Steven Lorentz had a goal and an assist, Dennis Hildeby got his first NHL victory and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Thursday night.
Hildeby, the Maple Leafs’ fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft, stopped 22 pucks in his NHL debut.
Max Pacioretty, Bobby McMann and John Tavares also scored for Toronto, who were coming back from a 1-0 loss in Montreal.
Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier responded for the Devils.
The loss spoiled Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe’s home debut. The latter was fired by the Maple Leafs after five seasons in May. He replaced Lindy Ruff, who lost her job near the end of the last campaign.
Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves in a losing cause.
The New Jersey team swept the Buffalo Sabers in the Czech Republic last Friday and Saturday. She had scored seven goals and allowed only two.
Penguins 6 — Red Wings 3
Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals, Joel Blomqvist made 29 saves in his first game in the National Hockey League and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-3.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had two assists to help the Penguins bounce back from their 6-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
Marcus Pettersson, Erik Karlsson, Kevin Hayes and Drew O’Connor also lit the red light for the Penguins.
Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist for the Red Wings. Vladimir Tarasenko scored the other goal in a losing cause and Lucas Raymond had two assists.
Ville Husso was removed from the game after allowing four goals on just 14 shots. Cam Talbot, who replaced him, conceded two goals on 14 shots.
Kings 3 — Sabers 1
Anze Kopitar recorded a natural hat trick and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Buffalo Sabers 3-1.
Kopitar tied the game in the 13the second of the third period before scoring two goals in 56 seconds to allow the Kings to win.
Darcy Kuemper stood out by blocking 33 shots for the Californian team.
Alex Tuch scored the lone goal for the Sabres, who lost their first three games this season after being swept in a two-game series in the Czech Republic against the New Jersey Devils.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed two goals on 22 shots in front of the Sabres’ net.
Utah HC 5 — Islanders 4 (Prol.)
Dylan Guenther ended the debate in overtime and the Utah hockey club came from behind to triumph 5-4 at the expense of the New York Islanders.
During a three-on-one surge, Guenther took a back pass from Sean Durzi and hit the target over Semyon Varlamov’s glove.
Guenther finished the game with two goals, making it four in two games for the Utah club — two wins. The 21-year-old striker scored 18 goals in 45 games last campaign.
Barrett Hayton, Lawson Crouse and Josh Doan also scored for the visitors. Connor Ingram made 21 saves in the victory.
Anthony Duclair, Bo Horvat, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Maxim Tsyplakov responded for the Islanders, who were returning home. Varlamov blocked 21 shots.
Stars 4 — Predators 3
The Stars scored three goals on three shots in the second period to defeat the Nashville Predators 4-3.
Mason Marchment scored twice in the win while Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson also found the back of the net. Logan Stankoven had three assists.
Filip Forsberg scored the Predators’ first goal in the second period and added two assists. Tommy Novak scored in the third period before Ryan O’Reilly cut the lead to one goal with 1:35 remaining.
O’Reilly and Steven Stamkos each hit the post in the final 50 seconds of the game.
Predators general manager Barry Trotz acquired Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei over the summer to help the power play.
However, this did not bear fruit in the first game of the season as the Predators only scored once in six power plays.
Blue Jackets 2 — Wild 3
Matthew Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek scored in a very good second line game to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets and their former head coach Dean Evason.
Mats Zuccarello scored the winning goal on the power play in the third period.
Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Wild, who improved to 10-1-1 in opening games at Xcel Energy Center.
Zach Werenski and Kent Johnson, who added an assist, scored goals for the Blue Jackets, who were playing for the first time under Evason. The latter was fired by the Wild almost a year ago after starting the season with a 5-10-4 record.
Boldy, who scored without looking at the net in the first period, added two assists, as did Marcus Johansson.
Elvis Merzlikins stopped 23 pucks in the loss.