SUNRISE, Fla. - Shane Harper scored the first two goals of his NHL career to lift the Florida Panthers over the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Saturday night.

Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist and Aaron Ekblad also scored a goal for the Panthers while Roberto Luongo made 26 saves.

Matt Duchene and Blake Comeau scored goals for the Avalanche. Semyon Varlamov made 33 stops.

The Panthers blew the game open in the third period as they scored three of four goals in a span of 2:26.

Ahead 2-1, Marchessault skated in on a breakaway and fired the puck between the pads of Varlamov at 4:30 to make the score 3-1. Harper followed with his second goal of the game on a one-timer from in front to stretch the lead to 4-1.

Duchene poked in a rebound past Luongo 16 seconds later to close the gap to 4-2.

Trocheck slid a loose puck into the net at 6:56 to make the score 5-2.

The Panthers took 17 shots and scored two goals in the second period.

Florida had a 2-1 lead on the goal by Harper with 2:58 left in the second. Greg McKegg stole the puck from Duchene in the neutral zone and brought it down the left side. McKegg passed to Harper in front and he poked the puck over the glove of Varmalov for his first goal.

Trailing 1-0, the Panthers evened the score at 1-all on the power-play when Ekblad took a feed from Jagr low in the left circle and one-timed the puck past Varlamov at 1:30. Ekblad recorded his first point of the season.

Comeau's power-play goal gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 7:38 of the first. Tyson Barrie shot from the blue line and Comeau tipped the puck past Luongo on the glove side. The goal was the first the Panthers have allowed on the power-play in nine opportunities.

A coach's challenge by Colorado overturned a goal by Jason Demers midway through the first. His slapper got past Varlamov but the officials ruled Trocheck was offsides before the shot.

Notes: Avalanche C John Mitchell missed the game with a lower-body injury. ... Panthers LW Jussi Jokinen missed the game with a knee injury. ... The Panthers entered the game as the only team in the NHL yet to allow a power-play goal but the streak ended in the first period.

UP NEXT:

Avalanche: Host Winnipeg Jets on Friday.

Panthers: Visit Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

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DETROIT - Gustav Nyquist had a goal and an assist to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Friday night.

Justin Abdelkader, Drew Miller, Tomas Tatar and Darren Helm also scored as Detroit won its third straight. Petr Mrazek stopped 30 shots.

P.K. Subban, Mike Ribeiro and Mike Fisher scored for Nashville, which has lost three straight. Pekka Rinne finished with 38 saves.

Fisher's power-play goal with 4:46 pulled the Predators to 4-3 as he tipped in Roman Josi's shot from the point. It was Fisher's third goal, all on the power play.

However, Helm had an empty-net power-play score with 22 seconds left for his fourth goal of the season to seal the win.

Tatar gave the Red Wings a 3-2 lead 1:10 into the third period with a wrist shot from high in the right circle for his first of the season.

Nyquist made it 4-2, with 8:33 left, with his first goal. He scored on a breakaway after a turnover by Nashville's Filip Forsberg in the Predators' zone.

Abdelkader's power-play goal gave Detroit a 1-0 lead, 5:17 into the second. The rebound of Ryan Sproul's shot from the point trickled in off of Abdelkader's backside.

Nashville coach Peter Laviolette unsuccessfully challenged the goal, because it appeared Abdelkader may have interfered with Rinne.

The Predators then scored two power-play goals 18 seconds apart to take the lead.

With Tatar (interference) and Danny DeKeyser (delay of game) in the penalty box, Subban got his second goal of the season, which came on a one-time slap shot from the high slot with 5:47 left in the middle period.

That brought Tatar back but Ribeiro put in a rebound with 5:29 remaining in the period to give the Predators a 2-1 lead. It was Ribeiro's first goal.

Miller's tied it 2-2 with 40 seconds left in the second period as he beat Rinne with a one-timer from a bad angle deep in the left circle. It was Miller's second goal and second in two games.

Predators center Ryan Johansen and right wing Craig Smith left the game after the second period.

NOTES: Detroit F Dylan Larkin moved from center, where he played the first four games of the season, to right wing, on a line centered by Frans Nielsen and Abdelkader on left wing. Larkin is a natural center but played the wing in his rookie season last year. ... The Predators were without D Anthony Bitetto (upper body) and RW Miikka Salomaki (upper body.

UP NEXT

Predators: Host defending champion Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

Red Wings: Host San Jose on Saturday night.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rookie defenseman Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist, and teammates Nick Foligno and William Karlsson picked up their first goals of the season as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Friday night.

