Ice Breaker: Forsling spoils the banner, and Bouchard's five points go for nothing

It counts now, and the season opened with the Panthers crashing Carolina's banner party. Gustav Forsling ended a scoreless night with 4.3 seconds left in overtime, and the champs had to watch someone else's team celebrate under their own new banner. Out west, Evan Bouchard had five points and Edmonton still lost.

The games

Panthers 1, Hurricanes 0 (OT)

After 64 minutes of nothing, Carter Verhaeghe dropped it back and Forsling leaned into a slap shot at 4:55 of overtime. Jacob Markstrom stopped all 15 shots in his first regular-season game back in a Panthers sweater. Brandon Bussi was just as good at the other end, 19 of 20. Pabs has the full recap.

Pabs: Banner night in their barn, the power play goes 0-for-7, and the cats still leave with two points. That's a Cup team telling the champs the belt isn't decided in September.

Lind's read: Thirteen power plays between them, zero goals. Carolina went 0-for-6 and managed 15 shots all night, which is how a 1-0 road win over the champs gets built.

Sully's chirp: Carolina spent the pregame raising a banner and the next 65 minutes trying to score on a guy who's been in the league since flip phones. Great ceremony, though, and really nice fabric.

Canucks 6, Oilers 5 (OT)

Vancouver scored three times in the first 5:15 of the third to go up 5-2, and Edmonton clawed all the way back. Bouchard scored twice in the comeback and set up Vasily Podkolzin's power-play tying goal with 43 seconds left. Then Paul Cotter, who had already scored shorthanded in the first, won it 1:59 into overtime.

Sully's chirp: Bouchard had three goals, two assists and 25 minutes, and he still went home with one point in the standings. That's like building the whole deck and forgetting the stairs.

Canadiens 3, Maple Leafs 2

William Nylander scored 48 seconds in and again late in the third, and it didn't matter. Josh Anderson, Zachary Bolduc and Alexandre Carrier scored for Montreal, Carrier's unassisted winner coming at 13:12 of the third. Jakub Dobeš stopped 26 of 28. Sergei Bobrovsky took the loss with 21 saves on 24 shots in his Leafs debut.

Kirill Marchenko, a Leaf for about 30 hours, had an assist and four shots in 20:08.

Lind's read: Toronto outshot Montreal 28-24 and got a two-goal night from Nylander, which usually wins you a game. It didn't because Bobrovsky gave up three on 24, and the Leafs just committed real money to fix exactly that kind of night.

Bruins 3, Rangers 0

Scoreless for 56 minutes, then Boston scored three in 75 seconds. Fraser Minten broke it at 16:14 of the third, JJ Peterka made it 2-0 at 17:06, and Mark Kastelic hit the empty net at 17:29. Jeremy Swayman stopped all 24 shots for the shutout. The Rangers outshot Boston and got nothing for it.

Sully's chirp: Igor Shesterkin stopped 20 of 22 and lost 3-0, which is the most Rangers sentence ever typed. The whole game took 75 seconds of Bruins hockey, which is shorter than the anthem at the Garden.

Golden Knights 5, Blackhawks 2

Victor Olofsson scored on the power play and Trevor Connelly followed, and Vegas never trailed. Patrick Kane scored in his first game back with Chicago since 2023 to cut it to 3-2 early in the third. Noah Hanifin answered 39 seconds later. Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists, and Carter Hart stopped 24 of 26.

Lind's read: Chicago got a real night from Spencer Knight, 32 saves on 36 shots, and still lost by three. That's the gap between a team that's rebuilding and one that's reloading, and Vegas outshot them 37-26 to prove it.

Three stars of the night (our picks)

1. Evan Bouchard, EDM — three goals, two assists, 25:41, and a loss he did nothing to deserve.
2. Gustav Forsling, FLA — the winner with 4.3 seconds left in overtime on the other team's banner night.
3. Jeremy Swayman, BOS — 24 saves, zero goals against, and a Garden opener the Bruins badly needed.

Lind's number of the night

.739. That's Tristan Jarry's save percentage, 17 stops on 23 shots, on a night Edmonton outshot Vancouver 37-23 and still lost. Bouchard and Connor McDavid can drive a game like that all year, but the math only works if the save percentage starts with a nine.

Sully's take of the morning

Look, the Leafs spent Monday trading for Marchenko and signing him to a $12.5 million extension.

Then Tuesday they lost at home to Montreal with a goalie they signed in the summer and a winger they met a day and a half earlier. Nylander scored twice and still had to watch Habs fans enjoy themselves in his building. Grade: D. Buddy, I'm begging you, at least make them wait until October.

The fight of the night was Bokondji Imama and Nicolas Deslauriers, late in the first in Raleigh. Two guys who knew exactly why they were dressed. I'll take that over a banner every time.

Tonight

Three games and no Panthers. Sidney Crosby opens his 22nd season when Pittsburgh visits Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT. The Islanders are in Toronto at 7:30, the Leafs' second night of a back-to-back.

The Kings visit Colorado at 10 on TNT. The Panthers are back Thursday at San Jose, 10 p.m. ET on Scripps, in game two of the road trip.