Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby gets knocked down by Dallas’ Radek Faksa in the first period Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — Thomas Harley and Wyatt Johnston scored third-period goals and the Dallas Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Tuesday.
Bryan Rust scored the first goal for Pittsburgh, but Dallas had the next four, as the Stars haven’t lost in regulation yet this season.
Jason Robertson, who scored 46 goals last season, scored his first on Tuesday, as did Evgenii Dadonov before third-period goals from Harley and Johnston.
Jake Oettinger stopped 38 shots for the Stars, who won their third straight. Dallas has won four of its first five games this season.
Penguins defenseman John Ludvig, making his NHL debut, left with an injury at 10:41 of the second period. He was briefly knocked unconscious following a collision at center ice with Stars forward Radek Faksa. Ludvig, who was claimed off waivers from Florida before the season started, lay face down, motionless on the ice for several minutes while trainers and medical staff from both teams attended to him. He was eventually helped to his feet and skated from the ice with assistance from teammates Marcus Pettersson and Noel Acciari.
DEVILS 5, CANADIENS 2: Tyler Toffoli had a hat trick against his former team, leading New Jersey to a win at Montreal.
Alexander Holtz and Nico Hischier also scored for New Jersey, and Jack Hughes continued his hot start to the season with four assists. Vitek Vanecek stopped 27 shots.
Hughes, who entered the contest tied for third in the league in scoring, has 14 points in five games.
Justin Barron and Mike Matheson scored for Montreal. Canadiens goaltender Cayden Primeau made 29 saves in his first start of the season.
DUCKS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2: Frank Vatrano scored on a breakaway 2:40 into overtime and Lukas Dostal stopped 34 shots as visiting Anaheim snapped a three-game skid with their first road win of the season.
AVALANCHE 7, ISLANDERS 4: Mikko Rantanen scored the tie-breaking goal in the third period and had three assists as Colorado beat New York for its NHL-record 15th straight road win.
Ryan Johansen scored twice, Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, and Bowen Byram, Nathan MacKinnon and Ross Colton also scored for Colorado, which won its sixth straight to open the season. Valeri Nichushkin had two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 27 shots to also improve to 6-0-0 this season.
The Avalanche’s winning streak, which includes the last 11 road games of last season, topped the previous mark of 14 set by Buffalo bridging the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. They also matched the 2013-14 team for the best start (6-0-0) since moving to Colorado before the 1995-96 season — one win behind the 1985-86 Quebec Nordiques for tops in franchise history.
Cal Clutterbuck had a goal and an assist, Kyle Palmieri and Simon Holmstron also scored, and Noah Dobson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two assists as the Islanders lost their third straight (0-2-1). Ilya Sorokin finished with 34 saves.
KRAKEN 5, RED WINGS 4: Jordan Eberle scored with 5 seconds remaining in overtime and visiting Seattle snapped Detroit’s five-game winning streak.
Eberle’s winner was set up by Jared McCann, who tied the game on a power-play goal with 1:22 left.
PANTHERS 3, SHARKS 1: Sam Reinhart extended his goal streak to five games, helping Florida beat visiting San Jose.
Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Kevin Stenlund each scored for the Panthers (3-3-0), who were without captain Aleksander Barkov because of an illness.
Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves in his Florida debut.
Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 32 saves.
At 0-5-1, San Jose has matched the worst six-game start in franchise history. The Sharks also went 0-5-1 for one point through six games in 1993-94 — part of what became an 0-8-1 start. San Jose turned things around that season, getting to the second round of the playoffs.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, CAPITALS 1: Auston Matthews scored his seventh goal of the season, Joseph Woll made 36 saves and visiting Toronto handed Washington its fourth loss in five games.
Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal this season and 823rd of his NHL career, moving 71 back of Wayne Gretzky’s record. Ovechkin, who would have tied a career-long season-opening goal drought if he hadn’t scored, had a game-high 14 shots, including a failed penalty shot.
LIGHTNING 3, HURRICANES 0: Jonas Johansson made 32 saves, Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and Tampa Bay won at home.
Alex Barré-Boulet and Nicholas Paul had the other Tampa Bay goals.
Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 20 shots for the Hurricanes, who have lost three in a row and wrapped up a six-game trip at 2-4.
SABRES 6, SENATORS 4: Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson each scored twice as visiting Buffalo beat Ottawa.
Zemgus Girgensons and Alex Tuch also added goals for the Sabres.
Jakob Chychrun, Vladimir Tarasenko, Josh Norris and Mathieu Joseph scored for Ottawa.
NOTES
PRIDE TAPE: NHL players will be allowed to use Pride tape this season after all with the reversal of a ban that sparked a backlash around hockey and among LGBTQ+ advocates in sports.
The league, players’ union and a committee on inclusion agreed to give players the option to represent social causes with stick tape during warm-ups, practices and games. The move announced Tuesday rescinds a ban on rainbow-colored Pride tape for on-ice activities that was provided to teams earlier this fall as guidance for theme nights.
The NHL Players’ Association said it was “pleased to see the league’s policy has been revised so that players are free to support causes they believe in.”
Pride nights became a hot-button issue in hockey after six players chose not to participate in pregame warm-ups last season when their team wore rainbow-themed jerseys. Teams this season are not allowed to wear any kind of theme jerseys, including military appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer, for warm-ups.
The tape ban drew criticism from players around the league, longtime executive Brian Burke and others. Philadelphia’s Scott Laughton told reporters he’d probably use it anyway, and Arizona’s Travis Dermott defied the ban over the weekend by putting rainbow-colored tape on his stick for a game.
Asked earlier this month about the ban, longtime Pride tape user Trevor van Riemsdyk of the Washington Capitals said he hoped it would lead players to get creative about how they support social causes.
“There’s still a lot we can do and a lot of ways we can make people feel welcome and included, so hopefully that doesn’t deter guys,” van Riemdsyk said. “A lot of guys, maybe this will just spur them forward to maybe make it more of a point to do things, whether it’s away from the rink or whatever it may be.”
Burke, a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, sharply criticized the ban he said removed meaningful support, calling it “not inclusion or progress” and a surprising and serious setback.
The You Can Play Project, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ participation in sports and has partnered with the NHL for a decade, called the reversal “a win for us all.”
“Actively welcoming communities into hockey is imperative to keep the sport strong now and into the future,” You Can Play said in a statement. “We appreciate every person, team and organization that made their voice heard to support this change and appreciate the NHL’s willingness to listen and make the right choice.”
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