Columbus' Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots and survived a desperate Chicago power-play rally near the end of the game as the Blue Jackets picked up their first win of the season, avoiding a repeat of last season's disastrous 0-8 start.

Columbus never trailed in Friday's game.

Tyler Motte and Richard Panik scored for Chicago (2-3-0), while Corey Crawford made 25 saves.

The Blue Jackets (1-2-0) took the lead when the 19-year-old Werenski netted a wrist shot from the point during a power play at 9:10 in the first period. It was his team-leading second goal of the season, with Alexander Wennberg and Foligno credited with assists.

The Blackhawks tied it up 2:29 into the second period when a shot by Jonathan Toews ricocheted off Bobrovsky's pad and was put back by Motte, his first goal of the season.

Columbus took advantage of the power play again at 4:36 of the second when Foligno tapped it in from in front of the net, with assists from Werenski and Cam Atkinson.

Fourth-line center Karlsson got the Blue Jackets' final goal with 6:16 left in the second when he tipped in a shot from David Savard through traffic.

Panik pulled Chicago within one at 5:54 into the third period, popping in a goal from in front of the net off a pass from Gustav Forsling, but the Blackhawks couldn't tie it.

NOTES: Columbus D Ryan Murray suffered what the team called an ''upper-body injury'' in the first period and did not return. He may have taken an elbow the head. ...The Nationwide Arena crowd of 15,789 included a large, vocal contingency of red-clad Blackhawks fans. ... Columbus ended a streak of nine October losses at home dating to 2014. ... Bobrovsky and his mates also held off a fierce six-shot Chicago rally in front the net in the last 90 seconds of the second period. ... Columbus' Matt Calvert was penalized 2 minutes for goalie interference in the third period when he tripped Crawford, who came out of the crease to retrieve the puck. The video replay seemed to show that the contact was marginal.

UP NEXT:

Blackhawks: Return home for a Saturday night game against Toronto.

Blue Jackets: Four-game road trip begins Saturday night in Dallas.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves and Daniel Sedin scored the game-winner in the third period Thursday night as the Vancouver Canucks downed the Buffalo Sabres 2-1.

With the victory, the Canucks (4-0-0) are the NHL's only undefeated team after Colorado blanked Tampa Bay 4-0 on Thursday.

Jannik Hansen had the other goal for Vancouver, which won its fourth straight game to open the season, tying a franchise mark set in 1992-93. Brandon Sutter had two assists.

Nicholas Baptiste scored his first NHL goal for Buffalo (1-2-1) while Robin Lehner stopped 18 shots.

The Canucks led 1-0 through two periods and stretched that lead to two at 9:10 of the third when their power play - 0 for 12 up to that point - finally connected. Lehner robbed Sutter at the side of the net, but Loui Eriksson fed a nice pass to Sedin, who buried his second.

After Buffalo's Ryan O'Reilly had a great chance that Alexander Edler swept off the goal line, Baptiste scored on a strange play. Baptiste threw the puck in front and it struck Vancouver's Jake Skille as he battled with Nicolas Deslauriers. The puck caromed toward Markstrom's net, off Edler's stick and in at 11:23. Deslauriers was originally given credit for the goal before it was changed.

The Sabres had a couple of looks from there, but a late too many men on the ice penalty took the wind out of their sails, and they were unable to find the range with Lehner out of the Buffalo goal for an extra attacker.

Markstrom, 3-0-0 on the season, made his second straight start in place of Ryan Miller, who served as the backup after sitting out last game with general tightness.

Following shootout and overtime victories in their first two games, the Canucks beat St. Louis 2-1 in OT on Tuesday to become the first team in league history to win its first three outings of a season while never holding a regulation lead in any of those games.

Vancouver was just 3-30-1 when trailing after 40 minutes last season, and each victory in 2016-17 before Thursday came after the club trailed through two periods. The Canucks didn't require a comeback Thursday after Hansen scored the 100th goal of his career at 11:10 of the second, the Canucks' first lead in 218:22 this season.

NOTES: The Sabres were once again without injured Fs Jack Eichel (ankle) and Evander Kane (ribs) as they wrapped up a three-game road trip through western Canada that also included a 6-2 win over Edmonton and a 4-3 overtime loss in Calgary.

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EDMONTON, Alberta - Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers won their second straight game in a strong start to the season, defeating the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Thursday night.

Tyler Pitlick and Milan Lucic also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 4-1-0 on the season, and moved into first place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of St. Louis.

Nail Yakupov scored for the Blues in his first trip to Edmonton since being traded to St. Louis earlier this month.

