Flyers Keep Coming Back, but Devils Finally Prevail in Their Opener
Dainus Zubrus scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and Michael Cammalleri had two goals, leading the visiting Devils to a season-opening 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.
Michael Ryder, Adam Henrique and Patrick Elias also scored for the Devils.
Claude Giroux had a goal and Wayne Simmonds scored twice to help the Flyers rally from a three-goal deficit. Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Flyers, who lost, 2-1, in their season opener Wednesday night against the Boston Bruins.
Cory Schneider won his first game in goal since taking over full time for Martin Brodeur and signing a seven-year, $42 million contract in the summer.
The Devils blew 3-0 and 4-3 leads before taking the lead for good on Zubrus's goal early in the third.
Elias had snapped a tie with a goal early in the third to make it 4-3.
Much like they did in the second period, the Flyers came storming back with the tying goal. Lecavalier, a disappointment last year in his first season with the Flyers, scored off a two-on-one break to tie it at 4.
Zubrus, though, wiped out the momentum with the go-ahead goal only 15 seconds later. Moments after the Flyers killed a penalty, Zubrus poked the puck from the right circle off goaltender Steve Mason's stick, and the lead held this time.
The Devils seemingly had the game in hand after three straight goals on nine shots against Mason.
Mason, starting his second game in two nights, was caught up in two deflections that gave the Devils the early edge.
Ryder fired one from the circle over Mason's right shoulder for a goal in the first.
The Devils added two more in the second, both on deflections. Henrique's shot went off Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn's skate and Cammalleri scored off a similar bounce for a 3-0 lead just 5 minutes 33 seconds into the second.
Jaromir Jagr had an assist on the goal for his 1,756th career point, sixth on the N.H.L.'s career scoring list. He also assisted on Cammalleri's empty-netter in the final seconds.
Down by three, the Flyers rallied.
Giroux, still rounding into shape after missing part of the preseason with an unspecified injury, cut it to 3-1 on a slapper.
Simmonds then scored twice in 57 seconds to tie it at 3. His first goal was pretty much kicked into the net. Simmonds stuck his second just under the buzzer. His tying goal was reviewed - and when the video board showed his goal made it with just 0.6 of a second left, the crowd roared.
Simmonds has been on a bit of a hot streak at home, although his last two games were separated by about six months. He scored three goals against the Rangers in Game 6 of a first-round Eastern Conference playoff game.
Mason stopped only 20 shots after posting 31 saves in the opener.
BLUE JACKETS 3, SABRES 1 Cam Atkinson scored the tiebreaking goal on a third-period power play, and visiting Columbus beat Buffalo in the season opener for both teams.
Artem Anisimov and Jack Skille also scored for the Blue Jackets, who got 21 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Atkinson broke a 1-all tie with 7:15 remaining.
Zemgus Girgensons scored for Buffalo, and Jhonas Enroth made 37 saves.
Terry Pegula, the Sabres owner, was in the building one day after being unanimously approved as the new owner of the N.F.L.'s Buffalo Bills.
The Sabres had the worst record in the N.H.L. by 14 points last season. Columbus made the playoffs as a wild card in the Eastern Conference.
PENGUINS 6, DUCKS 4 Sidney Crosby, the N.H.L.'s most valuable player last season, scored twice and added an assist as host Pittsburgh beat Anaheim.
Pascal Dupuis added a goal and three assists in his return from knee surgery for the Penguins, who rolled to victory in their season opener and Mike Johnston's debut as coach. Patrick Hornqvist, Blake Comeau and Brandon Sutter also scored for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves.
Corey Perry had a hat trick for the Ducks, who were also opening their season but collapsed after erasing an early three-goal deficit. Ryan Kesler added a goal in his debut with Anaheim. John Gibson struggled while making his first start in his hometown, stopping 33 of 39 shots.
RED WINGS 2, BRUINS 1 Gustav Nyquist's power-play goal in the second period lifted host Detroit to a victory over Boston in the Red Wings' season opener.
Justin Abdelkader also scored for Detroit, which lost to the Bruins in the first round of last season's playoffs. Patrice Bergeron scored Boston's goal.
Jimmy Howard had 16 saves for the Red Wings. Detroit was without the star forward Pavel Datsyuk, who is recovering from a separated shoulder.
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