Sept. 27: NHL Preseason Roundup

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all eight shots he faced playing the third period of his farewell game for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

The 40-year-old, who announced in April of 2024 that last season with the Minnesota Wild would be his final one in the NHL, signed a professional tryout contract with Pittsburgh on Sept. 12 to play one more time for the team that selected him No. 1 in the 2003 NHL Draft. Fleury played the first 13 of his 21 NHL seasons for the Penguins, winning the Stanley Cup three times (2009, 2016, 2017).

With under two minutes remaining, the crowd began chanting, “Thank you Fleury.”

The goalie had last played April 29, when he made six saves on seven shots in relief of Filip Gustavsson in the Wild’s 3-2 overtime loss at the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists in his preseason debut, and Rickard Rakell scored twice for the Penguins (2-1-1). Sergei Murashov made 12 saves on 13 shots before being replaced by Fleury.

Luca Del Bel Belluz scored, and Elvis Merzlikins made 32 saves for the Blue Jackets (2-3-0).

Del Bel Belluz put Columbus ahead 1-0 at 16:08 of the first period, scoring from the top of the crease off a pass from Yegor Chinakhov on a 2-on-1.

Crosby tied it 1-1 at 5:20 of the second period. He took a pass from Avery Hayes above the blue line, drove to the right circle and lifted a shot inside the left post.

Murashov stopped Chinakhov on a breakaway at 16:19.

Rakell then put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1 on the power play with two seconds left in the period, knocking in a loose puck in the crease.

Ville Koivunen extended the lead to 3-1 at 8:56 of the third. He intercepted Merzlikins’ clearing attempt from behind the goal and scored into an open net.

Rakell scored into an empty net at 17:32 for the 4-1 final.

Blackhawks 4, Blues 2: The Chicago Blackhawks scored four goals in the third period to come back from a two-goal deficit and defeat the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

Oliver Moore scored the game-winning goal for Chicago on a breakaway with 3:01 remaining in the game, and Jason Dickinson's empty-net goal at 19:56 made it a 4-2 final.

Dominic Toninato had a goal and an assist, and Gavin Hayes also scored for the Blackhawks (1-1-0). Spencer Knight made 31 saves.

Brayden Schenn and Dalibor Dvorsky scored for the Blues (0-2-1). Jordan Binnington saved all 16 shots he faced through two periods before Will Cranley started the third period and allowed three goals on nine shots.

Dvorsky gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 5:57 of the first period, scoring from above the right circle on the rush. The 20-year-old was the Blues' first-round pick (No. 10) in the 2023 NHL Draft and played two games for them last season.

Schenn tapped in a cross-ice pass from Jake Neighbours at the left post to make it 2-0 just 52 seconds into the second period.

Toninato cut it to 2-1 at 10:58.

Hayes tied it 2-2 just 27 seconds later at 11:25 off a pass from below the goal line from Toninato when Cranley got caught out of position behind the net.

Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 2: Alex Newhook and Sean Farrell each had a goal and an assist for the Montreal Canadiens in their win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Riley Kidney and Lane Hutson scored for the Canadiens (3-1-0), and Kaapo Kahkonen made 21 saves.

John Tavares had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs (2-1-1). Anthony Stolarz made 15 saves over the first two periods in his preseason debut. Artur Akhtyamov stopped 10 of 11 shots in relief.

Newhook gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 11:22 of the first period when he slipped behind the defense and finished off a pass from Alexandre Carrier.

Kidney made it 2-0 at 9:34, sliding in a rebound off a Farrell shot for a power-play goal.

Tavares cut it to 2-1 at 13:00 on the power play, skating out to the front of the net and beating Kahkonen with a wrist shot.

Hutson gave the Canadiens a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal at 16:11. He took a pass from Sammy Blais at the blue line, walked in and buried a wrist shot through traffic from the edge of the right circle.

Farrell pushed it to 4-1 at 9:21 of the third period, collecting a loose puck while crashing the net before lifting it past the blocker of Akhtyamov.

Nylander backhanded in a rebound at 16:07 from the goal mouth for the 4-2 final.

Avalanche 4, Stars 1: Brent Burns had an assist in his preseason debut for the Colorado Avalanche, who defeated the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena in Denver.

The 40-year-old defenseman signed a one-year contract with Colorado on July 2 for his 22nd NHL season.

Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist, and Gavin Brindley and Zakhar Bardakov also scored for the Avalanche (3-0-0). Scott Wedgewood made six saves over two periods before being replaced by Trent Miner, who stopped all six shots he faced.

Antonio Stranges scored for the Stars (3-1-0). Antoine Bibeau made 12 saves in two periods before being replaced by Remi Poirier, who allowed two goals on eight shots.

Brindley scored from in front at 10:32 of the second period, knocking in Ivan Ivan’s pass from behind the net to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.

Stranges tied it 1-1 at 19:57 on a snap shot from the top of the right circle.

Lehkonen put the Avalanche back ahead 2-1 at 3:42 of the third period after going down and sweeping in a rebound of Nathan MacKinnon’s wrist shot.

Bardakov made it 3-1 at 7:28, scoring on the backhand off a feed from Lehkonen.

Tristen Nielsen scored an empty-net goal at 18:23 for the 4-1 final.

Lightning 4, Predators 1: Brandon Hagel, Darren Raddysh and Gage Goncalves each had a goal and an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning in their win against the Nashville Predators at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.

Mitchell Chaffee also scored, and Anthony Cirelli had two assists for the Lightning (4-0-0). Brandon Halverson made 19 saves in two periods before being replaced by Ryan Fanti, who stopped all nine shots he faced.

