Hockey Today - October 5
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCOREBOARD Friday, Oct. 5
N.Y. Islanders at Buffalo (7:30 p.m. EDT). The Presidents' Trophy-winning Sabres eliminated the Islanders in five games during the first round of last year's playoffs.
STARS Thursday
-Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning, scored twice, including a tiebreaking goal with 3:52 left in the third, leading Tampa Bay to a 3-1 win over New Jersey.
-Daniel Alfredsson, Senators, scored twice, including the winner on a power play with 4:59 remaining, to lift Ottawa to a 3-2 victory over Toronto.
-Jason Arnott and Chris Mason, Predators. Arnott scored two goals and Mason made 35 saves to lead Nashville to a season-opening 4-0 win over Colorado.
-Daniel Briere, Flyers, scored two goals to help Philadelphia beat Calgary 3-2.
HOME SWEAT HOME
Edmonton is undefeated in its last eight home openers (six wins and two ties) after a 3-2 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
DEBUTS
Vincent Lecavalier scored twice, including a tiebreaking goal with 3:52 left in the third, spoiling Brent Sutter's debut as Devils coach and leading Tampa Bay to a 3-1 win on Thursday night. ... Daniel Briere scored his first two goals in a Philadelphia uniform to help the Flyers beat Calgary 3-2 on Thursday night, spoiling Mike Keenan's regular-season debut behind the Flames' bench.
YOUNG GUN
Rookie Daniel Winnik's first NHL goal stood as the winner in the Phoenix Coyotes' 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues in the teams' season opener on Thursday night. Winnik converted a centering pass from Martin Hanzal at 7:30 of the third period to extend the Coyotes' lead to 3-0, just 12 seconds after Mike York scored Phoenix's second goal.
PROMOTED
The Carolina Hurricanes promoted Ron Francis, already the team's director of player development, to assistant general manager on Thursday. He replaces Jason Karmanos, the 33-year-old son of team owner Peter Karmanos Jr., who resigned last week for personal reasons.
SPEAKING
''We got our goals. We got a goal on the power play. We got goals in transition. We got mucking goals. We got goals because we had traffic in front of the net. That's how we are going to have to play if we are going to be successful.'' - Nashville coach Barry Trotz after the Predators' 4-0 win over the Avalanche on Thursday night.
Today's key NHL matchup notes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pittsburgh at Carolina
The Penguins were 1-3-0 against the Hurricanes last season and lost both games in Raleigh. Sidney Crosby had three goals and an assist in the series. Carolina's Scott Walker had four goals and an assist in four games against Pittsburgh last season.
Anaheim at Columbus
Columbus may be short-handed as their season starts after placing Adam Foote (hamstring), Fredrik Modin (back) and Michael Peca (groin) on injured reserve Tuesday. The Ducks went 2-1-1 against the Blue Jackets last season, but won both of the meetings in Columbus.
N.Y. Islanders at Buffalo
Buffalo is 7-1 in eight meetings with the Islanders over the previous two regular seasons, taking all four matchups at HSBC Arena. The Sabres have won 20 of their 36 season openers, including 14 of 22 at home. The Isles have lost four straight openers and have won only eight in the franchise's 34-season history.
Washington at Atlanta
The Thrashers went 5-1-2 against the Capitals last season, and are 12-2-4 with one tie in the last 19 meetings. Ilya Kovalchuk has 11 goals and 14 assists in 19 career games versus Washington.
Boston at Dallas
The Stars were one of the league's best home teams in 2006-07, going 28-11-2 at American Airlines Center. This will be their first home game against the Bruins since Oct. 15, 2003. Boston is 0-3-0 with one tie in its past four season openers.
San Jose at Vancouver
Vancouver is 20-13-3 all-time in season-openers. The Canucks scored just 222 goals last season - the fewest among Western Conference playoff teams.