There was no scoring in the first period, with the Blues getting 10 shots on Oilers goalie Cam Talbot and Edmonton directing eight shots on Jake Allen.

The Blues got on the board 3:37 into the second as a scramble allowed Joel Edmundson to feed it in front to Yakupov. It was the second goal of the season for the former Oiler.

The Oilers pulled even three minutes later as Pitlick made a nifty deflection off a shot by Andrej Sekera while being knocked flying to score his third of the season.

Edmonton made it 2-1 just 36 seconds into the third period as McDavid broke out of a two-game scoring drought by threading a pass through to Lucic in front. It was the big wing's second goal of the year.

Both goaltenders made big saves before the Blues came close to tying it up midway through the third. Yakupov had Talbot beat on a backhand shot, but hit the post.

McDavid put the game away with his fourth goal of the season into an empty net.

NOTES: It was the first of three meetings between the teams this season. . Yakupov spent four seasons with the Oilers, recording 111 points in 252 games. ... Blues F Jaden Schwartz played his first game of the season after recovering from a hyperextended elbow. ... Talbot made his fifth start of the season one day after his wife, Kelly, gave birth to twins.

UP NEXT:

Blues: Conclude a three-game road trip in Calgary on Saturday.

Oilers: Are off until Sunday, when they play the Jets in the Heritage Classic outdoor game in Winnipeg.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. - Eric Staal scored twice and the Minnesota Wild recovered from another deficit to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday night.

Staal has three goals in his first four games with his new team, and his game-winner with eight minutes left kept Minnesota unbeaten in its three-game homestand despite allowing the first goal in each game.

Zac Dalpe scored his first for the Wild, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 31 shots.

Toronto let another third-period advantage slip away as No. 1 overall draft pick Auston Matthews continued his scorching rookie season with his fifth goal in four games. The Maple Leafs surrendered a four-goal lead in a 5-4 overtime loss a night earlier at Winnipeg.

Roman Polak also scored for Toronto. Jhonas Enroth made 24 saves in his Maple Leafs debut.

Minnesota hasn't started well in its games, but led by newcomer Staal and new coach Bruce Boudreau the Wild have been able to pull themselves out of the early deficits.

Polak opened the scoring nine minutes into the second period with a shot from the point that found its way past Dubnyk's shoulder. Staal answered with his first goal 56 seconds later when Charlie Coyle took a loose puck and spun around to find Staal streaking to the net for a breakaway.

Matthews, the rookie who debuted with a four-goal game last week, added a power-play goal for the Leafs.

The Wild entered the game one of three teams yet to allow a power-play goal this season. The penalty kill reached a perfect 12-for-12 before Matthews' tally. Minnesota was 27th in the NHL last season in penalty kill at 77.9 percent a year after leading the league at 86.3 percent.

NOTES: Polak replaced D Martin Marincin, who missed the game with a lower-body injury. ... Wild D Marco Scandella was scratched before the game with an illness. Matt Dumba took his spot in the lineup after he was a minus-2 in the first three games. ... Minnesota was 5-25-6 last season when giving up the first goal. ... Coyle has a point in every game this season. ... Kadri reached 200 career points with his assist.

UP NEXT:

Maple Leafs: Finish its road trip on Saturday at Chicago.

Wild: Begin a four-game road trip on Saturday at New Jersey.

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PHILADELPHIA - Ryan Garbutt's goal broke a tie in the third period and sent the Anaheim Ducks to their first win of the season, 3-2 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

The Ducks opened 0-3-1 and had failed to score more than two goals in any of those games. Chris Wagner and Corey Perry also scored to help the Ducks spoil Philadelphia's home opener.

Korbinian Holzer's angled pass from behind the net led to Garbutt's one-timer that stunned Steve Mason for the winner.

Wayne Simmonds and Matt Read scored for the Flyers. The Flyers have lost all three games since winning on opening night and dropped to 27-16-6 lifetime in home openers.

John Gibson stopped 20 shots for the Ducks.

The Flyers opened their 50th anniversary celebration with a tribute to their founder and owner Ed Snider, who died of cancer in April. The Flyers raised a banner to the rafters with his name, team crest and 1967-2016 (years owned) on the memento. Snider's banner was sandwiched between the one celebrating the 1975 Stanley Cup championship and one for Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke. Clarke - widely considered the greatest Flyer.

Members of Snider's family walked a black carpet and helped raise the banner that joined the same row that included ones for two Stanley Cup championships and five retired numbers.

