Mikko Rantanen scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and had three assists as the Colorado Avalanche beat the New York Islanders 7-4 on Tuesday night for their 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.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:
MAPLE LEAFS 4 CAPITALS 1
Auston Matthews scored his seventh goal of the season, Joseph Woll made 36 saves and 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 had a game-high 14 shots, including a failed penalty shot. Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals on the first 12 shots he faced and 17 overall.
Morgan Rielly, John Tavares and William Nylander also scored for the Maple Leafs, who won for a fourth time in six games.
Rielly’s goal was the first by a Maple Leafs defenceman this season and the fifth time the Capitals gave up the first goal of the game. Tavares and Nylander extended their respective season-opening point streaks to six and became the third set of Toronto teammates to do that.
LIGHTNING 3 HURRICANES 0
Jonas Johansson made 32 saves, Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and Tampa Bay sent Carolina to its third straight loss.
Alex Barré-Boulet and Nicholas Paul also scored for Tampa Bay. Johansson is filling in for Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had back surgery last month and is expected back in late November or early December.
Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 20 shots for the Hurricanes, who wrapped up a six-game trip at 2-4.
DEVILS 5 CANADIENS 2
Tyler Toffoli had a hat trick against his former team, leading New Jersey past 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. Goaltender Cayden Primeau made 29 saves in his first start of the season.
SABRES 6 SENATORS 4
Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson each scored twice and Buffalo beat Ottawa on a night the Senators honoured former star goaltender Craig Anderson, who serves as a hockey liaison for the Sabres.
Zemgus Girgensons and Alex Tuch also added goals for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 34 saves.
Jakob Chychrun, Vladimir Tarasenko, Josh Norris and Mathieu Joseph scored for Ottawa. Starting goalie Anton Forsberg was chased after allowing five goals on 18 shots through two periods. Joonas Korpisalo made five saves in the third.
Senators captain Brady Tkachuk left the game late in the second period appearing to favour his shoulder after a collision with Sabres centre Peyton Krebs.
STARS 4 PENGUINS 1
Thomas Harley and Wyatt Johnston scored in the third period and Dallas beat Pittsburgh.
Trailing by a goal, Dallas countered with four straight scores. Jason Robertson scored for the first time this season and Evgenii Dadonov added a goal 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 defenceman 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 centre ice with Stars forward Radek Faksa. Ludvig was eventually helped to his feet and skated from the ice with assistance from teammates Marcus Pettersson and Noel Acciari.
Bryan Rust scored and Alex Nedeljkovic made 31 saves for the Penguins, who lost third straight and fell for the fourth time in six games this season.
PANTHERS 3 SHARKS 1
Sam Reinhart extended his goal streak to five games, helping Florida keep San Jose winless.
Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Kevin Stenlund 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.
KRAKEN 5 RED WINGS 4 (OT)
Jordan Eberle scored with 5 seconds remaining in overtime and Seattle ended Detroit's Red five-game winning streak.
Eberle’s game-winner was set up by Jared McCann, who tied the game with a power-play goal with 1:22 left. Jaden Schwartz scored twice and Tye Kartye added a goal for the Kraken. Joey Daccord made 23 saves.
Alex DeBrincat scored his league-high ninth goal this season for Detroit. Dylan Larkin and Shayne Gostisbehere each contributed a goal and two assists. Joe Veleno also scored and Ville Husso made 31 saves.
BRUINS 3 BLACKHAWKS 0
Matthew Poitras and Trent Frederic scored 56 seconds apart in the third period as Boston beat Chicago to match the best start in franchise history.
Pavel Zacha also scored for Boston, and Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves in his 10th career shutout.
The Bruins moved to 6-0 by closing out a perfect four-game trip in the franchise’s centennial season. Boston also won its first six games of the 1937-38 season.
Petr Mrazek made 40 stops for Chicago in its third consecutive loss. The Blackhawks also lost to the Bruins on Oct. 11, falling 3-1 in Boston.
