PITTSBURGH -- NHL MVP Sidney Crosby scored twice and added an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-4 Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.
Pascal Dupuis added a goal and three assists in his return from knee surgery for the Penguins, who rolled to victory in new coach Mike Johnston's debut. 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 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.
The Penguins underwent a massive overhaul following a fifth straight spring that ended without a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. Pittsburgh fired coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ray Shero and brought in former Carolina Hurricanes executive Jim Rutherford, who hired the well-traveled Johnston.
RANGERS 3, BLUES 2
ST. LOUIS -- Rick Nash had two goals and an assist, including the tiebreaking score late in the third period, and New York beat St. Louis in the first game of the season for both teams.
Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist for the Eastern Conference champions, and Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves.
Jaden Schwartz led the Blues with a goal and an assist. Paul Stastny also scored, and Brian Elliott stopped 22 shots.
After a fortunate carom off the glass, Nash scored the go-ahead goal with 1:50 remaining off a behind-the-back pass from Martin St. Louis in front of the net.
Rangers newcomer Dan Boyle broke his hand while blocking a shot. The veteran defenseman is expected to miss four to six weeks.
BLACKHAWKS 3, STARS 2, SO
DALLAS -- Patrick Sharp scored the tying goal in the third period, and Patrick Kane had the only goal in the shootout to lift Chicago over Dallas.
The Stars had turned away several good scoring chances for the high-scoring duo of Kane and Jonathan Toews before Sharp, who had 10 points in five games against Dallas last season, beat Kari Lehtonen 11:10 into the third.
Corey Crawford made 32 saves and stopped Dallas tries from Tyler Seguin and newcomers Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky in the shootout.
Spezza and Hemsky assisted on a tying goal by Trevor Daley. Cody Eakin gave the Stars a 2-1 lead.
Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith, coming off his second Norris Trophy, opened the scoring.
RED WINGS 2, BRUINS 1
DETROIT -- Gustav Nyquist's power-play goal in the second period lifted Detroit 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 only goal in this one.
Jimmy Howard made 16 saves for the Red Wings. Detroit was without star forward Pavel Datsyuk, recovering from a separated shoulder.
Tuukka Rask made 22 saves for the Bruins.
WILD 5, AVALANCHE 0
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Zach Parise scored one of Minnesota's four goals in the second period and assisted on two others, helping the Wild overwhelm Semyon Varlamov and Colorado in the season opener.
Jason Pominville scored in the first period on one of Mikael Granlund's two assists and helped set up a goal by Jared Spurgeon in the second. Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Suter scored, too.
Varlamov, who gave up five goals on 38 shots, was replaced by Reto Berra for the third period.
The Wild finished with 48 shots on goal, setting a team record for the 14-year-old franchise. They had 47 in a loss at Colorado on Dec. 21, 2002.
Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for the Wild in his fourth career shutout, including one in the playoffs last spring against the Avalanche.
Minnesota improved to 12-0-2 in home openers.
DEVILS 6, FLYERS 4
PHILADELPHIA -- Dainus Zubrus scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Michael Cammalleri had two goals to lead New Jersey over Philadelphia.
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 Boston.
Cory Schneider won his first game in goal since taking over full-time for Martin Brodeur and signing a $42 million, seven-year contract last summer.
PREDATORS 3, SENATORS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Craig Smith, Shea Weber and Eric Nystrom all scored in the third period, and Nashville beat Ottawa to give coach Peter Laviolette a win in his Predators debut.
Smith tied it at 1 with his goal 1:36 into the third. Weber, a three-time Norris Trophy finalist, skated around the net before flipping a backhander over a diving Craig Anderson for the lead. Nystrom scored at 10:20.
Filip Forsberg and Paul Gaustad each had two assists. Pekka Rinne made 18 saves for Nashville.
Kyle Turris and Alex Chiasson scored for Ottawa. Anderson stopped 34 shots.
BLUE JACKETS 3, SABRES 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Cam Atkinson scored the tiebreaking goal on a third-period power play, and 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 snapped a 1-all tie with 7:15 remaining.
Zemgus Girgensons scored for Buffalo, and Jhonas Enroth made 37 saves.
CANADIENS 2, CAPITALS 1, SO
WASHINGTON -- Tomas Plekanec scored his third goal of the young season, and Montreal recovered from a slow start for a 2-1 shootout win over Washington and new coach Barry Trotz.
Brendan Gallagher scored the decisive goal in the fifth round of the shootout, which did not feature Capitals star and three-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin until the fourth round.
Dustin Tokarski made 29 saves for the Canadiens, getting the start after Carey Price worked the 4-3 win over Toronto on Wednesday.
The Canadiens let the Capitals have the first 14 shots and trailed 1-0 early, but Montreal pinned Washington on its heels in the third period with one goal that counted and two that didn't.
Nineteen-year-old rookie Andre Burakovsky, the Capitals' latest experiment at second-line center, scored his first NHL goal in the first period.
LIGHTNING 3, PANTHERS 2, OT
TAMPA, Fla. -- Victor Hedman scored a power-play goal 1:11 into overtime and Tampa Bay beat Florida in their season opener.
Hedman took a pass from goalie Ben Bishop at the offensive blue line, skated in and beat Roberto Luongo from the left circle.
The Lightning also got goals from Tyler Johnson and Ryan Callahan. Valtteri Filppula had two assists.
Erik Gudbranson and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for Florida in Gerard Gallant's first game as Panthers coach.
Bishop made 19 saves in his first regular-season game since dislocating his elbow late last season.
JETS 6, COYOTES 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Blake Wheeler scored twice in 15 seconds, Bryan Little also had two goals and Winnipeg spoiled the season opener at home for the newly named Arizona Coyotes.
Wheeler keyed a four-goal first period for the Jets, who were in control almost from the start as Arizona goalie Mike Smith struggled early.
Wheeler also added an assist, his pass to Dustin Byfuglien for a tap-in from right in front at 12:31 of the second period to give Winnipeg a 5-1 lead.
Ondrej Pavelec made 26 saves.
Mikkel Boedker and Martin Hanzal scored for Arizona, formerly called the Phoenix Coyotes until rebranding in the offseason.
FLAMES 5, OILERS 2
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Mason Raymond scored three goals for his third career hat trick and Calgary ruined the season opener for its provincial rival by beating Edmonton.
Jiri Hudler and T.J. Brodie also scored for the Flames, who lost at home to Vancouver in their first game Wednesday night. Karri Ramo made 38 saves
Teddy Purcell and Taylor Hall scored for the Oilers.