Snider was arguably the most influential executive in Philadelphia sports history. He was chairman of the 76ers basketball team, was once a part-owner of the Eagles football team, and had a hand in founding Comcast's local sports channel and the city's largest sports-talk radio station.

''Ed Snider will forever be a part of the Philadelphia Flyers,'' announcer Lou Nolan told the crowd.

Snider received the loudest ovation during a memorial tribute to some of the franchise's greatest names. Pelle Lindbergh, Barry Ashbee, Roger Neilson, and ''God Bless America'' singer Kate Smith all were included. The video included a clip of the late voice of the Flyers Gene Hart saying his Philly famous phrase, ''Good night and good hockey.''

Nolan had scolded fans during last season's playoffs when they hurled promotional bracelets on the ice during a lopsided loss. He had urged fans to ''show some class'' during the first wave of band tossing. The Flyers issued a similar warning before the opener when they tried another bracelet giveaway as the attraction of a glitzy pregame show. The fans heeded the warning this time and keep the bracelets on their wrists instead of on the ice.

On opening night, it still didn't take much to anger Flyers fans.

Wagner scored the only goal of the first and the Flyers failed to convert on late power plays that let them get booed off the ice headed into intermission.

Simmonds scored his third goal of the season and Read followed with his surprising fourth in the second to lift the Flyers to a 2-1 lead. Simmonds' goal came on the power play but the Flyers missed on six other attempts through two periods.

''We have to do a better job 5-on-5. We turned the puck over too much in the neutral zone,'' Simmonds said. ''Obviously, we got power a power play goal but five-on-five is where it starts.''

Perry tied the game 2-all with 3:18 left in the second to match anemic Anaheim's highest goal total for a game this season.

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PITTSBURGH - Evgeni Malkin, Scott Wilson and Patric Hornqvist scored during a furious third-period rally to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

The Penguins trailed by two goals after two largely lifeless periods in a rematch of last June's Stanley Cup Final before catching fire late. Hornqvist and Malkin both finished with a goal and an assist. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots and bought the Penguins time until the offense finally got going.

Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, who controlled the first 40 minutes and appeared well on their way to a one-sided victory before falling apart late. Martin Jones made 17 saves but saw the play in front of him break down in the third.

The Penguins captured the franchise's fourth Stanley Cup in an entertaining final last June, finishing off the Sharks in Game 6 in San Jose. If the Sharks wanted a glimpse at just how close they came to their first title, they need only look toward the rafters at PPG Paints Arena during warmups to get a look at the banner the Penguins raised last week.

San Jose insisted Thursday had nothing to do with revenge or any sense of payback. Last June is gone. For now the Sharks are still trying to find an identity even with nearly the same roster back for another run.

They're off to a hot start and certainly looked fresh playing for the third time in four days on the road. Not so much Pittsburgh, which struggled to generate much of anything in a shutout loss in Montreal on Tuesday and did little to get to Jones during the first two periods on Thursday with captain Sidney Crosby (concussion) and defenseman Kris Letang (upper body) out of the lineup.

San Jose tilted the ice for long stretches, working extensively in the Pittsburgh zone while the Penguins went through several lengthy droughts in which they failed to put the puck anywhere near Jones.

The Sharks eventually took a 1-0 lead 5:04 into the second thanks to a strange sequence in which Fleury lost control of his stick when a shot from Burns smacked off the handle. The puck was briefly cleared but as Fleury tried to chase the stick down, the Sharks rushed back into the zone and Hertl eventually jammed a rebound off a shot by Joe Pavelski past the stickless goaltender.

San Jose's lead doubled shortly after Hornqvist's goal was overturned, stripping Chris Kunitz to create a 2-on-1 that ended with him taking a pass from Logan Couture and burying it by Fleury with 3:45 left in the second.

Things changed quickly. Malkin's second of the year - a shot from in between the circles 6:47 into the third got Pittsburgh started. Wilson tied it 2:15 later when he collected the puck from the corner and darted to the net before slipping a backhand by Jones.

Hornqvist completed the comeback 14:02 into the third by slamming a rebound by Jones on the power play to give the Penguins an unlikely lead.

NOTES: Pittsburgh played the third period with just four defensemen after Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot left with injuries. ... Crosby did not skate Thursday, a scheduled day off. ... The Penguins also scratched Conor Sheary (eye). ... San Jose scratched Fs Michael Haley and Ryan Carpenter and D Dylan Demelo. ... The Penguins went 1 for 5 on the power play. The Sharks were 0 for 3.

UP NEXT

Sharks: Wrap up a five-game road trip Saturday at Detroit.

