Golden Knights captain Stone pots last-minute goal to top Kings in season opener

Mark Stone scored the tiebreaking goal with 24.9 seconds to play, and the Vegas Golden Knights punctuated head coach Bruce Cassidy’s debut with a victory over Los Angeles.

After Arthur Kaliyev tied it for the hometown Kings with 7:02 left, Chandler Stephenson controlled a loose puck at mid-ice and carried it in for a pass to Stone, who whipped a shot past Jonathan Quick to cap Vegas’ three-goal third period on Tuesday night.

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 both of Vegas’ last two goals.

Logan Thompson made 27 saves in his first game since becoming Vegas’ first-choice goalie.

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.

👊 VICTORY BOOP 👊 <a href=”https://t.co/VgGvwD38MC”>pic.twitter.com/VgGvwD38MC</a>

—@GoldenKnights

Zibanejad leads Rangers over Lightning

Mika Zibanejad scored twice, including a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period, and the New York Rangers beat the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 in the season opener.

Barclay Goodrow also scored and reigning Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin stopped 26 shots to help the Rangers start the new season with a win against the Lightning team that eliminated them from Eastern Conference final in June.

Steven Stamkos had a power-play goal for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy had 36 saves.

Zibanejad, who scored a short-handed goal early in the second period, gave the Rangers the 2-1 lead at 5:11 of the third with a slapshot from the left circle off a pass from Artemi Panarin, who recorded his 250th point with the Rangers.

Goodrow made it 3-1 as he deflected Ryan Lindren’s long shot from the left point past Vasilevskiy with nine minutes remaining.