utah debut. Clayton Keller had two assists to reach 600 NHL points and now has four helpers through two games this season. Kent Johnson scored for Columbus, Jet Greaves made 21 saves, and Matthew Knies registered an assist for his fourth point in two games with the Blue Jackets.

McDavid stays hot, Kulich completes comeback, Sorokin shuts door

In Edmonton, Connor McDavid continued his blistering start with a goal and an assist, giving him nine points through three games as the Oilers beat the Seattle Kraken 3-1 for their second straight win. Owen Michaels and Leon Draisaitl also scored for Edmonton, now 2-0-1. Devon Levi made 19 saves. Bobby McMann had the Kraken goal, while Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots.

In Buffalo, Jiri Kulich capped a comeback with the late winner in the Sabres’ 4-3 home-opening victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. The goal, with 6:40 remaining, was his first in nearly a year after blood clot issues sidelined him for the final 70 games last season. Rasmus Dahlin tied the game early in the third period, and Jack Quinn plus Tage Thompson also scored. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen faced 15 shots in the win. Oliver Moore, Ryan Donato and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Chicago, which fell to 0-3 after earlier road losses in Vegas and Utah. Spencer Knight made 24 saves.

In New York, Ilya Sorokin turned aside 36 shots for his 30th career shutout as the Islanders routed the New Jersey Devils 6-0 in their home opener. Simon Holmstrom, Brayden Schenn, Bo Horvat, Viktor Eklund, Ondrej Palat and Casey Cizikas handled the scoring. Matthew Schaefer, named the youngest assistant captain in Islanders history earlier in the week, had two assists. Nico Daws made 26 saves in the Devils’ first loss of the season after an opening win in Philadelphia.

In St. Paul, Kirill Kaprizov scored twice and Jesper Wallstedt stopped 26 shots as the Minnesota Wild downed the Boston Bruins 4-1. Quinn Hughes and Jared Spurgeon also scored for Minnesota, which improved its all-time home-opener record to 18-4-4, the second-best points percentage in such games behind Vegas. Tanner Jeannot scored for Boston. Michael DiPietro made 26 saves in his third NHL start and first since January 2022.

Wrapping up in Denver, the Colorado Avalanche cruised past the St. Louis Blues 6-1 with a four-goal second period that included tallies by Nicolas Roy and Martin Necas just 23 seconds apart. Necas finished with two goals and an assist and already has four points through two games after posting the first 100-point season of his career in 2025-26. Nathan MacKinnon added three assists and has five points in Colorado’s two lopsided wins to open the schedule.