Ozzy Wiesblatt scored for the Predators (2-1-1). Juuse Saros made 11 saves before being replaced by Matt Murray at the end of the second period. Murray allowed two goals on three shots in relief.

Raddysh gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 5:34 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Tristan Allard as he fell to the ice in front of the net.

Chaffee extended it to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 4:27 of the second period. He skated in from the bottom of the left circle and beat Saros with a wrist shot glove side.

Wiesblatt cut it to 2-1 at 11:48 when he redirected Fedor Svechkov’s point shot.

Hagel’s power-play goal made it 3-1 at 17:02 of the third period after he tapped in Goncalves’ pass to the left post from the right circle.

Goncalves scored into an empty net at 19:03 for the 4-1 final.

Sabres 5, Red Wings 2: Tage Thompson scored twice and had an assist for the Buffalo Sabres in their win against the Detroit Red Wings at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

Josh Norris had a goal and two assists, and Rasmus Dahlin and Radim Mrtka also scored for the Sabres (3-1-0). Alex Lyon made 26 saves.

Patrick Kane and Marco Kasper scored, and Alex DeBrincat had two assists for the Red Wings (2-2-0). Sebastian Cossa allowed four goals on 20 shots.

Dahlin gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 3:41 of the first period. Bowen Byram fed a cross-ice pass to Dahlin, who sent a one-timer through traffic from outside the top of the right face-off circle.

Mrtka made it 2-0 at 12:17. He took a pass from Konsta Helenius on a rush before beating Cossa blocker side from the right circle. Mrtka, an 18-year-old defenseman, was selected with the No. 9 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Kane cut it to 2-1 at 18:27 when his shot from in front deflected off the stick of Sabres forward Isak Rosen and fluttered past the right pad of Lyon.

Thompson made it 3-1 just 14 seconds into the second period. After a face-off win by Norris, Thompson corralled the puck and buried a wrist shot from the left circle.

Kasper scored at 13:36 to make it 3-2.

But Thompson gave the Sabres a 4-2 lead on the power play 37 seconds into the third on a one-timer from the left face-off circle, his second goal of the game.

Norris scored an empty-net goal at 19:47 for the 5-2 final.

Bruins 4, Flyers 3: Dalton Bancroft scored two goals for the Boston Bruins in a win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.

John Beecher and Jeffrey Viel also scored for Boston (2-1-0). Michael DiPietro made 24 saves.

Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia (1-3-0), and Travis Sanheim and Nikita Grebenkin scored. Samuel Ersson made 23 saves.

Sanheim gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 8:57 of the first period, tapping in a cross-crease pass from Christian Dvorak.

The Bruins tied it 1-1 when Beecher scored at 19:59 after a giveaway from behind his net by Alex Bump.

Bancroft put Boston ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 3:57 of the second period, putting in his rebound after Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler blocked his first attempt.

Grebenkin tied it 2-2 at 7:12 when he knocked a puck out of the air and past DiPietro.

Zegras made it 3-2 at 13:04 with a power-play goal from the right side.

Bancroft tied it 3-3 at 15:58, finishing a 2-on-0 rush with Georgii Merkulov.

Viel put the Bruins ahead 4-3 at 13:45 of the third period when he carried the puck down the right side, cut around Flyers defenseman Helge Grans, skated through the slot and scored from the left side.

Ducks 5, Kings 3: Matthew Phillips broke a tie with 45 seconds left in the third period, and the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Los Angeles Kings at Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield, California.

Phillips scored on the power play by finishing a backdoor pass from Olen Zellweger at the left side.

Nico Myatovic then scored into an empty net with 17 seconds left for the 5-3 final.

Pavel Mintyukov, Nathan Gaucher and Tyson Hinds scored, and Yegor Sidorov had two assists for the Ducks (2-2-0). Petr Mrazek made 37 saves.

Cody Ceci, Taylor Ward and Trevor Moore scored, and Erik Portillo made 25 saves for the Kings (3-1-0).

Ceci gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 3:10 of the first period, getting his first point of the preseason. The defenseman signed a four-year, $18 million contract ($4.5 million average annual value) with the Kings on July 1.

Mintyukov tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 12:04 before Ward put Los Angeles back in front 2-1 at 18:16.

Gaucher then tied it 2-2 at 6:50 of the second period, tipping a point shot by Ian Moore.

Trevor Moore gave Los Angeles a 3-2 lead 14 seconds into the third period. He scored unassisted on a wrist shot from the inside edge of the left circle after a turnover in Anaheim's zone.

The Ducks pulled even again at 3-3 at 13:50 when Hinds scored on a rebound from the left side.

Jets 4, Flames 2: Neal Pionk and Nikita Chibrikov each had a goal and an assist, and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Calgary Flames at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

Walker Duehr and Parker Ford also scored for the Jets (1-2-1) and Eric Comrie made 22 saves.

Zayne Parekh and Matvei Gridin scored for the Flames (2-3-0), and Morgan Frost had two assists. Devin Cooley made 25 saves.

Duehr gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead with a wrist shot from the right circle on the rush at 5:12 of the first period.

Chibrikov made it 2-0, going to his knee for a one-timer in the slot off a backhand pass from Brayden Yager at 12:02.

Parekh's power-play goal cut it to 2-1 at 13:16 on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line. The 19-year-old was Calgary's first-round pick (No. 9) in the 2024 NHL Draft and made his debut in the final game of last season.

Ford's tip-in of a pass into the crease by Jaret Anderson-Dolan at 17:37 gave the Jets a 3-1 lead.

Pionk made it 4-1 at 11:41 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the point for a power-play goal.

Gridin cut it to 4-2 at 5:23 of the third off a rebound.