Penguins: Visit Nashville on Saturday.

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NEW YORK - Jimmy Howard made 32 saves to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

Thomas Vanek and Drew Miller scored for Detroit, which improved to 2-2-0.

After beginning the season with two straight losses, the Red Wings have won consecutive games.

And they have Howard to thank for their latest win as New York had the better of play for wide stretches. The Rangers outshot Detroit 33-18 for the game and Howard was forced into making highlight reel stops to keep the Red Wings in the game.

New York led 1-0 as Mika Zibanejad redirected Ryan McDonagh's slap shot from the right point past Howard 1:09 into the game. The Rangers carried the 1-0 lead into the first intermission, following an opening 20 minutes in which they outshot the Red Wings 14-7.

Zibanejad's goal accounted for all of New York's offense, and the Rangers have alternated wins and losses through their first four games.

Their lead could have been larger as Jimmy Vesey and Brady Skjei had shots that hit goal posts late in the first, and Michael Grabner, Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello all misfired on quality scoring chances in the first three minutes of the second period.

New York's inability to convert and Howard's play proved costly when Vanek tied the game 6:15 into the second with a power-play goal.

The game remained tied until 59 seconds into the third period. Luke Glendening's forecheck forced Henrik Lundqvist into committing a turnover behind his net, and Miller fired a shot into the net before the New York goaltender could fully recover for his first goal of the season.

Jester Fast appeared to tie the game with 3:38 left in regulation by redirecting Kevin Klein's shot from the point, but the goal was immediately disallowed as the New York wing had played it with a high stick.

Lundqvist made 16 saves on 18 shots.

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EDMONTON, Alberta - Thursday's game between the St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers will mark a few homecomings.

All eyes will be on Nail Yakupov, who the Oilers traded to the Blues before the start of the season. Yakupov has been widely regarded as a draft bust; the first overall pick in the 2012 draft, the Russian right winger got only 50 goals in 252 games as an Oiler.

In four games with the Blues, Yakupov has a goal and an assist.

"It is weird," Yakupov told Oilers play-by-play man Jack Michaels in a 630 CHED interview. "When I was here, I didn't expect that I would stay in a hotel in this city, because I lived in this city. But, it's different. But, it's really good, now, we have a good team and a good group."

"He is fitting in," said Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo of his new teammate. "It's a different environment coming in -- and new linemates. I think he's playing a pretty hard game. He's created some really good chances. It's new systems for him ... but he's adjusting pretty well."

But it's another Russian who is lighting it up for St. Louis. Vladimir Tarasenko is tied for the league lead with four goals.

And, Thursday will also mark the final time Ken Hitchcock will coach an NHL game in his hometown.

Unless he has a change of heart, Hitchcock, an Edmonton native, is in his final season as a head coach. The Blues visit Rogers Place only once this season.

The Blues have started Hitchcock's final season in blistering fashion. Despite losing 2-1 in overtime in Vancouver on Tuesday night, the Blues are 3-0-1. It marks only the second time in team history that the Blues have earned points in the first four games of a regular season.

Meanwhile, the Oilers have won three of their first four, and scored 17 times in the process. Thursday's game, though, is the team's fourth home game of the season already -- the Oilers have played just one road date.

Because October is filled with so many home games for the Oilers, coach Todd McLellan said a good start to season isn't a want, it's a need.

"Having home games, and needing to put some points in the bank, knowing eventually you've got to go out on the road, we've been able to do that," he said. "I don't think anybody is comfortable yet, so we got some things we really need to work on. It keeps us on our edge, maybe I'm being too critical of our group."

The issue is that the Oilers have scored 17 (most in the Western Conference), but given up 15 (also most in the Western Conference). Each of the four games played so far this season have felt like a return to the Air Hockey Era of the 1980s.

But Oilers goalie Cam Talbot turned in his best performance of the season Tuesday, stopping 31 of 33 shots after giving up six goals in a loss to Buffalo on Sunday .

"I need a big bounce-back game, after the game I had last. As a team, I think that sometimes we let those losses kinda snowball in the past."

On Wednesday, Talbot and his wife welcomed twins to their family.

Oilers defenseman Mark Fayne left Tuesday's win over Carolina with a lower-body injury. He was placed on injured reserve Wednesday and the Oilers called up defenseman Ben Betker from their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif. The Oilers did not practice Wednesday.

The Blues placed Jori Lehtera, who hurt his hip Saturday in a win over the New York Rangers, on injured reserve Wednesday, which opens up a roster spot.

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