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Tag: NHL hockey

  • Tanev scores go-ahead goal in 2nd, Kraken beat Kings 4-1

    Tanev scores go-ahead goal in 2nd, Kraken beat Kings 4-1

    LOS ANGELES — Brandon Tanev scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period and the Seattle Kraken rebounded from an opening loss to beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Thursday night.

    Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg and Adam Larsson also scored for the Kraken and Martin Jones made 28 saves.

    Seattle bounced back from a 5-4 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night, when the Kraken squandered a two-goal lead in the third period.

    “We played hard for 60 minutes,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “In every way we were better with the puck, we were smarter and a lot of the areas that we wanted to address we did. But biggest thing is we just played together as a group.”

    Alex Iafallo had Los Angeles’ lone goal and Jonathan Quick stopped 18 shots.

    The Kings have dropped their first two games. Throughout the preseason, coach Todd McLellan preached getting off to a good start after Los Angeles went 1-5-1 in its first six games last year before rebounding and making the playoffs.

    “Well, it’s a losing streak to start the season already ’cause we’re at two and haven’t put one on the board yet,” a philosophical McLellan said. “You get to recreate yourself every year, and the reference point we had after Game 1 was last year. Now we have six periods in the bag, and much better defensively today. Gave up far fewer opportunities than we did against Vegas. Still many things to work on.”

    Tanev, who had nine goals and 15 points in 30 games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury, got his first goal in 11 career games against the Kings at 6:08 of the second period. He won possession of the puck in the corner, got past Adrian Kempe and then put a wrist shot above Quick’s shoulder on the short side.

    “They play a difficult system and a trap that’s tough to break. But I think when the simplicity of the game of is getting pucks in, forechecking and being physical it makes it easier,” Tanev said. “I think when you’re out there with guys that understand the way we need to play it makes the game easier and you just read off each other and communicate try to make things easy.”

    Seven minutes later, Wennberg gave the Kraken a two-goal advantage when he grabbed Matty Beniers’ pass at the front of the net and put it past Quick.

    It was tied 1-1 after 20 minutes after both teams scored on the power play. Seattle scored first at 5:21 Schwartz put in a rebound after Quick made a pad save on Jordan Eberle’s shot from the slot. Two minutes later, Iafallo evened it on a wraparound after the Kings won the faceoff.

    Larsson added an empty-net goal with 1:01 remaining.

    QUICK START

    Beniers had an assist and became the sixth player in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) to find the score sheet in at least 11 of his first 12 career games. He joins Jonathan Toews, Rob Gaudreau, Teemu Selanne, Dimitri Kvartalnov and Joe Sakic. Kvartalnov and Sakic had a point in their first 12 games.

    Beniers, the second overall pick in the 2021 draft, has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his first 12 games.

    CLARKE’S DEBUT

    Los Angeles defenseman Brandt Clarke made his NHL debut. The 19-year old Clarke, the eighth overall pick in the 2021 draft, is the 32nd teenager to play for the Kings and the fourth to make his debut in Todd McLellan’s four seasons as coach. The others were Tobias Bjornfot, Arthur Kaliyev and Quinton Byfield.

    UP NEXT

    Kraken: Have their home opener against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.

    Kings: Begin a five-game trip against Minnesota on Saturday night. Kevin Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles during the offseason, faces his former team for the first time.

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    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Matthews breaks tie in 3rd, Maple Leafs beat Capitals 3-2

    Matthews breaks tie in 3rd, Maple Leafs beat Capitals 3-2

    TORONTO — Auston Matthews broke a third-period tie, Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves against his former Washington teammates and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Capitals 3-2 on Thursday night.

    John Tavares and Calle Jarnkrok also scored and Morgan Rielly added two assists to help the Maple Leafs rebound from an opening 4-3 loss at Montreal on Wednesday night.

    “Good bounce-back win.” Matthews said.

    Nic Dowd and Marcus Johansson scored for Washington, coming off a 5-2 home loss to Boston on Wednesday night. Charlie Lindgren stopped 36 shots.

    “A start we don’t want to have,” Washington captain Alex Ovehckin said. “A wake-up call.”

    Matthews scored at 6:55 of the third, his first goal of the season after leading the NHL last season with 60. Mark Giordano found a seam on a point shot that Matthews got a piece of with his stick before it handcuffed Lindgren and dribbled over the goal line.

    “We had a frank discussion this morning,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The guys responded really well.”

    Samonov and the Maple Leafs held on late, killing two penalties and weathering a stretch with Lindgren off for an extra attacker.

    “A lot of emotion in the first period,” the Russian netminder said. “First game with the Leafs for me and (against) my old team.”

