NHL roundup: Appleton scores late as Red Wings beat Maple Leafs 3-2

TORONTO (AP) — Mason Appleton scored the winner with 44.1 seconds left in regulation and Cam Talbot made 38 saves as the Detroit Red Wings survived a blown two-goal lead in the third period to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Monday.

Dylan Larkin and James van Riemsdyk had the other goals for Detroit, which picked up back-to-back victories over last season’s Atlantic Division champion.

Matthew Knies, with a goal and an assist, and Calle Jarnkrok replied for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz stopped 12 shots.

Detroit opened the scoring late in a sloppy first period when Larkin dug the puck out of a crowd and roofed a backhand on Stolarz just as a 5-on-3 power play expired. Van Riemsdyk then made it 2-0 early in the third on a partial breakaway, but Knies and Jarnkrok got Toronto back even before Appleton’s late heroics.

Fans at Scotiabank Arena were encouraged to stick around after the final buzzer to watch Game 2 of the American League Championship Series — happening just down the street at Rogers Centre — between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners on the videoboard above centre ice.

Easton Cowan, selected 28th overall at the 2023 draft, made his NHL debut. He is viewed as the Leafs’ top prospect.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:

AVALANCHE 3 SABRES 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, and celebrated his second goal with a stick twirl and fist pump, in the Colorado’s victory over winless Buffalo.

Cale Makar had a goal and assist, Martin Necas set up both of MacKinnon’s goals and the Avalanche improved to 3-0-1. Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves in his fourth start.

MacKinnon now has points in each of Colorado’s four games, and four goals in his past three. And he continued his domination of the non-conference Sabres by increasing his total to 13 goals and 31 points in 19 career games.

Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres, who have combined for just two goals this season. Buffalo is off to its second straight 0-3 start under coach Lindy Ruff. Alex Lyon finished with 34 saves.

MacKinnon opened the scoring 3:14 in by cutting across the middle and beating Lyon with a backhander.

Colorado went up 2-1 when Valeri Nichushkin intercepted Rasmus Dahlin’s pass in Buffalo’s own zone to set up Makar 4:32 into the second period. And MacKinnon scored 8 1/2 minutes later by working his way to the middle from the left circle and snapping a shot that beat Lyon just inside the left post.

The Sabres successfully challenged Necas’ goal 7:26 into the third period, with replays showing Necas being offside.

LIGHTNING 4 BRUINS 3

BOSTON (AP) — Pontus Holmberg put Tampa Bay up by three goals late in the second period and the Lightning held on to beat Boston.

Holmberg scored with a wrist shot 3:37 into the second to give the Lightning a 4-1 lead. Max Crozier and Oliver Bjorkstrand each got an assist.

Anthony Cirelli scored twice and Yanni Gourde added another for the Lightning.

Jordan Harris, Morgan Geekie and Casey Mittelstadt scored for the Bruins.

Jonas Johansson made 30 saves for the Lightning, while Joonas Korpisalo made 19 saves for the Bruins.

The Bruins went scoreless on the power play in five chances.

JETS 5 ISLANDERS 2

ELMONT, N.Y. (AP) — Jonathan Toews recorded his first point in nearly 2 1/2 years on an assist, and Winnipeg had five different players score goals in a win over New York.

Logan Stanley, Mark Scheifele, Nino Niederreiter, Morgan Barron and Tanner Pearson scored for the Jets.

Gustav Nyquist and Toews, who missed the past two seasons because of the effects of chronic immune response syndrome and long COVID, assisted Niederreiter’s power-play goal about halfway through the first period.

Emil Heineman and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each scored for the Islanders.

Eric Comrie stopped 33 shots for the Jets. Ilya Sorokin had 21 saves for the Islanders, who went scoreless on five power plays.

The Islanders remain winless at 0-3-0, having allowed 13 goals to start the season. The Jets are 2-1-0.

PREDATORS 4 SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Juuse Saros made 31 saves to lead Nashville to a win over Ottawa.

Ryan O’Reilly’s third-period goal held up as the winner.

O’Reilly made it 2-0 with 5:22 remaining in regulation. Steven Stamkos had his shot attempt blocked and the puck bounced right to O’Reilly for his second of the season.

Ridly Greig scored a power-play goal with 2:03 remaining to cut the lead in half, but Jonathan Marchessault and Cole Smith each added empty-net goals in the final minute to secure the win.

Marchessault opened the scoring at 12:11 of the second period tucking the puck five-hole on Linus Ullmark, who stopped 22 shots, to capitalize on a turnover inside the blue line.

Jake Sanderson appeared to open the scoring for the Senators at the six-minute mark of the second, but the goal was overturned after a lengthy review due to goaltender interference from Tim Stutzle.

