PITTSBURGH (AP) - Phil Kessel scored a natural hat trick and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Thursday night.
Vegas scored the first goal, and Kessel had the next three - with the final two coming on second-period breakaways. It was Kessel’s sixth career hat trick and first in four seasons with Pittsburgh. His last hat trick came Feb. 1, 2014, with Toronto.
Jake Guentzel scored his third goal and Evgeni Malkin had three assists.
Casey DeSmith stopped 35 shots in his first regular-season start for Pittsburgh. Starter Matt Murray is day-to-day with a concussion sustained Monday during practice.
Reilly Smith scored his second of the season for Vegas and 100th career goal. Tomas Nosek also scored for Vegas, which lost its third straight and has opened the season with four losses in five games.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, RED WINGS 3
DETROIT (AP) - Auston Matthews scored twice for an NHL-leading nine goals - tying a league record after five games - and Toronto beat Detroit for its third straight victory.
Matthews joined Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy as the players in league history to score nine times in the first five games.
Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, giving him 11 points. Mitch Marner and Ron Hainsey also scored, and Frederik Andersen made 26 saves. Nick Jensen scored twice for Detroit and Dylan Larkin added a goal. Jimmy Howard had 30 stops.
AVALANCHE 6, SABRES 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Nathan MacKinnon scored twice to extend his season-opening goals streak to four games, and Colorado beat Buffalo.
Mackinnon matched the Colorado franchise record for a goals streak to open a season, set by John Mitchell three years ago.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots to improve to 3-0. Tyson Jost, Colin Wilson, Carl Soderberg and Alexander Kerfoot also scored, helping Colorado improve to 3-1 for the third straight season. Mikko Rantanen set up three goals and has six assists for the season.
Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, the first overall draft pick this summer, got his first career point with an assist on Nathan Beaulieu’s goal.
RANGERS 3, SHARKS 2, OT
NEW YORK (AP) - Brady Skjei buried a wrist shot 37 seconds into overtime to lift New York past San Jose for coach David Quinn’s first career victory.
Quinn was hired away from Boston University in May. New York had dropped his first three games in his first season as an NHL head coach.
New York’s Brendan Smith tied it at 2 with 2:39 remaining in the third with a one-timer from the slot. Pavel Buchnevich set it up with a backhand pass from behind the net. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 41 shots and Brett Howden also scored for the Rangers. Aaron Dell made 24 saves, and Marcus Sorensen and Joonas Donskoi scored in San Jose’s third stop of a four-game trip.
KINGS 3, CANADIENS 0
MONTREAL (AP) - Jack Campbell made 40 saves for his first career shutout and Los Angeles spoiled Montreal’s home opener.
Jeff Carter had a goal and assist, and Adrian Kempe and Michael Armadio also scored.
Campbell made his eighth career NHL start, getting into action with starter Jonathan Quick day-to-day after sustaining a lower-body injury in practice Sunday. Carey Price stopped 26 shots for the Canadiens.
BRUINS 3, OILERS 1
BOSTON (AP) - Brad Marchand and Joakim Nordstrom scored in a 36-second span in the first period and Jaroslav Halak stopped 25 shots to help Boston beat Edmonton.
David Pastrnak had his fourth goal of the season, and Patrice Bergeron added an empty-netter in the final minute. Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the season for Edmonton, and Cam Talbot had 28 saves. The Oilers were playing only their second game of the season. They lost to New Jersey on Saturday in Sweden.
PREDATORS 3, JETS 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Pekka Rinne made 29 saves for his 52nd career shutout, leading Nashville past Winnipeg.
Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist and Roman Josi and Ryan Johansen also scored. Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves for the Jets.
The Central Division’s top two teams from a season ago met for the first time since the Jets ousted the Predators in a seven-game series in the second round of the playoffs.
WILD 4, BLACKHAWKS 3, OT
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Ryan Suter tied it with 23 seconds left in the third period and Jason Zucker scored in overtime, rallying Minnesota past Chicago.
Zucker had two goals and an assist, including a breakaway backhander 3:25 into overtime. Zach Parise sent a long pass across the red line to a streaking Zucker, whose shot went between Cam Ward’s pads to give the Wild their first win of the season.
Eric Staal also scored, and Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves for the Wild. Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist for the Blackhawks, and Dominik Kahun scored his first NHL goal.
BLUES 5, FLAMES 3
ST. LOUIS (AP) - David Perron scored his fourth career hat trick, Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist, and St. Louis beat Calgary for its first victory of the season.
Joel Edmundson also scored, Brayden Schenn had three assists, and Jake Allen made 31 saves.
James Neal, Derek Ryan and Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary. Mike Smith was pulled following the second period after allowing five goals on 24 shots.
BLUE JACKETS 5, PANTHERS 4
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Cam Atkinson scored with 2:46 left to lift Columbus past Florida.
With traffic in front of the net, Atkinson swept the puck past goalie James Reimer, who was flat on his back during the play. The Panthers challenged for goalie interference, but the goal stood.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists, Boone Jenner, Anthony Duclair and Zach Werenski also scored, and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 37 shots. Evgenii Dadonov had a goal and two assists, and Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad and Troy Brouwer also scored for Florida. Reimer made 27 saves.
DEVILS 6, CAPITALS 0
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Kyle Palmieri scored twice, Keith Kinkaid made 21 saves and New Jersey celebrated its home opener with the blowout victory over Stanley Cup champion Washington.
Marcus Johansson, Blake Coleman, Jean-Sebastien Dea and Brian Boyle also scored. Kinkaid had his fifth career shutout.
CANUCKS 4, LIGHTNING 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Elias Petterson and Brock Boeser scored 1:10 apart in the third period and Jake Virtanen and Markus Granlund added empty-net goals in Vancouver’s victory over Tampa Bay.
Petterson scored his fourth goal in four games in his rookie season. Anders Nilsson made 33 saves in his season debut. Brayden Point scored the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.
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