    Toronto opened the scoring at 6:40 of the first period on a power play that finally clicked when Rielly found Tavares at the lip of the crease with a slick feed.

    “We talked about being more patient with our game,” Tavares said. “We tried to do a little too much (in Montreal), caught us chasing a little bit.”

    The Capitals responded at 9:57, with Dowd scoring from close range. Johansson gave Washington the lead on a shot off the rush with 6:08 left in the period.

    Toronto tied it at 4:03 of the second. Alexander Kerfoot took a pass from Rielly at the offensive blue line and delayed before finding Jarnkrok with a terrific feed for his first with the Maple Leafs after signing in free agency.

    Samsonov was drafted 22nd overall by Washington at the 2015 draft, but didn’t receive a qualifying offer from Washington, making him a free agent. The 25-year-old was 52-22-8 with a .902 save percentage and 2.81 goals-against average in 89 regular-season appearances with the Capitals.

    UP NEXT

    Capitals: Host Montreal on Saturday night to open a two-game homestand.

    Maple Leafs: Host Ottawa on Saturday night to continue a four-game homestand.

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    More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Connor McDavid opens with hat trick, Oilers beat Canucks 5-3

    Connor McDavid opens with hat trick, Oilers beat Canucks 5-3

    EDMONTON, Alberta — Connor McDavid had three goals and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers overcame an early 3-0 deficit to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 on Wednesday night.

    Leon Draisaitl added a goal and two assists and Darnell Nurse also scored for the Oilers in the opener for both teams. Jack Campbell made 33 saves.

    “It wasn’t according to anyone’s script, for sure,” said Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft. “I don’t think we were sharp. I don’t think we were in sync early. We found a way to win the game, that’s a really good sign, but we can be better.”

    Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Andrei Kuzmenko — in his NHL debut — scored for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko stopped 20 shots.

    Pettersson and Miller scored in an early 51-second span and Kuzmenko made it 3-0 39 seconds into the second on a power play. He’s the first player in Canucks history to score a power-play goal in his debut.

    “That was pretty disappointing, I thought we came out pretty good in the first and special teams kind of cost us the game,” said Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. “The power play wasn’t good enough and we couldn’t keep the puck out of our net on the (penalty kill).”

    Edmonton got on the board 4:12 into the second when Draisaitl took a deflected pass at the side of the net and slammed it past Demko on a power play.

    The Oilers pulled within a goal with another power-play goal with 5:59 left in the second on a three-way passing play from Zach Hyman to Draisaitl and then to McDavid.

    “It was just not a good start for our group. It was the first game and maybe there was a little bit of jitters,” McDavid said. “It is not going to be perfect every night. You are not going to have the game you want every night and sometimes you get a win with your ‘B’ or ‘C’ game. It was certainly not our ‘A’ game to start, but we found a way to get our legs going and get ourselves back in it.”

    Edmonton pulled even with 41 seconds left in the period on a 2-on-1 short-handed break as Draisaitl fed it across to Nurse, who beat Demko with a one-timer.

    The Oilers took the lead with 4:59 left in the third period with McDavid orchestrating a give-and-go with Hyman before depositing his own rebound past Demko. It was McDavid’s 700th career point, making him the sixth-fastest player to hit the mark in 488 games.

    McDavid completed the hat trick with 25 seconds left when Evander Kane dropped it back to him for an empty-net power-play goal.

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    More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Necas helps Hurricanes beat Blue Jackets in opener

    Necas helps Hurricanes beat Blue Jackets in opener

    RALEIGH, N.C. — Martin Necas had a goal and two assists and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 in the season opener for both teams Wednesday night.

    Seth Jarvis, Brady Skjei and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, who’ve won four consecutive opening games.

    Patrick Laine had the Columbus goal, giving the Blue Jackets a brief second-period lead.

    Frederik Andersen made 31 saves for the Hurricanes.

    Columbus turned to Daniil Tarasov as the surprise opening-night starter because top netminder Elvis Merzilikins was ill. Tarasov, who appeared in his fifth NHL game, made 39 saves.

    The Hurricanes would like to churn out another stellar opening stretch. They won their first nine games last season.

    Necas began his points-producing spree by assisting on Skjei’s go-ahead goal with 1:30 to play in the second period. The Hurricanes were in transition, but Skjei spotted up inside the blueline and Necas delivered a pass back to him to set up the shot.

    Necas then scored 6:29 into the third period off a rebound. Less than three minutes later, he recorded the primary assist on Svechnikov’s goal.

    Laine scored the first goal 11 seconds into the second period following a Carolina turnover. He has 10 goals in 20 career games against Carolina.

    WELCOME THEM ALL

    A few players made debuts with their respective teams.

