Red Wings beat Panthers 4-1, Cam Talbot makes 21 saves

DETROIT (AP) — Cam Talbot made 21 saves, Mason Appleton scored twice and the Detroit Red Wings beat Florida 4-1 on Wednesday night to send the defending champion Panthers to their second straight loss.

The injury-hit Panthers began the season with home victories over Chicago, Philadelphia and Ottawa, then lost at Philadelphia on Monday.

Detroit has won three in a row. The Red Wings opened with a home loss to Montreal, then swept a home-and-home series with Toronto.

Appleton opened the scoring at 2:09 of the second on a snap shot. Patrick Kane added a power-play goal at 9:36, firing a shot from right side to the near top corner. Appleton put it away into an empty net with 1:58 left, and Michael Rasmussen also had an empty-netter.

Brad Marchand scored on a wraparound for Florida with 5:55 left in the second. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots.

SABRES 8, SENATORS 4

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jack Quinn gave Buffalo the lead for the first time this season with a shot that missed the net and still went in, and the Sabres had two more power-play scores and a short-handed goal to beat Ottawa for their first victory.

Quinn got it started midway through the first period on a man advantage, firing a one-timer from the slot that sailed just right and over the net, bounced off the glass and fluttered in off goalie Leevi Merilainen’s back. Quinn also scored in the third period.

The Sabres broke through after being outscored 10-2 in losing three straight to open the season — falling 4-0 at home to the New York Rangers and 3-1 at Boston and at home against Colorado. They have never opened 0-4.

Jason Zucker scored two power-play goals in a 1:57 span in Buffalo’s four-goal second period. Ryan McLeod scored short-handed and Alex Tuch had an even-strength goal in the second. McLeod added a goal in the third, and Jiri Kulich had an empty-netter.

Alex Lyon made 33 saves.

MAMMOTH 3, FLAMES 1

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — JJ Peterka and Barrett Hayton scored second-period goals, Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves, and Utah beat Calgary.

Utah became the sixth NHL franchise to win each of its first two home openers. The Mammoth also earned their fourth straight win over Calgary after going 3-0 against the Flames last season.

Kevin Stenlund added an unassisted empty-net goal with 22.2 seconds remaining to complete the scoring for Utah.

Calgary has surrendered 19 goals through its first five games and has a minus-9 goal differential — second-worst in the NHL. Devin Cooley made his season debut for the Flames and finished with 29 saves.

Rasmus Andersson opened the scoring for Calgary on a power-play goal at 8:37 of the first.

BLACKHAWKS 8, BLUES 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lukas Reichel had two goals and an assist, and Chicago pounded St. Louis Blues for its second straight win.

Connor Bedard had three assists for Chicago, which beat Utah 3-1 on Monday for its first victory of the season. Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and an assist.

The Blackhawks played without captain Nick Foligno, who is taking a leave of absence because his 12-year-old daughter is having follow-up surgery related to her congenital heart disease.

Jake Neighbours, Dylan Holloway and Tyler Tucker scored for St. Louis, which had won two in a row.

Blue goaltender Joel Hofer allowed four goals on 14 shots before he was replaced by Jordan Binnington in the second period. Binnington made six saves before ceding the net back to Hofer for the third. Hofer finished with 15 saves.