Getting to know Alex — As a youngster, Alex Tanguay was like most other kids in Quebec City — he hated the Montreal Canadiens, the archrivals to his beloved Quebec Nordiques. But the Nords are long gone, and Tanguay now plays for the team he loathed as a youngster.

Not only that, he helped make the Habs' centennial home opener a success by scoring the only shootout goal in a 4-3 victory against Boston — the Canadiens' 12th consecutive regular-season win against the Bruins.

''It feels good," said Tanguay, who was acquired from Calgary in a Draft Day trade. "I'm still nervous, still trying to find my way with the team, trying to get my momentum and trying to get in the groove."

The Bruins nearly spoiled the party on a night the Canadiens unveiled their "Ring of Honour," a salute to the franchise's 54 Hall of Fame members. Boston overcame a 3-0 deficit and forced overtime when Marc Savard scored with 47.6 seconds left after goalie Carey Price was caught behind the goal when ex-Canadien Michael Ryder's dump-in took a strange bounce off the right boards and over the back of the net.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Rangers streak ends

John Kreiser - NHL.com Staff Writer
The Buffalo Sabres remained unbeaten by beating the Rangers 3-1, ending New York's five-game winning streak from the start of the season. READ MORE ›

 

• Blue Jackets place Boll on IR; Recall Filatov
• Wild places Zidlicky on injured reserve
• Photos from around the NHL

GAME OF THE NIGHT ARCHIVE ›

''We were just fortunate that it didn't cost us two points tonight,'' Price said.

Former Canadiens greats Emile ''Butch" Bouchard and Elmer Lach dropped the ceremonial first puck as the team began the home schedule of its centennial season.

The 88-year-old Bouchard — who rose from his wheelchair and stood to drop the puck — and 90-year-old Lach were on hand along with Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lafleur, Bob Gainey, Guy Lapointe, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson and Dick Duff as the team unveiled the Ring on the wall above the last row of seats in the upper bowl.

The rink-wide mural features individual headshots and the name and uniform number of the team's 44 players and 10 builders in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

''It's pretty neat," Price said. ''It just shows the history behind our hockey club here and it's a pretty proud moment when you see guys like that come out and they're still showing our colors."

Can't win 'em all — So much for the New York Rangers' perfect season. The Buffalo Sabres are now the only unbeaten team left in New York.

The Rangers came into Madison Square Garden having won their first five games, tying a franchise record set in 1983. They left with their first loss, a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the 3-0-0 Sabres.

The Rangers led 1-0 on a goal by Scott Gomez at 6:33 of the first period, then went without a shot on Ryan Miller for more than 21 minutes. Buffalo got power-play goals by Ales Kotalik and Thomas Vanek and a backbreaking shorthander by Vanek early in the third period.

"They played just a little bit better than us tonight, especially on the power play; that was the difference," goalie Henrik Lundqvist said after losing for the first time in four decisions. "They crashed the net really well. They had guys around me all night."

Kotalik's tying goal early in the second period ended the Rangers' season-opening streak of 23 penalty kills.

"We got a little sloppy, and they're a team that takes advantage of that," Rangers captain Chris Drury said. "We came out with a lot of energy and we were sharp early. It kind of faded as the game went on."

Vanek, who hadn't killed penalties in his first two NHL seasons, is turning into a shorthanded threat. He's scored a shorthanded goal in each of the Sabres' last two games.

"Lindy has been giving me some responsibilities," he said of his new assignment from coach Lindy Ruff, "and I am going to take my challenge positively and hopefully I can stay on it.

"I'm actually trying not to give up any when I'm out there. The two shorties are just a bonus."

It was a milestone night for Ruff, who spent most of his playing career with the Sabres before finishing with two years as a Ranger. The victory was No. 400 of his career. He's the 23rd coach to reach 400.

"I've had a lot of good players and a lot of good teams," Ruff said.

It's fair to say they've had a pretty good coach as well.

Worth waiting for — The Dallas Stars made Fabian Brunnstrom a healthy scratch in their first two games. Don't bet on that happening again any time soon.

Brunnstrom showed why he was a highly sought-after free agent by matching an NHL record with three goals in his first game, leading the Stars to a 6-4 victory against the Nashville Predators.

The 23-year-old Swede became the third player in NHL history to score a hat trick in his first game. The others were Alex Smart of the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 14, 1943, and Real Cloutier of the Quebec Nordiques on Oct. 10, 1979.

Brunnstrom said he wasn't upset at having to sit and watch the Stars lose their first two games.

