Jagr excels in return to NHL

• Three years in Russia don't appear to have had any ill effects on Jaromir Jagr's scoring touch.

Jagr, who returned to the NHL this summer when he signed with Philadelphia, had a goal and assist as the Flyers won 3-1 in Detroit on Friday night.

"It may take me a while to get my timing back," the highest-scoring European-born player in NHL history told philly.com after putting up two points in his first game with his new team.

Late in the first period, Jagr set up James Van Riemsdyk's goal, then scored one of his own 52 seconds later to erase the Red Wings' 1-0 lead. Jagr's goal came when he took a pass from Scott Hartnell and wristed a 15-footer past goalie Jimmy Howard.

"I want to get -- how do you say it? -- to NHL [level] as quick as I can," Jagr said.

Matt Read scored midway through the second period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves. Fabian Brunnstrom gave Detroit an early led, and Howard stopped 19 shots.

Brunnstrom is on a tryout contract with the Wings, trying to make the roster of one of the NHL's elite teams.

"I sure thought he was good tonight," coach Mike Babcock said. "We’re going to watch over a period of time. But every time you put your equipment on, if you do positive things you’re setting yourself up, so I was impressed with him tonight.

"He skates better than I expected, hangs onto the puck and makes some plays."

Bruins 6, Islanders 3

The Bruins took a period or so to get rolling in their first game at TD Garden, but blew out the Islanders with a four-goal third period.

Harvard grad Dylan Reese scored twice against Tim Thomas to give the Isles a 2-0 lead after one period, and Trevor Frischman's goal late in the second put New York in front 3-2 after two periods. But Dennis Seidenberg's power-play goal 4:11 into the third tied the game, Brad Marchand put the Bruins in front at 8:17 and goals 43 seconds apart by Johnny Boychuk and Rich Peverley put the game away.

"After the first couple of shifts we started to get it going even though we were down 2-0," Boychuk said. "We just built off that second period.

Boston outshot the Islanders 36-16.

"I thought we got away from our game in the second half," Isles coach Jack Capuano said. "The territorial battle at the start was ours, but then they started protecting the red line, getting pucks behind our ‘D’ and we turned the puck over."

Canadiens 4, Senators 3 (SO)

Max Pacioretty is showing no effects from the broken vertebra and concussion that ended his 2010-11 season early. Pacioretty keyed Montreal's comeback from a 3-0 deficit with a pair of power-play goals, then scored in the shootout as the Canadiens won at Ottawa.

Scott Gomez tied the game with 36.5 seconds left in regulation when the puck went into the net off Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson. The line of Gomez, Pacioretty and prospect Brendan Gallagher combined for 19 shots -- nine by Pacioretty.

"It seemed like we were controlling the puck really well every time we had it," Pacioretty said. "It just shows how good Gomer is because most of the time the puck was on his stick down there and we were just trying to create some space for him."

Eric Cole, who signed with Montreal as a free agent this summer, got the shootout winner.

Zack Smith scored twice in 63 seconds to put Ottawa ahead in the first period, and Milan Michalek scored midway through the second to make it 3-0.

"It doesn't matter if it's preseason or regular season, blowing a three-goal lead isn't good by any means," Smith said. "It's kind of embarrassing, but we did things that put us in the situation for them to come back. They got a couple of power-play goals and that hurt us."

Blackhawks 3, Capitals 2

Rookie Brandon Saad scored the go-ahead goal with 3:21 as Chicago beat Washington for its first preseason win.

Jonathan Toews set up Saad, Chicago's second-round pick this past June, and the rookie drove to the net and beat Tomas Vokoun with a high shot from the left edge of the crease for the winner.

"He's been playing great," Toews said of Saad, who at 18 is the youngest player in Chicago's camp. "I definitely noticed him and what he could do in that game in Saskatoon. That was a tough game for a lot of the guys ... first game, especially on the road like that, but it was good for our team to get the win. Coming off that game-winning goal by Brandon, I think that gives him a lot of confidence too. Nice to see the young guy realize he can play at this level and have that confidence right away. You can see the skill right there."

The Hawks trailed 1-0 after two periods, but Viktor Stalberg scored twice to put Chicago ahead before Matt Hendricks tied it with 7:38 remaining.

Joel Ward scored in the first period for Washington by deflecting Alex Ovechkin's shot from the point past Corey Crawford.

"I think we played well the first two periods, and Tomas made some great saves to keep us in the game," Ovechkin said. "The third goal was my mistake, I was trying to make some pressure. I think right now I feel much better than I felt the first game. I don’t know, maybe it was the ice, maybe it was the different stadium, but I felt much better. I controlled the puck well, I had some hits, I feel much better."

