NHL roundup: Kochetkov becomes third NHL goalie to start 10-0 as Carolina blanks Jets

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Pyotr Kochetkov’s 26-save shutout gave him 10 straight victories to begin the season, Sean Walker scored two goals, and Carolina beat the Winnipeg Jets 7-0 on Sunday.

Kochetkov became the third goalie in NHL history to start a season at 10-0.

Sebastian Aho, Juuso Valimaki, Logan Stankoven, Mark Jankowski and Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored for the Hurricanes, who’ve won four in a row. Stankoven, Seth Jarvis, Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere all had two assists.

Kochetkov tied Carey Price’s 10-win mark with Montreal from 10 years ago for the second-longest season-opening streak.

Only Jack Campbell holds a longer season-beginning mark with 11 consecutive victories for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2020-21.

Kochetkov’s second shutout of the season pushed his career total to 13 in 135 games.

The Jets have lost nine games in a row (0-7-2). Stuart Skinner, who made 12 saves, was pulled after allowing the fifth goal. Clay Stevenson stopped 13 shots in relief.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Sunday:

OILERS 4 RANGERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Connor McDavid scored a goal and extended his NHL record season-opening assists streak to 15 games, powering the Edmonton Oilers past the New York Rangers 4-1.

On his first shift, McDavid added to his highlight reel and showed why he is widely considered the best hockey player in the world. He banked the puck off the boards to himself, shifted into another gear, blew past defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov and beat Dylan Garand.

The goal 50 seconds in broke a tie with two Hall of Famers: the 418th of his career passed Glenn Anderson for the fourth most in franchise history, and his eighth in the first minute of a game put him past Mark Messier for the most with the Oilers.

McDavid is the fastest player in league history to 30 assists, leads all scorers with 39 points and is on pace to join Wayne Gretzky as the only players to reach 200 in a season.

Evan Bouchard had a goal and two assists to join Bobby Orr, Al MacInnis and Denis Potvin as the only defencemen with 25-plus points in his first 15 games. Journeyman goaltender Matt Tomkins, making his first start for Edmonton and seventh in the NHL, backstopped the team to its third consecutive victory by making some key saves among his 27.

WILD 5 CAPITALS 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — Quinn Hughes and Michael McCarron scored in the first 5:27 for Minnesota, and the Wild held on for a 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Justin Sourdif scored the only goal for Washington in the dying seconds of the second period, but the Capitals’ three-game winning streak came to an end during this visit by the Central Division-leading Wild.

Maxim Shabanov’s power-play goal with 2:23 left in the third restored a two-goal margin, and Kirill Kaprizov added an empty-netter for his 500th career point and league-leading 15th goal of the season.

With 24.9 seconds left and the goalie back in, Danila Yurov scored one more for Minnesota.

Washington had scored at least four goals in five of its previous six games, but the Capitals ran into a stingy Minnesota team and goalie Jesper Wallstedt. The Wild permitted two goals or fewer for the fifth time in six games.

FLYERS 6 MAMMOTH 3

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travis Konecny scored a goal and assisted on another in his first game since missing more than three weeks with an injury as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Utah Mammoth 6-3.

Konecny, who missed 10 games with a lower-body injury, scored his first goal of the season at 1:06 of the second period, banking a shot off Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka to put Philadelphia up 2-1.

He later set up Christian Dvorak for a one-timer from the high slot to extend the lead to 4-1. Konecny also set the tone with his physical play, finishing with four hits. Owen Tippett, who missed the last six games with an upper-body injury, also returned to the lineup for Philadelphia.

Matvei Michkov scored the Flyers’ first goal, snapping a shot past Vejmelka for his 10th of the season. He became the first Flyer to score 10 goals in his first 17 games of a season since Konecny did it in 2023.

Dvorak and Noah Cates also finished with a goal and an assist each. Oliver Bonk added a goal for Philadelphia and Dan Vladar made 19 saves as the Flyers snapped a three-game winless streak (0-2-1). 

DUCKS 6 SENATORS 3

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Cutter Gauthier had his second career hat trick, scoring the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and the Anaheim Ducks overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Ottawa Senators 6-3.

Judd Caulfield scored twice, rookie Roger McQueen added another and Leo Carlsson had three assists to help the Ducks win for the second time in nine games. Anaheim went 4-for-5 on the power play.

Laurent Brossoit made 20 saves in his Anaheim debut. Brossoit played his second NHL game in three seasons after being recalled from San Diego of the AHL on Saturday.

Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist as the Senators lost for the third time on a five-game trip. Thomas Chabot and Michael Amadio also scored first-period goals while Jonas Johansson made 27 saves.

After the Ducks rallied to tie it 3-3 in the second period, they took advantage of a two-man advantage at 1:50 of the third when Gauthier scored from a sharp angle past Johansson. While still on a man advantage, Gauthier scored 36 seconds later for a two-goal cushion.