Blackhawks drop preseason opener

Simon Gagne spoiled Jonathan Toews' homecoming.

The new Tampa Bay Lightning forward had a goal and two assists to lead his team to a 4-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks in front of 14,092 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Wednesday night.

Steven Stamkos, Blair Jones and Winnipeg-born forward Carter Ashton also scored for the Lightning, who improved to 2-0 this preseason.

Toews and Sharp scored for Chicago in the Blackhawks' first game since winning the Stanley Cup in June. Marty Turco stopped 12 of 13 shots in his Chicago debut.

"I think that the atmosphere was great, especially when it got physical out there," Toews told CSNChicago.com. "I have a feeling we just needed one more chance. There were a couple (chances) early on. But it was nice to get (a goal) at home."

Penguins 5, Red Wings 1

Pittsburgh seems to like its new digs.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist before sitting out the third period because of a sore hip flexor and the Penguins won the first hockey game at Consol Energy Center.

"The atmosphere was great," Crosby said. "I think all the guys were really excited about being in this game and playing the first one here. It's pretty easy to tell guys came here tonight ready to compete and do a lot of good things."

Crosby had a game-high six shots through two periods. The injury is not expected to be serious.
Pittsburgh's Mike Comrie scored the first goal in the new building, connecting just 81 seconds into the first period.

"I think I just might have tweaked it a bit," Crosby said. "That's nothing new this time of year for me. It usually takes a couple weeks to get comfortable and feel good. It's nothing that I'm too worried about."

"Just sore and precautionary, and no need to push it past that," Pens coach Dan Bylsma said of the injury.

Ryan Craig had two goals, and Brett Sterling also scored for the Penguins. Ruslan Salei scored for Detroit.

Red Wings power forward Johan Franzen left the game with 1:43 remaining in the first period after sustaining a leg injury on a hit by Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. Orpik was given a major penalty for kneeing. Franzen missed 55 games last season because of a knee injury.

"We think more of his thigh, but we'll get him checked out," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said of Franzen. "We hope he's going to be fine."

Capitals 6, Blue Jackets 2

Matt Hendricks had a hat trick, Tomas Fleischmann had two goals and an assist and Alexander Semin had three assists as Washington cruised past Columbus at Nationwide Arena.

Semyon Varlamov stopped all 20 shots he faced to help Washington win its preseason opener. Alex Ovechkin did not play for the Caps.

Cody Eakin also scored and Marcus Johansson added two assists for the Capitals, who return to the ice Saturday at Nashville.

"The forwards were pretty good and the goaltending was exceptional when it had to be," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Matt Hendricks played good, too. He's making a bid, that's for sure."

Rick Nash and Nikita Filatov scored for Columbus, which opened exhibition play Tuesday night with a 5-2 victory in Atlanta. Steve Mason allowed two goals on 13 shots.

"It was a tough game even though it was an exhibition game, but no matter what the circumstances, you don’t like to lose," Nash said. "Tonight we lost, but we have to learn some things, like not sitting back. And when we played an aggressive style, we had a lot of chances and (we have to) make sure we continue that."

Maple Leafs 4, Senators 1

Phil Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin had first-period power-play goals as Toronto bounced back with a victory against Ottawa at Air Canada Centre.
Luca Caputi and Mikhail Grabovski also scored for Toronto, which opened the preseason Tuesday night with a 5-0 loss to the Senators.

"It's nice to get your feet under you, have a real training camp and get ready for the year," said Kessel.

Nick Foligno scored for Ottawa, which sat out regulars Jason Spezza, Chris Phillips and captain Daniel Alfredsson. Toronto played without Jean-Sebastien Giguere, captain Dion Phaneuf and Tomas Kaberle.

Blues 5, Wild 1

David Perron had a goal and an assist and Ben Bishop made 23 saves as St. Louis cruised past Minnesota at Xcel Energy Center.

Alex Steen, Jay McClement, Philip McRae and Graham Mike also scored for the Blues (1-1). Martin Havlat scored 42 seconds into the game for the Wild in their exhibition opener.

"It took us a little bit to get our legs under us," Bishop said. "After their first goal, we responded really well. The guys played a great game. We really took it to them for the last 50 minutes."

The team will meet again Friday night in St. Louis.

Ducks 5, Sharks 2

Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist and Corey Perry also scored as Anaheim defeated San Jose at the Honda Center.

Aaron Voros, Danny Syvret and Jason Blake also scored for the Ducks, and Jonas Hiller stopped all 19 shots he faced while playing 32 minutes. Backup Timo Pielmeier also made 19 saves for the Ducks.

"We had a really good start and played a lot in their zone," Hiller said. "We were able to put some pressure on them right off the bat. We did quite well. We took some penalties, which gave them a chance to come back in. But I think we played pretty solid defensively and definitely deserved to win."

Torrey Mitchell and Taylor Doherty scored for the Sharks, who outshot Anaheim 40-18. Antero Niittymaki gave up four goals on just 12 shots in the first two periods.

Oilers 3, Canucks 2

Gregory Stewart scored on a power-play breakaway with 7:18 left to lift Edmonton to a win at Vancouver.

Ben Ondrus and Chris Vande Velde also scored, and defenseman Ryan Whitney had three assists to help the Oilers open the preseason with a victory despite dressing less than a dozen NHL regulars. Martin Gerber opened in goal for Edmonton, stopping all 14 shots he faced.

"It was just good the way we played," Whitney said. "You could tell it was a little bit different than the way we played last year. We played hard. Our forecheck was pretty impressive tonight. It's a bunch of guys battling for jobs."

Daniel Sedin scored on a power play and Peter Schaefer added a shorthanded goal for the Canucks (0-3). Roberto Luongo, making his first start, stopped 23 of 25 shots through two periods.


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