NEW YORK (AP) -Chris Drury brought his winning ways to Broadway on opening night.
Drury’s first goal in a Rangers uniform snapped a third-period tie Thursday night and sparked a late scoring outburst that carried New York to a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
Signed this summer after helping the Buffalo Sabres eliminate the Rangers in the second round of last season’s playoffs, Drury put in a rebound 8:46 into the third period to give New York a 3-2 lead and spark a spurt of three goals in a 4:16 span.
Petr Prucha, Ryan Callahan and Martin Straka also scored in the third period as the Rangers turned a 2-1 deficit into a rousing victory. Often-booed defenseman Marek Malik assisted on three of the final-period tallies, captain Jaromir Jagr set up two, as did Drury who had a helper on Straka’s goal with 6:58 left that made it 5-2.
Michal Rozsival gave the Rangers a 1-0 advantage just 37 seconds into the game.
Brett McLean and Nathan Horton scored second-period goals for the Panthers, who seemed to have the game in hand before the late meltdown.
Senators 3, Maple Leafs 2
OTTAWA (AP) – Daniel Alfredsson’s scored twice, including the game-winner on a power play with 4:59 remaining, to lift the Senators to a victory over the Maple Leafs.
Alfredsson put a wrist shot over Vesa Toskala’s right shoulder into the top left corner for his third goal of the season and helped Ottawa regain the lead after blowing a two-goal lead in the second.
Dany Heatley assisted on Alfredsson’s opening goal 8:18 into the game before he scored on a power play at 13:06 of the second to put Ottawa up 2-0.
Mats Sundin and Matt Stajan scored goals 32 seconds apart later in the period as Toronto tied it with 3:44 left.
Lightning 3, Devils 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – 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 the Lightning to a win.
Vinny Prospal set up Lecavalier’s second goal to make it 2-1 from the right circle with a backhand pass through the slot. Prospal added an empty-net goal with 58 seconds left.
Lightning goalie Johan Holmqvist stopped 26 shots. Martin St. Louis had three assists.
Brian Gionta scored for the Devils and Martin Brodeur made 21 saves.
New Jersey is opening the season with a nine-game road trip, which will allow construction of the Devils new arena in Newark to be completed for the home opener Oct. 27 against Ottawa.
Predators 4, Avalanche 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Jason Arnott scored two goals and Chris Mason made 35 saves to lead the Predators to a season-opening win over the Avalanche.
Marek Zidlicky passed the puck from the right side, catching Arnott above the circle on the power play. Arnott sent a one-timer that beat Colorado goaltender Peter Budaj between his pads at 4:31 of the first.
Nearly 10 minutes later, Arnott struck from close range.
In the second period, Nashville made it 3-0 as Dan Hamhuis beat Budaj low to his stick side from the middle of the left circle.
Tyler Weiman scored the fourth goal.
Wild 1, Blackhawks 0
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Niklas Backstrom made 27 saves, Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored, and the Wild beat the Blackhawks.
Backstrom, the unflappable goalie from Finland, was given a two-year, $6.2 million contract in June that led to the trade of Manny Fernandez to Boston. In his first game under the burden of the big money and the starting job, Backstrom was just as good as he was as a 29-year-old rookie who helped the Wild make the playoffs for the second time in franchise history.
He didn’t give up many rebounds and didn’t budge when the Blackhawks had a brief 5-on-3 midway through the second period.
Nikolai Khabibulin wasn’t bad himself in the other net. He stopped 23 shots, letting only one get by him in the middle frame when Minnesota’s attack was the strongest.
Oilers 3, Sharks 2, SO
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Jarret Stoll scored in the shootout to lift the Oilers to a victory over the Sharks.
Joe Thornton scored the tying goal on a power play with 11 seconds left in regulation for the Sharks.
Tom Gilbert and Kyle Brodziak scored in regulation for the Oilers, and Patrick Marleau had San Jose’s other goal.
The game was scoreless until Marleau got the Sharks on the board off a pass from Thornton 26 seconds into the third period.
Edmonton was quick to respond just over a minute later as a trio of rookies connected. Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano earned their first NHL points when Cogliano snapped a shot that deflected off the skate of Gilbert in front of the Sharks’ net and in.
The Oilers took the lead just over a minute later as Sheldon Souray sent a shot from the point that got behind Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Brodziak, another Oilers newcomer, dove to sweep the puck in to put Edmonton ahead 2-1.
Flyers 3, Flames 2
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) – Daniel Briere scored his first two goals in a Philadelphia uniform to help the Flyers beat Calgary, spoiling Mike Keenan’s regular-season debut behind the Flames’ bench.
Mike Knuble and Briere scored in the first period to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. The Flames tied the game on a pair of goals from Daymond Langkow.
Briere connected on the game-winner with 1:48 left to give the Flyers the victory.
Coyotes 3, Blues 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Rookie Daniel Winnik’s first NHL goal stood as the game-winner in the Coyotes’ victory over the Blues.
Winnik’s 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.
Keith Tkachuk and Brad Boyce scored late in the third to pull the Blues to 3-2, but the Coyotes hung on for the win.
Phoenix overcame a high-sticking penalty against defenseman Ed Jovanovski with 1:06 remaining, and fought off the Blues’ 6-on-4 advantage after St. Louis pulled goalie Manny Legace for an extra skater.
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