NHL roundup: Leafs notch OT win over Canadiens

[January 14, 2021]  Morgan Rielly scored at 3:24 of overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Montreal Canadiens 5-4 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both clubs.

Montreal's Phillip Danault missed on a breakaway during the overtime, and then Rielly converted a pass from John Tavares on a two-on-one for the game-winner.

William Nylander scored two goals and had an assist for the Maple Leafs. Tavares finished with a goal and two assists, and Jimmy Vesey scored the team's other goal.

Josh Anderson scored twice for Montreal. Nick Suzuki and Tomas Tatar also scored, and Jonathan Drouin notched three assists while Jeff Petry had two for the Canadiens. Carey Price made 29 saves for Montreal. Frederik Andersen stopped 28 shots and also picked up an assist on Toronto's third goal.

Lightning 5, Blackhawks 1

Ondrej Palat scored on Tampa Bay's second power play of the season in a three-goal first period, and the Lightning began their Stanley Cup title defense with a season-opening win over visiting Chicago.

Playing their first game without high-scoring winger Nikita Kucherov, the Lightning received tallies from Palat, Mathieu Joseph and Anthony Cirelli in the opening frame. Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists, and Brayden Point and Cirelli each had a goal and a helper.

Dylan Strome scored for Chicago, and goalie Malcolm Subban stopped 28 of 33 shots in his 61st NHL start.

Flyers 6, Penguins 3

Joel Farabee had a goal and three assists and Philadelphia broke things open in the third period to beat visiting Pittsburgh in the season opener for both teams.

James van Riemsdyk, Nolan Patrick, Michael Raffl, Oskar Lindblom and Kevin Hayes also scored, and Erik Gustafsson added two assists for the Flyers. Carter Hart made 31 saves.

Mark Jankowski and Brandon Tanev each had a goal and an assist and Sidney Crosby also scored for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry made 19 saves.

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly (44) scores a goal against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (31) during the third period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Blues 4, Avalanche 1

Oskar Sundqvist had two goals, Jordan Binnington stopped 26 shots and St. Louis beat Colorado in Denver.

Jordan Kyrou and Kyle Clifford also had goals, and Robert Thomas added two assists for the Blues.

Andre Burakovsky scored and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for the Avalanche. Colorado played without Erik Johnson, one of its top defensemen, after he tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson is one of 27 NHL players who tested positive for the virus during the preseason.

Canucks 5, Oilers 3

Brock Boeser scored a pair of third-period goals to lead Vancouver to a season-opening victory at Edmonton.

Bo Horvat netted one goal and one assist, while Tanner Pearson and Quinn Hughes both produced two assists for the Canucks, who received a 28-save performance from new goaltender Braden Holtby.

Nils Hoglander, making his NHL debut, and Adam Gaudette also scored for Vancouver. Kailer Yamamoto, Darnell Nurse and Adam Larsson were the Edmonton goal-scorers. Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen stopped 30 shots.

--Field Level Media

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