Stars beat Rangers 3-2 in OT to spoil Gallant’s home debut

NEW YORK (AP) — Miro Heiskanen scored 1:38 into overtime and the Dallas Stars beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night to spoil coach Gerard Gallant’s home debut.

Heiskanen took a pass from Jamie Benn, swooped in on goalie Igor Shesterkin and buried a high shot to give the Stars a victory in their first game of the season.

Jacob Peterson and Radek Faksa scored early for Dallas, and Braden Holtby and Anton Khudobin combined to make 31 saves.

Adam Fox and Chris Kreider each had a goal for the Rangers. They lost their season opener Wednesday night at Washington.

SABRES 5, CANADIENS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Victor Olofsson and Anders Bjork scored 2:01 apart in the second period and Buffalo beat injury-depleted Montreal.

Overcoming initial questions of lacking offense and leadership with deposed captain Jack Eichel’s future in Buffalo uncertain, assistant captains Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons stepped up to score Buffalo’s first two goals. Eichel was stripped of his captaincy last month and remains on injured reserve over a dispute with the team over how to treat a herniated disk which has sidelined him since March.

Forty-year-old Craig Anderson stopped 30 shots in his debut with his sixth NHL team. The Sabres converted three of six power-play opportunities, with Tage Thompson pushing Buffalo’s lead to 5-1 early in the third period.

Montreal was coming off a 2-1 season-opening loss at Toronto on Wednesday, and opened a season 0-2 for the first time since 2000. Chris Wideman scored for Montreal, and Sam Montembeault stopped 31 shots in his Canadiens’ debut after being acquired off waivers from Florida two weeks ago. The Canadiens have eight players on IR, including captain Shea Weber and goalie Carey Price, who last week entered the NHL/NHL Players’ Association joint player assistance program.

HURRICANES 6, ISLANDERS 3

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov had two goals and an assist to help Carolina beat New York in the opener for both teams.

Teuvo Teravainen added a goal and an assist for Carolina, which featured a new-look roster in a matchup of Eastern Conference playoff contenders. Returnees Jesper Fast, Jordan Martinook and Nino Niederreiter also scored, and Frederick Andersen finished with 25 saves in his debut for the Hurricanes.

Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee scored goals for the Islanders, and Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves. The Islanders are opening with a 13-game trip while construction is completed on their new arena, with no home game until Nov. 20.

BLUE JACKETS 8, COYOTES 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Oliver Bjorkstrand had two goals and two assists, Max Domi added a goal and two assists and Columbus routed Arizona to make Brad Larsen a winner in his coaching debut.

Alexandre Texier, Boone Jenner, Jake Bean, Zach Werenski and Gus Nyquist also scored for Columbus. Vladislav Gavrikov, Jakub Voracek and Jack Roslevic had two assists apiece as 13 Columbus players earned points in the opener.

Elvis Merzlikins stopped 36 shots in his first opening-night start.

Anton Stralman and Clayton Keller scored for Arizona. Carter Hutton stopped 18 shots in his first game since joining Arizona from Buffalo. New coach Andre Tourigny lost his first game with the Coyotes.

PANTHERS 5, PENGUINS 4, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe scored his second goal of the night 1:37 into overtime and Florida overcame a late two-goal deficit to beat Pittsburgh.

Aaron Ekblad scored the two late goals to get Florida into overtime, and Verhaeghe finished it off moments after Sergei Bobrovsky stoned Evan Rodrigues on a breakaway. Bobrovsky made 43 saves for Florida, which also got a goal from Anthony Duclair.

Jeff Carter got the 400th goal of his career for Pittsburgh. Jake Guentzel scored from behind the net for Pittsburgh, which also got goals from Danton Heinen and Rodrigues along with 34 saves from Casey DeSmith.

SENATORS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Anton Forsberg made a career-high 46 saves and Ottawa scored three times in the first period in a season-opening victory over Toronto.

Playing hours after the Senators signed Brady Tkachuk to a seven-year contract extension, Tyler Ennis had a goal and an assist and Chris Tierney and Alex Formenton also scored. Forsberg started in goal with Matt Murray fighting a cold.

Toronto goalie Peter Mrazek left the game after sustaining a groin injury on the final play of the second period. He made 23 saves, and Jack Campbell — the winner Wednesday night at home against Montreal — stopped 10 shots in the third. Former Ottawa captain Jason Spezza and William Nylander had power-play goals for Toronto.

The teams will meet again Saturday night in Toronto.