DUCKS 3 BLUE JACKETS 2 (OT)
Frank Vatrano scored on a breakaway 2:40 into overtime and Lukas Dostal stopped 34 shots as Anaheim snapped a three-game skid with its first road win of the season, rallying to beat Columbus.
The Ducks twice erased one-goal deficits and pulled even with goals by Ryan Strome and Brett Leason on the way to their fifth straight win over Columbus.
In the overtime, Benoit-Olivier Groulx picked up a loose puck in his own zone and sent a pass to a streaking Vatrano near centre ice, and the 29-year-old winger beat Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins on the stick side.
Adam Fantilli had a goal and an assist, his first multi-point NHL game, and Emil Bemstrom scored for the Blue Jackets, who had a two-game wins streak halted. Merzlikins stopped 24 shots.
JETS 4 BLUES 2
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 18 of 20 shots to lead the Winnipeg past St. Louis.
Kyle Connor, Mason Appleton and David Gustafsson scored for the Jets, and Morgan Barrons added an empty-netter.
Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich scored for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington made 26 saves on 29 shots.
It was the Jets first game without head coach Rick Bowness, who took a leave of absence after his wife, Judy, suffered a seizure on Sunday.
WILD 7 OILERS 4
Ryan Hartman scored three goals as part of a career-high-tying five-point game, and Minnesota scored five times in the final period to beat Edmonton.
Hartman recorded his first hat trick since Jan. 8, 2017.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello also scored in third for the Wild before Marcus Foligno added an empty-netter. Marco Rossi and Hartman scored in the first period for Minnesota, and Filip Gustavsson finished with 25 saves.
Warren Foegele had two goals, and Evan Bouchard and Evander Kane also scored for the Oilers, who played without captain and three-time MVP Connor McDavid, expected to miss a week or two due to injury.
CANUCKS 3 PREDATORS 2
Phillip Di Giuseppe and Nils Hoglander scored early in the second period to lead Vancouver past Nashville.
Ilya Mikheyev also scored, and Thatcher Demko made 15 saves as Vancouver won its second straight game.
Colton Sissons and Kiefer Sherwood scored, and Juuse Saros made 21 saves for Nashville, which had its two-game winning streak snapped.
RANGERS 3 FLAMES 1
Defenceman Erik Gustafsson had a goal and an assist and New York scored three times in the second period to beat Calgary.
Chris Kreider added his team-leading fifth goal and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for New York. Filip Chytil had two assists. Igor Shesterkin made 24 saves and improved to 3-2.
Blake Coleman scored for Calgary, which has lost three in a row and gone 1-4-1 since winning its season opener. Jacob Markstrom made 17 saves for Calgary.
KINGS 6 COYOTES 3
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, Anze Kopitar scored on the power play and had an assist, and Los Angeles defeated Arizona.
Trevor Lewis, Trevor Moore, Blake Lizotte and Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings, who had been winless in their first three games on home ice. Pheonix Copley made 24 saves.
Clayton Keller had a power-play goal as he scored for the third straight game, Jack McBain and Nick Bjugstad also scored, but the Coyotes couldn’t get their third straight win.
Connor Ingram was replaced midway through the first period after allowing three goals on nine shots. Karel Vejmelka replaced him and made 15 saves.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 FLYERS 2
Shea Theodore blasted a shot from above the left circle with 32.5 seconds left Tuesday night to give Vegas a victory over Philadelphia and extend the Golden Knights’ winning streak to seven games to open the season.
Ivan Barbashev and Paul Cotter also scored for the Knights and Jack Eichel had two assists. Logan Thompson made 26 saves.
Noah Cates and Cam Atkinson scored for Philadelphia, and Carter Hart stopped 25 shots.
The Knights’ 7-0 start ties seven other teams for ninth best in NHL history. Vegas, which has scored at least three goals in every game, also has the best start for a defending Stanley Cup champion.
