NHL Three Stars: Marchand's five-spot; Scheifele, Barkov OT heroes
No. 1 Star: Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
Marchand and his linemates, David Backes and David Pastrnak, starred in Boston’s 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Marchand scored twice and assisted on three others, while Pastrnak picked up four points and Backes added three.
No. 2 Star: Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
Down 4-1 in the third period the Jets roared back with three goals in 13 minutes before Scheifele ended things in overtime to give Winnipeg a 5-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Blake Wheeler scored and added two helpers, including one on Scheifele’s winner.
No. 3 Star: Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
Barkov was the overtime hero for the Panthers as they defeated the New Jersey Devils 2-1. After assisting on Jonathan Marchessault’s opening goal, Barkov put home the winner to help give Florida the two points in their opener:
Honorable Mention: The Panthers honored late Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez before the game by wearing jerseys with his name and No. 16 on them. The team also announced a $35,000 donation to Fernandez’s foundation … Brendan Gallagher scored twice and Al Montoya made 30 saves as the Montreal Canadiens upended the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 … The New York Rangers got five goals from five different players, including Michael Grabner, who was facing his old team, in their 5-3 win over the New York Islanders. Mika Zibanejad recorded a pair of assists in his Rangers debut … The Tampa Bay Lightning scored three times in the opening 16:50 of the third period to help down the Detroit Red Wings 6-4. Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn each scored key power play goals in the final period during their comeback. Thomas Vanek scored twice in his Red Wings debut … Patrik Laine scored his first NHL goal in the Winnipeg victory:
Phil Kessel’s goal in the fourth round of the shootout was the deciding factor as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2. Marc-Andre Fleury made 39 saves. Prior to the game the Penguins raised a fourth Stanley Cup banner … Magnus Paajarvi and Nail Yakupov scored their first goals of the season to help the St. Louis Blues edge the Minnesota Wild 3-2. Patrik Berglund recorded a pair of assists … Goals from Antoine Roussel and Adam Cracknell eight minutes apart in the third period helped snap a 2-2 tie and give the Dallas Stars a 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks … Stars players wore helmet decals representing the badges of five Dallas police officers who were killed over the summer. Family members of two of the officers participated in a pregame ceremonial puck drop.
The family of DPD Sgt. Michael Smith and the family of DART Officer Brent Thompson participated in tonight's ceremonial puck drop. pic.twitter.com/xRR8Plgt9y
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) October 14, 2016
Did You Know?
Brad Marchand (2-3–5) is the 14th player in NHL history to record at least five points in a season-opener (and second for @NHLBruins). pic.twitter.com/mlla6Wdsrb
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 14, 2016
Dishonorable Mention: Will Andrew Shaw receive supplemental discipline for this game-ending slew-foot on Johan Larsson? … The Sabres lost Evander Kane to an upper-body injury after he slammed into the end boards … Columbus had a 3-1 lead 6:44 into the second period before their collapse … Ben Bishop would probably like another crack at this fluky Danny DeKeyser goal … Jaroslav Halak’s personal eight-game winning streak against Henrik Lundqvist was snapped.