Wild 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT)

Dany Heatley

Left Wing - MIN

GOALS: 26 | ASST: 38 | PTS: 64
SOG: 217 | +/-: 8

This is just what Wild GM Chuck Fletcher envisioned when he shook up his roster this summer: Newcomer Dany Heatley scored twice, including the OT winner, to give Minnesota its third win in as many games.

Heatley won it 1:22 into the extra period when he tipped Mikko Koivu's power-play blast from the right circle past rookie goaltender Allen York.

Devin Setoguchi, who like Heatley came to the Wild from San Jose this summer, also scored for Minnesota, as did rookie Kris Foucault. The of Heatley, Koivu and Setoguchi combined for three goals and nine points.

"We did a lot of things that Mike wants us to do," Heatley said. "We're getting used to the system. There were times when we could have done things better, but I thought we played pretty well.

Defenseman Fedor Tyutin had a power-play goal and set up tallies by Derek MacKenzie and Kris Russell for the Jackets.

Lightning 5, Panthers 2

Tampa Bay got two second-period goals from free-agent signee Ryan Shannon and breezed past Florida at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Shannon, who played with Ottawa last season, beat Jacob Markstrom for a power-play goal at 6:31, then made it 3-0 when he scored at 12:55. Mattias Ritola opened the scoring 8:06 into the game, and Carter Ashton and Vincent Lecavalier scored in the third.

"Every day, I feel more comfortable," Shannon said of getting used to coach Guy Boucher's system. "He tells us exactly what he wants, so it's our job to do it well."

Dwayne Roloson stopped 31 shots, allowing third-period goals to Jack Skille and Michal Repik.

"Look at the moral encouragement; I would like that to be part of our identity," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said. "No matter what happens, we push back."

Predators 3, Hurricanes 2

Rookie Chris Mueller's goal with seven minutes left in regulation broke a tie and gave Nashville the win at Carolina.

For NHL.com's complete game story, click here.

Blues 3, Avalanche 2

Evgeny Grachev, acquired from the Rangers this summer, continued to make a case for a roster spot by scoring his third goal in four preseason games as the Blues held on for a win in Denver.

"He's finding a way to be effective, not only on the score sheet, but in a number of different areas, decisions on the ice with the puck, his defensive play," Blues coach Davis Payne said of Grachev. "He's come here to make a statement to our organization after picking him up in a trade this summer and he's doing a very good job of it."

Evgeny Grachev

Center - STL

GOALS: 0 | ASST: 0 | PTS: 0
SOG: 3 | +/-: -3

Adam Cracknell and David Backes also scored for the Blues. Backes' empty-netter with 59 seconds left proved to be the winner when Paul Stastny beat Jake Allen 14 seconds later.

Grachev's power-play goal at 8:06 of the first period was the only score by either team through 40 minutes Cracknell made it 2-0 at 5:02 of the third period before Colorado rookie Tyson Barie ended Allen's shutout bid with a shot from the top of the left circle at 12:48. It was Barrie's second goal and third point in two nights.

The goal by Backes came after a turnover by Peter Mueller, who's making a comeback after missing all of last season due to a concussion.

"I thought he's coming along," coach Joe Sacco said. "His game is progressing and heading in the right direction. Once he gets up to speed with his conditioning and his timing, I think he'll be fine."

Sacco also said after the game that forward Brandon Yip suffered a broken forearm when he blocked a shot early in the third period. There was no immediate word on how long Yip would be out. The Avs also said defenseman Jan Hejda will miss two to four weeks because of a knee injury suffered in an intrasquad game last week.

Sharks 5, Ducks 1

Suffice it to say that the Ducks will be glad to see a team other than the Sharks on the ice Saturday night when they visit Vancouver. For the second time in three days, San Jose steamrolled Anaheim, this time before an appreciative crowd at the Shark Tank.

Two night after winning 6-1 in Anaheim, San Jose scored three power-goals fired 49 shots on goal and limited the Ducks to just 14 against third-string goaltender Thomas Greiss. Five Sharks scored goals and Mike Moore had three assists for San Jose.

"I think there should be some enthusiasm," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "If you look at the two games, we had great leadership from the veterans. We played a fast, upbeat game and we saw some of the things we wanted to implement through training camp."

Ryan Getzlaf's second-period power-play goal was one of the few bright spots for the Ducks, who were outshot 36-7 through two periods.