PITTSBURGH (AP) Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal in nearly seven months as the Penguins beat Ottawa 2-0 on Thursday to record their first win of the new season after three defeats.
Elsewhere, Nashville’s unbeaten start to the new campaign ended when the New York Islanders scored twice in the third period, Alex Ovechkin scored in Washington’s win against Chicago, and Jason Spezza continued his strong early-season form by leading Dallas over Tampa Bay.
Pittsburgh rookie Daniel Sprong picked up the first goal of his career and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for his 39th career shutout.
Ottawa failed to muster significant momentum a night after scoring seven against Columbus. The Senators went 0 for 3 on the power play and rarely tested Fleury over the final two periods.
New York’s John Tavares and Nikolay Kulemin scored in the third period to lift the Islanders over Nashville 4-3.
Anders Lee and Kyle Okposo scored in the second period to tie the score for the Islanders after they fell behind by two. Tavares and Lee also had assists and Mikhail Grabovski added two.
Austin Watson, Filip Forsberg and James Neal scored for the Predators, who had opened the season 3-0-0.
Washington’s Braden Holtby stopped 26 shots to help the Capitals down Chicago 4-1.
Alex Ovechkin scored a goal in his return to the lineup after a one-game team disciplinary suspension, while John Carlson, T.J. Oshie and Matt Niskanen also netted for the Capitals.
Viktor Svedberg got the sole goal for the Blackhawks, ending a scoreless drought of 107 minutes, 46 seconds for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Dallas won 5-3 at Tampa Bay, with Jason Spezza scoring a momentum-shifting goal in the third period.
Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Cody Eakin and Jason Demers also scored for the Stars.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist, and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Lightning. Those two scored just 98 seconds apart in the third period to cut the deficit to one goal, but Spezza – coming off a hat trick on Tuesday – responded and gave Dallas a 5-3 lead.
Florida’s Jaromir Jagr scored twice in the first period and added an assist to lead the Panthers past Buffalo 3-2.
Montreal made it five straight wins to open the season – surprisingly a franchise record for a team that has won 24 Stanley Cups – by defeating the New York Rangers 3-0.
St. Louis’ Paul Stastny and Alexander Steen scored in the third period to help the Blues beat Edmonton 4-2.
Minnesota’s Zach Parise had a goal and an assist, and the Wild remained undefeated by holding off previously unbeaten Arizona and winning 4-3.
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