WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored four goals to become the first player in 100 years with back-to-back hat tricks to open a season, and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Saturday night.
Ovechkin had three goals in the third period in Thursday's victory at Ottawa, and then matched the feat while helping chase Montreal goalie Carey Price in the first period Saturday. He added his fourth goal at 16:46 of the second against Al Montoya.
It was the fourth four-goal game of his career and second against the Canadiens.
Three players had hat tricks in the first two games of the 1917-18 season: Cy Denneny of Ottawa, Joe Malone of Montreal and Reg Noble of Toronto, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Braden Holtby stopped 38 shots and T.J. Oshie also scored for Washington.
PENGUINS 4, PREDATORS 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored, Matt Murray stopped 26 shots and the Penguins beat the Predators in a Stanley Cup Final rematch.
Olli Maatta, Ryan Reaves and Jake Guentzel also scored in Pittsburgh's first win in its third game of the season. The two-time defending champion Penguins were coming off an ugly 10-1 loss at Chicago at Thursday night.
Reaves, acquired in a June trade with St. Louis, also fought Austin Watson and Cody McLeod, finishing with 24 penalty minutes. He skated on a line with Sidney Crosby when the game turned chippy in the third period.
Murray, who allowed 11 goals on 65 shots in his first two games, posted his sixth career shutout.
Juuse Saros, who earned his first NHL win last October against Pittsburgh, stopped 30 shots for Nashville.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2, COYOTES 1, OT
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — James Neal's goal at 3:46 of overtime gave expansion Vegas its second win in two games.
Neal, who scored twice in the Golden Knights' first regular-season game Friday at Dallas, completed a comeback that saw Vegas tie the score at 1 with 1:12 to play in regulation. Anti Raanta, in his first game as the new No. 1 goaltender in Arizona, stopped 42 shots.
Vegas, unable to put a shot past Raanta for nearly the entire game, drew even at 1 on Nate Schmidt's goal. The Golden Knights had pulled goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 2:18 to play for an extra attacker, and the move paid off.
Fleury made 27 saves.
BLACKHAWKS 5, BLUE JACKETS 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Brandon Saad, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and assist to lead Chicago over Columbus.
Richard Panik also scored and Jan Rutta got his first NHL goal as Chicago followed up on a season-opening 10-1 rout of Pittsburgh with another solid performance.
Sonny Milano scored for the Blue Jackets, who blanked the New York Islanders 5-0 in their opener Friday in Columbus.
Corey Crawford made 32 saves for Chicago, while Joonas Korpisalo blocked 24 shots.
DEVILS 4, AVALANCHE 1
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Hobey Baker Award winner Will Butcher set up three power-play goals, and the Devils opened the season with a victory over the Avalanche.
Adam Henrique, Jimmy Hayes, rookie Jesper Bratt and John Moore scored for New Jersey, and Cory Schneider made 40 saves.
Carl Soderberg scored for Colorado, a second after a power play expired. Jonathan Bernier had 35 saves for the Avs, who opened their season on Thursday with a win over the Rangers.
Butcher became the first player in franchise history to get three assists in his first game.
HURRICANES 5, WILD 4, SO
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jaccob Slavin scored in the shootout, sending Carolina to the win.
Victor Rask scored late in regulation and Sebastian Aho had two key assists while Noah Hanifin, Joakim Nordstrom and Derek Ryan also scored to help Carolina win its opener.
Mikko Koivu sent it to overtime by scoring in the final second of regulation. Jason Zucker, former Carolina captain Eric Staal and Chris Stewart also scored for the Wild.
Scott Darling made 23 saves in his debut as a full-time starter in the NHL and his first game with the Hurricanes. Alex Stalock stopped 38 shots for the Wild.
ISLANDERS 6, SABRES 3
NEW YORK (AP) — John Tavares scored twice to lead New York over Buffalo in its home opener.
Casey Cizikas had two goals and an assist, and Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier also scored for the Islanders, who won a night after losing 5-0 at Columbus. Jaroslav Halak stopped 26 shots.
Evander Kane scored twice and Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who are still seeking their first win under new coach Phil Housley. Robin Lehner gave up four goals on 16 shots and was pulled early in the second. Chad Johnson finished with 15 saves.
MAPLE LEAFS 8, RANGERS 5
TORONTO (AP) — Tyler Bozak, Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri scored third-period goals and the Maple Leafs held off the Rangers in their wild home opener.