    Six-time All-Star Johnny Gaudreau was in the Columbus lineup, while defenseman Brent Burns played in his 680th consecutive game – but first for Carolina – to move into sole possession for the 10th longest streak in NHL history.

    Paul Stastny, another veteran in his first game for the Hurricanes, assisted on the team’s fourth goal. He’s beginning his 17th NHL season.

    UP NEXT

    Blue Jackets: Friday night vs. visiting Tampa Bay.

    Hurricanes: Friday night at San Jose to begin a five-game road trip.

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  • Mark Stone’s last-minute goal sends Vegas past Kings 4-3

    Mark Stone’s last-minute goal sends Vegas past Kings 4-3

    LOS ANGELES — Mark Stone scored the tiebreaking goal with 24.9 seconds to play, and the Vegas Golden Knights punctuated coach Bruce Cassidy’s debut with a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.

    Arthur Kaliyev tied it for the Kings with 7:02 left, but the Knights capitalized in the waning seconds after the Kings made an ill-advised move up the ice instead of running out the clock for overtime. Chandler Stephenson controlled a turnover at mid-ice and carried it in for Stone, who whipped a shot past Jonathan Quick to cap Vegas’ three-goal third period.

    “We had our breakdowns, but that’s just learning curves,” Stone said. “If we can cut those in half, we’ll get it done. Power play got a little talking-to in between periods there. We stepped up for it in the third.”

    William Karlsson had a goal and an assist as the Golden Knights put a whopping 51 shots on Quick, including 20 in the final period. Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel also scored, while Alex Pietrangelo had assists on Vegas’ last two goals.

    Cassidy spent the past six seasons with the Bruins, who fired him in June even though Boston made the playoffs in every year of his tenure. The Golden Knights hired him eight days later to get the NHL’s model expansion franchise back to the postseason.

    “I thought we showed a lot of resilience,” Cassidy said. “We kept pushing back whenever something didn’t go our way. … For a coach, you’re always worried that when you don’t know your team that well — it’s our first league game — what will happen when things don’t go well? It’s always, to me, a sign of good character in the room when a team is resilient, so that’s a big plus for me no matter how the score turned out.”

    Logan Thompson made 27 saves in his first game since becoming Vegas’ first-choice goalie in the absence of injured Robin Lehner and Laurent Brossoit.

    Quick made 47 saves while starting on opening night for the 14th time in the Kings’ last 15 seasons. Gabe Vilardi and Adrian Kempe also scored for Los Angeles, but coach Todd McLellan lamented his team’s poor game management and overall defensive intensity while saying the Kings’ last-minute turnover “makes no sense” and “was just stupidity.”

    “We’ve preached and preached about it,” McLellan said. “Sometimes you’ve got to get hit pretty hard with a two-by-four. Maybe this was it. … That is all game management. That’s getting engaged and being ready to go. Their team did a better job of it than we did tonight.”

    Vegas’ impressive entrance into the NHL in 2017 coincided with the Kings’ decline from the best times in franchise history, but the momentum shifted last season between two teams separated by about 3 1/2 hours of desert freeway.

    Los Angeles ended its three-year playoff drought and stretched Edmonton to seven games in the first round after finishing the regular season five points ahead of the Golden Knights, who missed the postseason for the first time.

    In their first meeting of the new season, the Knights showed they’ve got more than enough offense to break through the defense-minded Kings.

    “We wasted an outstanding goaltending night by not at least getting a point,” McLellan said. “That’s disappointing.”

    Eichel put Vegas ahead early in the third with a rebound goal, but Kempe tied it 2 1/2 minutes later with a one-timer on a sharp pass from captain Anze Kopitar, who is beginning his 17th season with the Kings.

    After Eichel and Kempe traded goals early in the third, Karlsson expertly redirected Pietrangelo’s soft pass from the point with 12:43 to play. Los Angeles answered moments after a power play expired, with Kaliyev hitting an open net after a scramble in front.

    QUIET DEBUTS

    Phil Kessel didn’t score in the 35-year-old forward’s Vegas debut, and prolific Swiss forward Kevin Fiala didn’t score in his first game with the Kings.

    BARNSTORMING BETTMAN

    NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman attended the game and said he was pleased with the renovations and additions to the Kings’ downtown arena. Although the league has no active expansion plan, Bettman said he has received numerous inquiries from parties interested in getting a new franchise in the NHL, which currently has a symmetrical 32 teams.

    Bettman also said the league is still investigating the separate sexual assault allegations against Tampa Bay’s Ian Cole and the 2018 Canadian world junior championships team.

    UP NEXT

    Golden Knights: Host Blackhawks on Thursday.

    Kings: Host Kraken on Thursday.

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    More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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