Columbus Blue Jackets' Mathieu Olivier, center, celebrates his goal against the Edmonton Oilers with teammates Sean Kuraly, left, and James van Riemsdyk during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Mikael Pyyhtia scored his first NHL goal, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 on Monday night for their second straight home win.
Sean Monahan had two goals, Cole Sillinger added a goal and two assists, and Adam Fantilli and Mathieu Olivier also scored for Columbus, and Kirill Marchenko had two assists. Elvis Merzlikins carried a shutout through 19:33 of the third period before giving up a late goal, but he stopped 31 shots as the Blue Jackets continued their trend of winning every other game on the season.
Mattias Ekholm scored and Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots for the Oilers, who snapped a two-game win streak.
The Oilers lost star centre Connor McDavid to a lower-body injury 37 seconds after the opening faceoff when he collided with the boards. Despite outshooting Columbus in the first two periods, they failed to capitalize on five power-play opportunities.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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PANTHERS 5 SABRES 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Florida captain Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist in his return after missing eight games with a lower-body injury, and the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers defeated Buffalo.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the go-ahead goal with 3:16 left in the second period, and added an assist to extend his point streak to seven games.
Jesper Boqvist and Sam Reinhart staked the Panthers to a 2-0 lead by scoring 55 seconds apart in the first period. Sam Bennett also scored, Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves and the Panthers are on a 6-1-1 run since a 1-2 start to the season.
Rasmus Dahlin and Jason Zucker scored in a span of 1:52 to tie the game at 2 midway through the second period. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished with 25 saves.
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LIGHTNING 3 PREDATORS 2 (OT)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Nick Paul scored 3:22 into overtime and Tampa Bay beat Nashville, spoiling the return of longtime captain Steven Stamkos.
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and Mitchell Chaffee also scored to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead in the first period. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves.
Stamkos, who played his first 16 NHL seasons with the Lightning before signing with Nashville on July 1, received a standing ovation after being honoured with a video tribute in the first period. His assist on Ryan O’Reilly’s power-play goal midway through the second period was his first with the Predators, and he got his second by setting up Gustav Nyquist’s game-tying goal at 18:40.
But Paul won it by beating Juuse Saros after the Predators had dominated overtime.
Saros stopped 24 shots for Nashville.
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MAPLE LEAFS 6 JETS 4
WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) – John Tavares scored three goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Winnipeg 6-4 on Monday night, handing the Jets their first loss of the season.
William Nylander had a goal and two assists, and Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly also scored for Toronto, which had lost three straight (0-2-1). Max Pacioretty, moved up from the fourth line to the second line, had three assists and Anthony Stolarz had 19 saves.
Kyle Connor had three goals and an assist for Winnipeg to extend his point streak to nine games (nine goals, five assists). That set a franchise-record for longest point streak to start a season, which had previously been held by former captain Blake Wheeler since 2015-16.
Mark Scheifele had a goal and assist, and Josh Morrissey added three assists for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 30 shots.
Winnipeg, the NHL’s last remaining unbeaten team had opened the season with a franchise-record eight consecutive victories.
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BLACKHAWKS 5 AVALANCHE 2
DENVER (AP) – Ryan Donato scored twice, including an empty-netter with 57.8 seconds remaining, and Chicago snapped a four-game skid with a victory over Colorado.
Philipp Kurashev, Lukas Reichel and Donato had goals as the Blackhawks led 3-2 after the first period. Donato and Ilya Mikheyev added empty-net goals in the final minute.
The Avalanche were playing on the second night of a back-to-back at home and didn’t have their usual zip down the ice early. Once they found their stride they were bottled up Petr Mrazek, who stopped 24 shots.
Casey Mittelstadt and Nathan MacKinnon scored for an Avalanche team that saw their five-game winning streak halted.
Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev settled in after a shaky first period in which he allowed three goals. He stopped 21 shots and contributed on offence with an assist. The Avalanche were 1 for 4 on the power play.
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SHARKS 5 UTAH 4 (OT)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Alexander Wennberg scored a power-play goal at 1:26 of overtime and San Jose beat Utah for their first win of the season.
Fabian Zetterlund had two goals, and Mikael Granlund and Tyler Toffoli also scored for San Jose. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 19 saves.
Matias Maccelli had two goals to lead Utah, and Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev also scored. Connor Ingram made 41 saves as Utah lost its fourth straight game.
The Sharks rallied from a three-goal deficit late in the third period, tying it on Toffoli’s snap shot with 2:42 left in regulation. Zetterlund and Granlund scored 25 seconds apart less than two minutes earlier to key the rally.
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GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5 FLAMES 0
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Keegan Kolesar had two goals and an assist, and Vegas beat Calgary.
Vegas closed out a 4-0 homestand, outscoring its opponents 24-8 during the impressive stretch. Kolesar posted his first career multigoal game.
Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone and Nic Roy also scored, and Adin Hill made 16 saves in the team’s first shutout of the season.
Dan Vladar made 31 saves for the Flames.
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HURRICANES 4 CANUCKS 3 (OT)
VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) – Sebastian Aho scored 47 seconds into overtime and Carolina beat Vancouver.
Martin Necas had a goal and an assist, and William Carrier and Jack Roslovic also scored in regulation for the Hurricanes, who won their fourth straight. Pyotr Kochetkov finished with 25 saves.
Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, and Pius Suter got the tying goal late in the third period. J.T. Miller had two assists and Kevin Lankinen had 28 saves.
