Kings first to shoot down Wild
Anze Kopitar scored a shorthanded goal in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings connected on all three shots in the shootout to beat visiting Minnesota, 4-3, last night, the Wild's first loss of the season.
Scott Thornton and Kyle Calder scored for the Kings, who had lost five straight after beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks in London in the season opener.
Dustin Brown and Michael Cammalleri also scored in the shootout for Los Angeles.
Pavol Demitra, Mikko Koivu, and Brian Rolston scored for the Wild, who remain the only team in the league that hasn't lost in regulation. Their only goal in the shootout was by Petteri Nummelin.
Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who began the season on injured reserve because of a groin injury, made 28 saves in his 200th NHL game and first with the Kings.
The Kings grabbed a 3-2 lead with 13:34 left in the third on Kopitar's third career shorthanded goal.
Kopitar knocked the puck off Demitra's stick about 10 feet inside the Kings' blue line, carried it into the Wild zone, and beat Niklas Backstrom with a wrist shot from the left circle. Rolston tied it with exactly 12 minutes left in regulation, beating Aubin with a slap shot from the top of the right circle.
Avalanche 5, Flames 4 - Ryan Smyth had a goal and an assist, then scored the decisive goal in the shootout as Colorado rallied from a four-goal deficit to beat visiting Calgary.
Jarome Iginla, who had two goals and an assist, had Calgary's only goal in the shootout.
The Flames took a 4-0 lead on Iginla's second goal of the game 2:50 into the second period. Iginla took a pass from Alex Tanguay, blew by defenseman Brett Clark, and beat Peter Budaj with a high shot. That ended Budaj's night, who was pulled in favor of Jose Theodore (17 saves).
That's when the Avalanche started their comeback, and it came with plenty of help from the Flames. Three of Colorado's four goals banked off Calgary players, after Marek Svatos deflected a pass from Smyth from the left circle 13 seconds after Iginla had made it 4-0.
Avalanche defenseman Kurt Sauer tied the game with 3:38 left in the second period with a shot from the point that was tipped by Eriksson.
Flyers 4, Thrashers 0 - Jeff Carter and Sami Kapanen scored 34 seconds apart in the second period, and Martin Biron had his first shutout for host Philadelphia in a victory over winless Atlanta.
Biron made 31 saves in his 19th career shutout.
Mike Richards and Randy Jones also scored for the Flyers (4-1), who didn't win their fourth game last season until Nov. 15.
The Thrashers lost their sixth straight game and are the only team in the NHL without a win or a point.
Panthers 2, Canadiens 1 - Nathan Horton tied the game with 10.2 seconds left in regulation and Jozef Stumpel scored the only shootout goal to give Florida the victory at Montreal.
Stumpel, Florida's third shooter, beat Cristobal Huet after Ville Peltonen and Horton had failed before him to give the Panthers the win.
