Ice Breaker: Montreal's four-goal comeback still loses in Pittsburgh

Montreal scored four straight goals, the last two inside the final 68 seconds of regulation, and still lost in Pittsburgh. Thirteen games on a Saturday, three went to overtime, and Connor McDavid kept stacking points like the season ends next week.

The games

Penguins 6, Canadiens 5 (OT)

Pittsburgh answered Cole Caufield's opener with five straight goals and led 5-1 late in the second. Then Nick Suzuki started the climb, Caufield and Chris Kreider kept it going, and Ivan Demidov tied it with 44 seconds left. Tommy Novak won it 1:33 into overtime, his second of the night, and Evgeni Malkin finished with a goal and two assists.

Sully's chirp: Pittsburgh blew a 5-1 lead and won anyway. In Boston we'd need a parade permit and a priest for that.

Sharks 5, Kings 4 (OT)

San Jose led 4-2 in the third on Igor Chernyshov's first goal, then watched Erik Haula and Artemi Panarin tie it by the 15-minute mark. Chernyshov won it 3:18 into overtime off a Macklin Celebrini feed. Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves.

Lind's read: LA outshot San Jose 35-25 and went 2 for 3 on the power play, and it still lost. The Kings are killing 28.6 percent of penalties through two games, by our count, and that number loses games.

Islanders 6, Devils 0

Ilya Sorokin stopped all 37 shots, and New Jersey went 0 for 5 on the power play against an Islanders penalty kill that never blinked. Simon Holmstrom opened it early in the second, the Islanders scored three times in 8:36, and Casey Cizikas closed it shorthanded. Matthew Schaefer had two assists.

Sully's chirp: The Devils outshot the Islanders 37-32 and lost by six. That's not a hockey game, that's a timeshare pitch: you put in the hours and leave with nothing.

Hurricanes 3, Flyers 2 (OT)

Sebastian Aho scored 10 seconds in, then tied it on the power play in the third after Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov had Philadelphia up 2-1. Shayne Gostisbehere won it on a power play 2:51 into overtime. Joseph Woll made 37 saves for the Flyers.

Lind's read: Carolina outshot Philadelphia 40-18, per NHL data. The Flyers are 0-1-2 and minus-9 through three games, by our count, and Woll is the only reason it isn't worse.

Senators 3, Maple Leafs 2

Stephen Halliday broke a 2-2 tie at 9:46 of the third, and Linus Ullmark made 27 saves in Ottawa's opener. Thomas Chabot scored, set up another and played 27:07. Auston Matthews and Kirill Marchenko scored for Toronto, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves in a Leafs sweater.

Sully's chirp: Toronto is 1-2 already. Relax, the parade route is only drawn in pencil.

Avalanche 6, Blues 1

Colorado led 6-0 before St. Louis got on the board, with Martin Necas scoring twice and adding an assist, Nathan MacKinnon setting up three and Cale Makar opening the scoring. Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves.

Lind's read: Colorado is plus-9 through two games and hasn't allowed a power-play goal, by our count. MacKinnon's three helpers came in 18:18, so the Avs aren't even leaning on him yet.

Oilers 3, Kraken 1

Leon Draisaitl broke a 1-1 tie with 2:27 left off a McDavid feed, and McDavid hit the empty net. Bobby McMann had tied it for Seattle on the power play in the second. Devon Levi made 19 saves.

Sully's chirp: McDavid had a goal, an assist and the fastest skate in the league this season. Seattle's game plan was to stand near him and hope.

The rest of the night

Lightning 3, Capitals 1: Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 of 21, and Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel did the rest.

Mammoth 4, Blue Jackets 1: Utah went 3 for 4 on the power play, with two goals from Nick Schmaltz and three points from Dylan Guenther.

Wild 4, Bruins 1: Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, Quinn Hughes scored the winner on the power play, and Jesper Wallstedt made 26 saves.

Predators 2, Stars 1: Steven Stamkos and Nils Hoglander scored on first-period power plays, and Juuse Saros made 29 saves. Dallas is 0-2 and has one goal in two games, by our count.

Sabres 4, Blackhawks 3: Rasmus Dahlin tied it in the third and Jiri Kulich won it at 13:20. Chicago is now 0-3 with a minus-10 goal differential, by our count.

Canucks 4, Flames 1: Vancouver trailed 1-0 and scored the next four. Liam Ohgren had a goal and an assist, and Elias Pettersson scored the winner.

Three stars of the night

Ilya Sorokin, NYI: 37 saves for the shutout against New Jersey.
Igor Chernyshov, SJS: two goals, including the overtime winner, and an assist against LA.
Nick Suzuki, MTL: a goal and three assists in a comeback that came up one shot short.

EDGE of the night

One NHL EDGE season best fell last night.

Top skating speed: Connor McDavid, EDM, 24.0 mph.

By our count, McDavid has nine points through three games and a point in every one of them.

Lind's number of the night

71.4. That's Utah's power-play percentage through two games, 5 for 7, by our count. No power play lives at 70 percent, but three goals on four chances turned Columbus into a 4-1 night, and the Rangers get them tonight.

Sully's take of the morning

Look, Luke Schenn and Adam Klapka dropped the gloves 2:55 into a Saturday game in October, and Vancouver scored the next four goals. I'm not saying the fight won it. I'm saying it didn't hurt, which is more than Boston can say about a power play that went 0 for 3 in Minnesota.

Kept off the sheet: Mattias Ekholm, zero points through three games at 21.4 minutes a night, by our count. He had 10 penalty minutes and zero shots last night. Buddy, I'm begging you, if you're going to sit in the box, at least shoot on the way there.

Kessler's corner

Michigan Tech beat Minnesota 3-2, Holy Cross took Maine in overtime, and Bemidji State beat St. Cloud State in overtime too. Colorado College finished a weekend sweep of UMass with a 6-1 win.

Meg's line

UConn finished a weekend sweep of No. 9 Clarkson with a 4-0 win. Boston College beat Stonehill 17-0, a score usually reserved for football.

Tonight

There are five games tonight, and the Panthers are at Anaheim at 8 PM ET on Prime Video, 1-0-1 and still hunting a power play that's 1 for 13 through two games, by our count. Florida opens as a -135 favorite at DraftKings with the total at 6.5. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Winnipeg is at Detroit at 1, and Utah, Calgary and Vancouver all play the second night of a back-to-back. The one to watch is Vegas at Vancouver at 9. Pettersson and Ohgren carry three-game point streaks into it on no rest, and Jack Eichel has five points in two games.