Matthews’ OT goal gives Maple Leafs 2-1 win over Rangers

By Canadian Press on October 16, 2025.

TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews scored 58 seconds into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto, William Nylander had two assists and Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves.

Juuso Parssinen scored for New York. Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 shots.

Matthews took a pass from Nylander on a 2-on-1 in the extra period after Rangers center Mika Zibanejad fanned on a terrific chance at the other end.

Knies opened the scoring on Toronto’s second power play of the night midway through the first period off Nylander’s setup to snap the Maple Leafs’ 0-for-9 stretch on the man advantage to start the season.

Parssinen tied it early in the third period for New York’s first goal in 170 minutes 39 seconds.

DEVILS 3, PANTHERS 1

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Timo Meier and Nico Hischier scored in the third period and Jake Allen made 21 saves as New Jersey won its home opener over Florida.

Meier beat Florida netminder Daniil Tarasov with his team-best third goal of the season at 6:23, snapping a 1-all tie before Hischier added his second of the season at 11:47.

Jack Hughes also scored for New Jersey, which won its third straight game after a season-opening loss at Carolina.

Florida’s Evan Rodrigues opened the scoring 1:59 into the game, tapping a loose puck past Allen for his second goal of the season.

Hughes knotted the contest with his first at 5:48 of the second, with assists to Meier and Jesper Bratt. The assist was the 300th of Bratt’s career. Hughes was limited to 62 games last season during which he scored 27 goals for the second straight year.

JETS 5, FLYERS 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mark Scheifele scored a pair of goals to tie the record for the most career points in Jets franchise history, Connor Hellebuyck made 15 saves, and Winnipeg beat Philadelphia.

Scheifele tied Blake Wheeler with 812 points for the franchise, which includes the team’s years in Atlanta.

On his first goal, Scheifele fired a snap shot from the right circle past Philadelphia goalie Sam Ersson, beating him over his glove to put the Jets ahead 2-0 at 7:01 of the second period.

His second goal was a one-timer from the left circle on the power play in the third period to extend the lead to 4-1.

CANADIENS 3, PREDATORS 2, OT

MONTREAL (AP) — Cole Caufield scored with two seconds left in overtime after tying it with 19.5 to go in regulation, leading Montreal to a victory over Nashville.

Caufield scored in overtime for the second straight game. On Tuesday night, he also scored in regulation and overtime against Seattle. He has five goals this season.

Rookie Oliver Kapanen also scored to help Montreal win its fourth straight game. Backup netminder Jakub Dobes stopped 17 shots in his second start of the year.

Steven Stamkos and Nick Perbix scored for Nashville. Juuse Saros made 27 saves.

ISLANDERS 4, OILERS 2

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat tied it short-handed in the second period, scored the go-ahead goal on the power play and finished off the hat trick with an empty-netter with 8.1 seconds left to help New York pick up its first win of the season by rallying to defeat Edmonton.

Seven seconds after Trent Frederic high-sticked Matthew Schaefer, Horvat beat Stuart Skinner with 4:46 left to bring fans — some of whom were booing the home team earlier — to their feet. Mat Barzal had the Islanders’ first goal and the primary assist on Horvat’s game-winner, while David Rittich stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced at the other end of the ice in his Islanders debut.

Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard gave the puck away on an inexplicable turnover in the neutral zone to set up Barzal’s goal and was the last player back on the power play who let Horvat past him for a breakaway on Skinner. Bouchard, who is the fourth-highest-paid player at his position in the NHL and tied for 14th among all players at a salary cap hit of $10.5 million, also coughed the puck up to cause several quality scoring chances against.

Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play, his third goal this season, off a feed from Connor McDavid, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had Edmonton’s other goal. Skinner was hardly to blame in allowing three goals on 24 shots as teammates hung him out to dry on multiple occasions with mistakes all over in a back-and-forth, fast-paced game, including Frederic’s ill-timed penalty.

AVALANCHE 4, BLUE JACKETS 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals, Scott Wedgewood stopped 22 shots and Colorado beat Columbus.

Nichushkin scored in the second period on a tip-in and added an empty-net goal with just under two minutes left to cap the Avalanche’s fourth win in five games (4-0-1) to open the season.

Colorado’s Cale Makar scored in the second period to reach 434 points, third-most by a defenseman through 400 games in NHL history behind Bobby Orr (508) and Paul Coffey (475). The goal was Makar’s 118th, moving him ahead of George Boucher for fifth-most by a defenseman through 400 games.

Brock Nelson also scored for Colorado.

Columbus’ Ivan Provorov had a goal in his 700th career game and Elvis Merzļikins had 32 saves.

SENATORS 4, KRAKEN 3, SO

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Shane Pinto scored his NHL-leading sixth goal and added the shootout winner in Ottawa’s victory over Seattle.

Ottawa rallied to end a three-game losing streak, tying it on Dylan Cozens’ goal with 1:46 remaining in regulation. David Perron had a power-play goal, and Linus Ullmark stopped 30 shots.

Chandler Stephenson scored twice for Seattle, giving the Kraken a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal early in the third. Shane Wright also scored for the Kraken, and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves.

CANUCKS 5, STARS 3

DALLAS (AP) — Max Sasson scored the last of Vancouver’s three goals in a span of 3:26 in the second period and the Canucks rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Dallas.

Dallas scored at least four goals in each of its first three games this season and jumped on the Canucks with goals by Mavrik Bourque and Mikko Rantanen in the first period.

Vancouver responded midway through the second period on goals by Filip Chytil, Brock Boeser and Sasson. Conor Garland put Vancouver up 4-2 late in the period, but Wyatt Johnston scored his fourth goal of the season with 2:08 left in the third.

Quinn Hughes, who assisted on Boeser’s goal, sealed the Canucks’ win with an empty-net goal on a pass from Garland. Thatcher Demko had 28 saves.

Casey DeSmith had 21 saves for Dallas.

The Associated Press

46
-45