Seven minor penalties in the first period made it difficult for either team to get in a rhythm.

After giving up five power-play goals through their first two games, the Senators were fortunate the Predators power play was ineffective going 0 for 6.

FLYERS 5 PANTHERS 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sean Couturier’s second goal of the game with 4:10 remaining snapped a tie and sent Philadelphia to a win over Florida in Rick Tocchet’s home coaching debut.

Bobby Brink and Christian Dvorak added late empty-netters for the Flyers.

The Flyers captain, Couturier became the longest-tenured athlete in Philadelphia sports once Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham retired at the end of last season.

The Flyers lost their first two games of the season on the road but got a needed lift on a throwback night at home. Tyson Forrester scored in the first period and Couturier followed with his first of the season in the second for a 2-0 lead.

Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett rallied the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers with goals but they lost for the first time in four games.

DEVILS 3 BLUE JACKETS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer each scored in the final seconds of power plays to lift New Jersey over Columbus, securing their second straight road win.

Mercer added an empty-netter with 56 seconds left. Jake Allen stopped 23 shots over two periods in his season debut. He was replaced by Jacob Markstrom, who stopped eight shots, to start the third period. The team announced that Allen had cramping and would not return.

Kirill Marchenko tallied his fourth goal in three games for Columbus, and Dmitri Voronkov also scored. Jet Greaves made 25 saves and the Blue Jackets lost for the second time in three games.

Meier opened the scoring with one second left on a first-period power play, despite Columbus outshooting the Devils 16-8 in the frame.

Marchenko knotted the score with a breakaway at 8:49 of the second period before Mercer restored the Devils’ lead at 11:09 with four seconds left in their second power-play of the game.

After Mercer’s empty-net goal gave New Jersey a two-goal cushion, Voronkov pulled Columbus within one with 20 seconds left in regulation, but the Blue Jackets could not complete the comeback.

BLUES 5 CANUCKS 2

VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — Jimmy Snuggerud scored twice and St. Louis beat Vancouver.

Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist, and Nick Bjugstad and Jake Neighbours also scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington stopped 29 shots as St. Louis won its second game in a row.

Kiefer Sherwood scored two goals for Vancouver, including a short-handed tally on a breakaway midway through the second period. Kevin Lankinen had 30 saves in his first start of the season.

Blues centre Pius Suter made his return to Vancouver, where he playenud the last two seasons before signing with St. Louis as a free agent on July 2.

Snuggerud got the Blues on the scoreboard at 8:48 of the first period, and Schenn made it 2-0 at 2:10 of the second. Sherwood got the Canucks within one at 5:33.

Snuggerud scored a power-play goal 8:13 into the second period for the first score Vancouver has allowed on the penalty-kill this season. The Canucks were 9 for 9 over the first two games and went 2 for 3 against the Blues.

Sherwood scored short-handed with 7:48 remaining in the middle period for his second of the night and third of the season.

Bjugstad restored the Blues’ two-goal lead 1:33 later with shot from inside the top of the faceoff circle.

BLACKHAWKS 3 MAMMOTH 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Andre Burakovsky snapped a third-period tie, and Chicago beat Utah for coach Jeff Blashill’s first win with his new team.

Chicago dropped its first three games despite being tied at 2 after the second period in each contest. It was outshot by Utah 23-14, but a wide-open Burakovsky beat Vitek Vanecek low on the stick side for the deciding power-play goal with 11:05 left.

Ilya Mikheyev had two goals for the Blackhawks, including an empty-netter in the final seconds. Spencer Knight made 22 saves.

Blashill, 51, was hired by Chicago in May. It’s his second stint as a head coach in the NHL after he went 204-261-72 in seven seasons with Detroit.

JJ Peterka scored for Utah, which dropped two of three on its season-opening road trip. Vanecek finished with 11 stops.

WILD 4 KINGS 3

ST. Paul, Minn. (AP) — Marco Rossi scored in the fourth round of the shootout and Minnesota beat Los Angeles after giving up a three-goal lead in the third period.

Power-play goals by Jared Spurgeon, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy gave Minnesota a 3-0 lead late in the first period.

The score remained until the third period when Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield scored early and Adrain Kempe late to send the game to overtime.

Fiala banked a rebound off the back of Jesper Wallstedt early in the third and Byfield added a power-play goal less than three minutes later to get the Kings to 3-2.

With an extra attacker, Kempe scored on a rebound with 44.4 seconds left in regulation for Los Angeles.

Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots for Los Angeles, which again struggled to stay out of the penalty box. Whistled for six infractions Monday, the Kings have been short-handed 22 times in four games.

The Associated Press