Results - Wed, 02 October 2013

Toronto v Philadelphia 3-1 - One day after receiving an early present from the Toronto Maple Leafs, an eight-year contract extension reportedly valued at $64 million, he celebrated his 26th birthday Wednesday by scoring his first goal of the season to help the Maple Leafs sweep their season-opening back-to-back set with a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. The win came 24 hours after the Maple Leafs opened the season with a 4-3 win at the Montreal Canadiens. The first of Dave Bolland's two goals, 2:30 into the third period, snapped a 1-1 tie created by Kessel's goal late in the second period. Jonathan Bernier, in his first start for the Maple Leafs, made 31 saves. Though Bolland will get credited with the game-winning goal, a major assist went to the Maple Leafs' penalty-killing unit, which shut down six of the Flyers' seven power-play chances. Brayden Schenn scored the Flyers' goal. Steve Mason made 22 saves. Schenn's goal with 6.9 seconds left in the first period opened the scoring, but Kessel tied the score late in the second. Early in the third Bolland, acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in June, days after he scored the game-winning goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, scored another winner. The Flyers got the puck behind the net in their end, but Nikolai Kulemin bumped Mark Streit off the puck, and Joffrey Lupul picked it up and found Bolland open in front of the Philadelphia net. He one-timed the pass over Mason at 2:30 to put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1. The Flyers pushed to get the goal back, outshooting the Maple Leafs 10-5 after falling behind. Philadelphia's best chance came with 3:48 remaining, when Vincent Lecavalier had a bouncing puck land on his stick at the side of the net, and as he lunged for the shot, Bernier shot out his right pad and glove to deflect it into the protective netting. Bolland closed the scoring with a power-play goal with 22.5 seconds left when he came in from the right side to bang in the rebound of a Lupul shot. Bolland got the extra ice time in the second period, when Carlyle moved him into Nazem Kadri's spot on the second line with Kulemin and Lupul. Kessel tied the game with 2:54 left in the second period. Toronto defenseman Dion Phaneuf intercepted a long Maxime Talbot pass in the neutral zone, entered the Philadelphia zone and shot through a screen by Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn. Mason picked up the puck late and kicked his left leg out to deflect the shot. Kadri drove to the net for the rebound but tumbled over Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann, creating a screen for Kessel, who picked up the loose puck in the slot. The goal followed the announcement Tuesday of the contract extension that can keep the forward with the Maple Leafs through the 2021-22 season. The Flyers had a chance to go ahead when Wayne Simmonds was awarded a penalty shot with 3.1 seconds remaining in the second period after he was pulled down on a breakaway by Paul Ranger. Simmonds skated in on Bernier and tried to get the Maple Leafs goalie moving side to side to open space between his pads, but Bernier snapped his legs closed to deny his attempt. The first period had a frantic end. Streit dumped the puck into the Toronto zone, and as it rolled behind the net to the right side, Lecavalier bumped Mason Raymond off the puck and carried it behind the goal. As Lecavalier came from behind off the left post, he backhanded a pass to Schenn in the low slot, who beat Bernier.

Buffalo v Detroit 1-2 - The Detroit Red Wings' debut in the Eastern Conference was a smashing success. Mikael Samuelsson and Pavel Datsyuk scored and Jimmy Howard made 19 saves to lead the Red Wings to a 2-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday night. It was the first game for Detroit since shifting to the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference as part of the NHL's realignment. Zemgus Girgensons scored and Ryan Miller made 32 saves for the Sabres, who went 0-for-7 on the power play in their season debut, including two 5-on-3 man advantages. Detroit raced to a 2-0 lead with two goals in a span of 36 seconds midway through the first period. Samuelsson opened the scoring at 12:05 when he redirected Cory Emmerton's shot past Miller for the Red Wings' first goal of the season. Datsyuk doubled Detroit's lead at 12:41 when he intercepted rookie Rasmus Ristolainen's pass in the Sabres' zone at the left circle, deked his way into the slot and ripped a backhander past Miller to make it 2-0. The Red Wings, who've won 12 of their last 13 games against Buffalo at Joe Louis Arena, outshot the Sabres 8-6 in the first period. Detroit believed it had grabbed a 3-0 lead with 8:35 left in the second period when Todd Bertuzzi poked a puck from the slot past Miller. But Red Wings forward Daniel Cleary bumped Miller on the play and was whistled for goalie interference. Emmerton then had a glorious opportunity to put the Red Wings up by three goals when he was awarded a penalty shot with 7:41 left in the second after being pulled down on a breakaway by Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. But Miller denied Emmerton's wrist shot to keep it a 2-0 game. Buffalo finally solved Howard with 7:24 remaining in regulation, and the Red Wings' goaltender played a big role in losing his shutout bid. Howard went behind the net to play the puck and attempted to shoot it around the boards, but Sabres forward Brian Flynn managed to get a piece of the clearing attempt. The puck went right in front, where Girgensons backhanded it into an open net to make it a one-goal game. Girgensons, 19, was Buffalo's first-round pick (No. 14) at the 2012 NHL Draft and was appearing in his first game after spending last season with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. Veteran forward Daniel Alfredsson made his Red Wings debut after signing with the club during the offseason. The 40-year-old had three shots on goal in 16:13 of ice time.