''I wanted to play and be part of the team, but this team has really good players so you have to earn your spot,'' he said. ''I felt comfortable out there from start. It was fun, but the most important thing was that we won the game.

"I had some really nice passes and I just tried to be in front of the net. This has been my goal since I was little, to play in the NHL, and this is just a dream come true."

Brunnstrom played the right side with Sean Avery on the left and Brad Richards in the middle. He got his first goal at 11:45 of the second period to give the Stars a 3-2 lead, made it 4-3 at 14:32 and completed his historic night when he converted a feed from Richards with 3:25 remaining in regulation, snapping a 4-4 tie.

''He was nervous when he got here," Richards said. ''There's a lot of expectations on him and it was unreasonable. We wish he could have a hat trick every night but he was in the right place at the right time."

What made Stars coach Dave Tippett really happy was Brunnstrom's complete game.

''He's doing things beyond the goals that make you feel good,'' Tippett said. ''He's a good player who will continue to improve.''

That may be true, but it's hard to tell a guy to do more than score three times in his NHL debut.

Bulin Wall still stands — The Chicago Blackhawks did everything they could to find a taker for Nikolai Khabibulin. Luckily for them, they couldn't.

Khabibulin made 29 saves and kept the Hawks in the game until the offense kicked in with four goals in the final 29 minutes of a 4-1 victory against Phoenix, Chicago's first win of the season.

''We got great goaltending in the first period," Chicago coach Denis Savard said. ''Then we got some breaks and the puck went in for us."

The Hawks signed Cristobal Huet as a free agent during the summer, a move that looked like it might spell the end of Khabibulin's days in the Windy City. But no one claimed him when the Hawks put Khabibulin on waivers, and the Hawks decided to keep him.

Good move.

Khabibulin kept it scoreless early. He made several close-in saves until a power-play goal by Phoenix's Peter Mueller at 4:30 of the second gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

A highlight-reel goal by Martin Havlat with 8:25 left in the period tied it at 1. Havlat skated in from the left point, danced around Phoenix defenseman David Hale, stickhandled across the slot and beat goalie Ilja Bryzgalov with a high backhander.

''That was the play we were waiting for," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. ''When he pulled that, we were laughing on the bench. I couldn't believe he pulled that off. We went to work and everything came together."

Patrick Sharp's goal with 58 seconds left in the middle period put Chicago ahead to stay, and goals by Colin Fraser and Brian Campbell put the game away.

It was a dash of reality for the Coyotes, who won their first two games and came to Chicago after a win at Anaheim.

''We played too easy of a game," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "After a period and a half, we started to cheat a little bit. If you cheat, you're going to get beat at this level."

Ducks in disarray — This was not the kind of start the Anaheim Ducks wanted — or needed.

The 2007 Cup champs fell to 0-4-0 after a 3-2 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The Ducks have allowed 17 goals while scoring just 8.

They played much better than in Tuesday's 6-3 loss to Los Angeles, but the result was the same — and there are no points awarded for moral victories.

"Tonight was tremendously better than the other nights," center Ryan Getzlaf said. "We were moving the puck well. We were getting chances. Right now, the puck is not bouncing in for us. We had many scrambles around the net, but we just couldn’t get in there. We had opportunities. We just couldn't bury them."

The Ducks filled the penalty box in the loss at Los Angeles and had penalty troubles in each of their first three losses. This time, they took only 4 minor penalties — but a call against Corey Perry for goaltender interference early in the third period cost them the winning goal, a power-play blast from Lubomir Visnovsky past Jonas Hiller.

Still, it was an improvement, even if the result was the same.

"It’s something to build off of, no question," center Brendan Morrison said. "I thought we showed a little more desperation tonight. I thought we initiated a little more. Ultimately, it’s the result that we’re after. The process was better."

Things get no easier for the Ducks, who host unbeaten (4-0-0) San Jose on Friday.

"You never want to be 0-for-4, but we've got a big game on Friday with San Jose coming in," Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin said. "We've got to build on what we did tonight, keep doing the little things. I think everybody knows what they've got to do; it's just a matter of doing it on the ice."

Meanwhile, the Oilers have won their first two games as they prepare for a home-and-home version of the Battle of Alberta this weekend.

"We stayed disciplined and didn't take penalties," said goaltender Mathieu Garon, who finished with 33 saves. "They came hard to the net. We did a good job blocking shots and getting pucks out of the zone."

Material from wire services and team online and broadcast media was used in this report.

Contact John Kreiser at jkreiser@nhl.com