PITTSBURGH - Phil Kessel beat Braden Holtby in the fourth round of a shootout and the Pittsburgh Penguins began the defence of their Stanley Cup with a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

Kessel's wrist shot over Holtby's glove was initially ruled no goal but was overturned on replay. Marc-Andre Fleury then stuffed Alex Ovechkin from in close to help the Penguins improve to 5-0 against Washington in season openers.

Fleury finished with 39 saves for Pittsburgh. Patric Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin scored as the Penguins capped a celebratory night in which they lifted their latest Stanley Cup banner to the rafters by tripping up a familiar rival.

Andre Burakovsky scored twice for Washington. Holtby made 28 stops, but allowed three goals in the shootout.

RANGERS 5, ISLANDERS 3

NEW YORK - Chris Kreider scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25 shots in the New York Rangers' victory over the New York Islanders.

Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello, Brandon Pirri and J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers at Madison Square Garden in the opener for both teams.

Lundqvist beat goalie Jaroslav Halak for the first time since Jan. 17, 2010, ending Halak's eight-game winning streak in the matchup - including the last five since joining the Islanders.

Nick Leddy, Cal Clutterbuck and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders.

Islanders captain John Tavares briefly left the game after getting whacked on his left hand in the opening minute of the third.

PANTHERS 2, DEVILS 1, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. - Aleksander Barkov scored at 2:48 of overtime to lift Florida past New Jersey.

Barkov took a pass from Michael Matheson and one-timed the winner past Cory Schneider. Matheson knocked Damon Severson off the puck behind the net, then found Barkov unmarked in the right circle.

Roberto Luongo stopped 23 shots for Florida, including two huge saves in the final minutes of regulation. Schneider stopped 32 shots for the Devils, including all 16 he faced in the third period.

P.A. Parenteau, claimed off waivers from the New York Islanders earlier this week, scored for the Devils. Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring for Florida.

The Panthers wore No. 16 jerseys with "Fernandez" on the back for warmups, a tribute to Jose Fernandez - the Miami Marlins ace pitcher who died in a boating accident off Miami Beach last month. The team also presented a $35,000 check to his foundation in a pregame ceremony.

STARS 4, DUCKS 2

DALLAS - Antoine Roussel scored the tiebreaking goal for Dallas against Anaheim.

Roussel scored on a pass from Adam Cracknell 1:23 into the third period, 22 seconds after Andrew Cogliano's second goal for the Ducks tied it at 2. Cracknell later added a goal.

Lauri Korpikoski and Stephen Johns also scored for the Stars. Antti Niemi Niemi stopped 33 shots, 16 in the first periid when the Stars were outshot 17-1.

Randy Carlyle, who led the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup title in 2007, coached his first game in his return. He was re-hired to replace Bruce Boudreau nearly five years after being fired.

LIGHTNING 6, RED WINGS 4

TAMPA, Fla. - Tyler Johnson scored the go-ahead power-play goal off a nifty pass from Steven Stamkos midway through the third period and Tampa Bay beat Detroit.

Johnson was positioned at the right circle and redirected Stamkos' feed past Petr Mrazek at 8:34 to put the Lightning up 4-3, just 5 seconds after Detroit was called for too many men on the ice.

Jonathan Drouin, Cedric Paquette, Brian Boyle, Alex Killorn and Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lightning. Thomas Vanek scored twice for the Red Wings, and Frans Nielsen and Danny DeKeyser added goals

CANADIENS 4, SABRES 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Brendan Gallagher scored twice, including a tip-in on Shea Weber's shot, in new-look Montreal's victory over injury-depleted Buffalo.

Al Montoya made 30 saves in place of starter Carey Price, who was sidelined by the flu. Andrew Shaw, who was acquired in a trade with Chicago in June, and Torrey Mitchell also scored for Montreal.

Injuries continued to mount for Buffalo after Evander Kane was taken to the hospital for evaluation after he slammed heavily into the end boards late in the second period. The Sabres were already playing without second-year star centre Jack Eichel, who is out indefinitely with a sprained left ankle.

Matt Moulson scored a power-play goal for Buffalo to briefly cut Montreal's lead to 2-1 in the opening minute of the third period.

JETS 5, HURRICANES 4, OT

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Mark Scheifele scored at 2:41 of overtime to give the Winnipeg Jets a 5-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night in the opener for both teams.

After the Jets overcame a 4-1 deficit in the third period, Scheifele took a pass from captain Blake Wheeler and beat goalie Cam Ward.

Jets rookie Patrik Laine scored his first NHL goal and added an assist.

The crowd roared when Laine, the second overall pick in the draft, scored on the power play in the third period to close Carolina's lead to 4-3.

Mathieu Perreault made it 4-4 with 1:29 left, with Laine assisting on the goal.

Blake Wheeler had a goal and two assists, and Shawn Matthias also scored.

Jeff Skinner, Lee Stempniak, Jordan Staal and Victor Rask also scored for Carolina.

BRUINS 6, BLUE JACKETS 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Brad Marchand had two goals and three assists and Boston overcame a 2-0 first-period deficit to beat Columbus.

David Pastrnak had two goals and two assists, David Backes also scored twice and had an assist, and Tuukka Rask made 28 saves.

Backes, shifting to the first-line centre position for injured Patrice Bergeron, scored both of his goals in a 3:36 span of in the second period to tie it at 3.

Alexander Wennberg, Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones scored for Columbus.

BLUES 3, WILD 2

ST. LOUIS - Nail Yakupov had a goal and an assist and Jake Allen made several big stops and finished with 18 saves to help St. Louis beat Minnesota.

Alexander Steen and Magnus Paajarvi also scored, and Patrik Berglund had two assists.

Ryan Suter and Charlie Coyle scored for the Wild.