It was an adventure in defending for both teams at times, with Toronto pulling ahead 5-1 in the first period and chasing Henrik Lundqvist before the Rangers scored four straight to quiet the Air Canada Centre crowd.
Bozak made it 6-5 Toronto at 7:17 of third, redirecting a pass from the corner from Jake Gardiner over Ondrej Pavelec's glove. The Rangers lost a challenge that the play was offside, earning a minor penalty in the process.
Zach Hyman scored twice, and Dominic Moore, Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev added goals for Toronto.
J.T. Miller, Kevin Shattenkirk, Mika Zibanejad, Marc Staal and Mats Zuccarello scored for the Rangers.
BLUES 4, STARS 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jake Allen made 38 saves and the Blues used three first-period goals to beat Dallas and spoil coach Ken Hitchcock's return to St. Louis.
Carl Gunnarsson, Joel Edmundson and Jaden Schwartz each scored in a five-minute span in the first, and Vladimir Tarasenko added a power-play goal in the third.
John Klingberg and Mattias Janmark scored for Dallas. Kari Lehtonen made 17 saves.
Hitchcock coached the Blues for six seasons, going 248-124-41 before being fired last February. He was hired as the Stars coach in April.
KINGS 4, SHARKS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Anze Kopitar had two goals, Dustin Brown and Nick Shore also scored and Los Angeles beat San Jose.
Jonathan Quick stopped 24 of 25 shots to earn the victory. The Kings won their road opener for first-year coach John Stevens.
Mikkel Boedker scored for the Sharks, who have lost their first two home games. Martin Jones, a former Kings goalie, turned back 25 of 29 shots before he was replaced by Aaron Dell with 5:55 left in the second period.
FLYERS 3, DUCKS 2, OT
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Wayne Simmonds scored 44 seconds into overtime to give Philadelphia a victory over Anaheim.
The puck ricocheted off Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano's skate and directly to the open Simmonds. He quickly gained control and snapped a shot past goalie John Gibson for the Flyers' second victory in three games.
Ivan Provorov and Sean Couturier also scored for Philadelphia, and Nolan Patrick got his first NHL point assisting on Provorov's goal. Patrick was the second-overall draft pick this summer. Brian Elliott stopped 21 shots.
Antoine Vermette and Cam Fowler scored for Anaheim. Gibson had 34 stops.
FLAMES 6, JETS 3
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) —
Johnny Gaudreau scored the go-ahead goal and had three assists for Calgary, down 3-1 after the first period. Brodie and Gaudreau each tied career highs with four-point games.
Micheal Ferland, Kris Versteeg and Mikael Backlund also scored, and Mike Smith made 25 saves for his first victory with Calgary.
Brandon Tanev, Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine scored for the Jets. Steve Mason, pulled after giving up five goals in a 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, stopped 39 shots.
Flames newcomer Jaromir Jagr wasn't in the lineup because he wanted more time to recover his game legs.
PANTHERS 5, LIGHTNING 4
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jared McCann scored the tiebreaking goal for Florida in the third period after a review overturned the initial ruling of goalie interference.
Evgenii Dadonov and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist, and Vincent Trocheck and Colton Sceviour also scored for the Panthers. James Reimer made 26 saves.
Panthers coach Bob Boughner, who was hired on June 12, recorded his first NHL win.
Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 43 shots. Steven Stamkos had two assists.
RED WINGS 2, SENATORS 1
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Frans Nielsen scored the only goal in the shootout, lifting Detroit to the road win.
Martin Frk had the lone goal in regulation for the Red Wings, who got 37 saves from Jimmy Howard.
Dion Phaneuf found the back of the net for Ottawa, which dropped its second straight game in a shootout. Craig Anderson looked impressive making 29 stops.
CANUCKS 3, OILERS 2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Bo Horvat scored twice, Jacob Markstrom settled down to make 33 saves after allowing a goal on the game's first shot and Vancouver beat Edmonton.
Brandon Sutter also scored for the Canucks, the last team in the NHL to start their season. Travis Green made his debut as an NHL head coach.
Kris Russell had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had the other goal for the Oilers.
Cam Talbot allowed three goals on seven shots before being lifted early in the second period. Laurent Brossoit stopped all 19 shots he faced in relief.
The Associated Press