Anaheim v Colorado 1-6 - Patrick Roy's debut as coach of the Colorado Avalanche couldn't have gone much better if he had planned it this way. Roy started by receiving a rousing standing ovation when he was introduced to the Pepsi Center crowd in a pregame ceremony Wednesday night before the Avalanche took on the Anaheim Ducks. He proceeded to watch as the Avalanche skated to a 6-1 victory in the regular-season opener for both teams. Semyon Varlamov was solid in goal with 35 saves, Jamie McGinn scored two goals off passes from No. 1 draft pick Nathan MacKinnon, and Ryan O'Reilly and Steve Downie each had a goal and an assist. John Mitchell and Matt Duchene also scored goals, and Alex Tanguay chipped in with three assists. Varlamov lost his bid for a shutout when Ducks rookie Jakob Silfverberg scored with seven seconds to play in the game. Roy's temper surfaced at the final buzzer when he shoved the glass partition separating the team benches and exchanged angry words with Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau. He was angered because moments before the Ducks scored, MacKinnon was knocked down by defenseman Ben Lovejoy with what Roy said was a knee-on-knee hit. No penalty was called.

"I was not very happy," Roy said. "First of all, I mean, to see a defenseman knee our guy. I mean, that was a knee-on-knee hit. That should have been a penalty in my opinion, and I certainly didn't like that. When it's 6-0, I don't think this game needs that type of cheap shot. But after that there was some talk from the coaches, I guess. But at the same time, what should I do? He put his fourth line on the ice. I'm not going to go with my first line. I went with my fourth line and, that's it. I was matching all night long, by the way."

Ducks forward Matt Beleskey was assessed a double minor for roughing at the 20-minute mark, while the Avalanche's Cody McLeod was given a single roughing minor. The Avalanche were handed a team minor and Roy was assessed a game misconduct. Boudreau said Lovejoy's hit was "a trip," and he didn't think much of Roy's behavior.

"It was a little trip and maybe they should have called it, but they let it go because of the score," Boudreau said. "He was barking at me because I was yelling at him to quit yelling at our players. I didn't notice it as much as I noticed it then. The last game we were in here [for a preseason game] it was a big thing by the referees telling him it's going to be a long year if he's going to be yelling at everyone like that. There was no need for it. He's not 25 anymore; he's watched every NHL game I'm sure since he retired. He played for some of the greatest coaches and even though he was in the net and didn't hear a lot of them, I'm sure he knew what was going on."

It was an enjoyable "Welcome to the NHL" night for MacKinnon, who along with Lovejoy was assessed a roughing minor midway through the second period.

"I am used to it," he said of the physical play. "Obviously these guys are bigger and stronger, things like that. But through junior last year, especially in the playoffs, our line was keyed on and we took some shots. I like that stuff. I don't mind that at all and it's better hockey and it's all worth it, for sure. I felt good. It was a fun game. Right from the get-go I thought we played pretty well, and it felt pretty good to beat the Ducks. I don't know if many people thought we would beat them like that, but obviously we are very excited that we got the win."

MacKinnon centered a line with McGinn and PA Parenteau. He had one shot on goal in 15:31 of ice time to go along with his two assists. He did lose 12 of 14 faceoffs.

Roy was especially pleased with his team's work ethic and the play of Varlamov. "Outstanding. I think he's the reason why the first five minutes he kept us in the game. He made some great saves. They made nice plays. It's a good team, a team that plays really well offensively. They're tough to play one on one and Varly was outstanding. At every moment in that game where we had made some mistakes, he was there for us. No doubt in my mind he was the first star for our team tonight."

O'Reilly opened the scoring at 15:39 of the first period, moments after Varlamov made two big stops from point-blank range. Playing left wing on a line with Duchene and Downie, O'Reilly deflected an attempted pass by Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin just inside the Anaheim blue line, skated down the middle and beat goalie Viktor Fasth on a breakaway. The Avalanche seized control in the second period with three goals on nine shots. Downie, who missed the final 46 games last season after undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, knocked in a rebound at 8:38 on a power play with the Ducks' Daniel Winnik in the penalty box for tripping. O'Reilly took two whacks at the puck from deep on the right side that Fasth turned aside, but the puck popped out to the goalie's right and Downie put it in while parked near the left post. Mitchell scored at 10:42 during a 4-on-4 skating situation after MacKinnon and Lovejoy went off for roughing. Mitchell accepted Tyson Barrie's return pass on a 2-on-1 rush with Sami Vatanen the lone defender back and scored while moving down right wing. McGinn increased the lead to 4-0 at 17:20. Tanguay shot the puck past the net and MacKinnon went back to get it. He was facing the end boards when he made a no-look pass to McGinn, who beat Fasth with a quick shot from low in the right circle. McGinn and Duchene scored 2:28 apart late in the third period.