Sept. 21: NHL Preseason Roundup

John Tavares scored twice in his first home game for the Toronto Maple Leafs, part of a 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.

"It's quite the atmosphere for a preseason game," Tavares said. "A lot of fun to play in that atmosphere. ... The passion for this team in this building and this city is pretty special. It was fun to play in."
Tavares scored 3:42 into the first period to give Toronto a 3-1 lead, and he scored an empty-net goal with 44 seconds remaining in the third period.
They were his third and fourth goals of his first preseason with the Maple Leafs; he scored twice in a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Kraft Hockeyville Canada in Lucan, Ontario, on Tuesday.
Mitchell Marner had an assist, his third of the preseason, on Tavares' first goal.
"Well, it's impressive, his ability to skate, as tenacious as he is," Tavares said of Marner. "And he's so cerebral. He just knows where to be. When he gets it, obviously he knows what to do with it. So obviously his transition and ability to get up the ice is very impressive. I'm getting used to it. Makes the game easier for me. It's fun, but we're just getting started. We haven't proved anything yet. Just working and keep getting better."
Andrew Oglevie gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead 30 seconds into the game, and Ron Hainsey tied it 1-1 18 seconds later. Pierre Engvall gave Toronto a 2-1 lead at 1:11.
C.J. Smith got Buffalo within 3-2 at 11:28 of the first, and Tage Thompson tied it 3-3 6:08 into the second period.
Chris Mueller put the Maple Leafs ahead 4-3 at 10:55.
Curtis McElhinney saved all 20 shots he faced in the final 29:10 for Toronto, after Garret Sparks allowed three goals on 12 shots. Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman left the game in the second period with a bone bruise.
Linus Ullmark made 27 saves for Buffalo.

Slavin has three points for Hurricanes in win against Capitals

Defenseman Jaccob Slavin had a goal and two assists for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-1 win against the Washington Capitals at PNC Arena.
Valentin Zykov gave Carolina a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 2:19 into the game, and Jordan Staal scored to make it 2-0 at 11:33. Nicklas Backstrom scored to get the Capitals within 2-1 at 12:21 before Jordan Martinook scored shorthanded at 13:36 to make it 3-1.
Slavin scored on the power play at 17:16 of the third period to put Carolina ahead 4-1, and Martin Necas scored into an empty net with 37 seconds left to make it 5-1.
Petr Mrazek played the first two periods for the Hurricanes and made nine saves on 10 shots. Alex Nedeljkovic made the save on all eight shots he faced in the third.
Braden Holtby played the first two periods for the Capitals and allowed three goals on 18 shots. Ilya Samsonov made six saves in the third.

Johnson, Blues shut out Blue Jackets

Chad Johnson made 20 saves, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 at Enterprise Center.
Sammy Blais (4:47) and Pat Maroon (13:38) each scored a power-play goal in the first period to give the Blues a 2-0 lead. Robert Bortuzzo made it 3-0 with an empty-net goal with 1:52 remaining in the third.
Sergei Bobrovsky started for the Blue Jackets and made 14 saves on 16 shots. He was relieved by Brad Thiessen, who made the save on all 10 shots he faced.

Blackhawks score three in third, defeat Senators

Marcus Kruger, Dominik Kahun, Andreas Martinsen and Luke Johnson each had a goal and an assist, and the Chicago Blackhawks scored three times in the third period to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 at Canadian Tire Centre.
Kruger gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead at 1:10, Martinsen made it 4-2 at 8:23, and John Hayden increased the lead to 5-2 at 12:42.
The Senators took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Alex Formenton at 6:04 and Matt Duchene on the power play at 11:34. Johnson scored on the power play at 16:20 to get the Blackhawks within 2-1.
Kahun tied it 2-2 at 12:24 of the second.
Collin Delia started for Chicago and made 17 saves on 19 shots. Matt Tomkins came on in relief in the second period and made the save on all seven shots he faced.
Mike Condon made nine saves on 11 shots for Ottawa. He was relieved by Filip Gustavsson, who allowed three goals on 17 shots.

Byfuglien shoots Jets past Flames in OT

Dustin Byfuglien scored his second goal of the game 26 seconds into overtime to give the Winnipeg Jets a 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames at Bell MTS Place.
Bryan Little scored for Winnipeg to tie it 3-3 with 1:01 remaining in the third period. Byfuglien made it 3-2 at 16:34 of the second period.
Brett Pollock gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 7:59 of first period, and Dillon Dube scored on the power play at 3:36 of the second to make it 2-0.
Blake Wheeler got the Jets within 2-1 at 6:53 of the third. Alan Quine put the Flames ahead 3-1 at 11:21.
Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves for Winnipeg.
Jeff Glass and Tyler Parsons each made nine saves on 11 shots for Calgary.

Erne, Domingue lift Lightning past Predators

Adam Erne scored twice in the first 9:06, starting the Tampa Bay Lightning on their way to a 5-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.
Louis Domingue made 38 saves for Tampa Bay.
Erne made it 1-0 at 7:18 before giving the Lightning a 2-0 lead 1:48 later. Boris Katchouk made it 3-0 at 9:24.
Roman Josi scored his first of the preseason to get Nashville within 3-1 on the power play at 8:34 of the second period. Andy Andreoff made it 4-1 at 9:25 with a shorthanded goal.
Dominik Masin pushed it to 5-1 with an empty-net goal with 2:48 remaining in the third period.
Pekka Rinne allowed four goals facing 18 shots playing two periods for Nashville. Troy Grosenick made eight saves in relief.

Pulock powers Islanders past Flyers in OT

Ryan Pulock scored a power-play goal at 1:00 of overtime to give the New York Islanders a 3-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The Islanders tied it 2-2 on Ross Johnston's goal 2:16 into the third period. Jan Kovar also scored for New York.
Shayne Gostisbehere scored on the power play to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 8:30 of the first period. It was his third goal of preseason.
Travis Konecny gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead at 17:37 of the second, 1:28 after Kovar tied it.
Each team was 1-for-6 on the power play.