Brett Seney’s goal 3:55 into the third period was the game-winner as the New Jersey Devils beat the Rangers 4-3 Wednesday night, spoiling the preseason debuts for New York newcomers Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko at Madison Square Garden.
Nico Hischier, Mikhail Maltsev and Nikita Gusev also scored for New Jersey, which started Cory Schneider in goal. Schneider made 27 saves in the first two periods before being replaced by Evan Cormier in the third. Cormier finished with 12 saves.
Panarin, who signed a seven-year, $81.5 million contract with the Rangers on July 1, had a power-play goal 7 1/2 minutes into the second period to cut New Jersey’s lead to 2-1. Kakko, selected with the second overall pick in June’s draft, and new defenceman Jacob Trouba had assists on the play.
Panarin played only 12:59 as he suffered a “mild groin strain,” according to the team.
Micheal Haley and Lias Andersson also scored for the Rangers. Alexandar Georgiev started in goal and gave up three goals on 11 shots. Igor Shesterkin stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced in his half of the game.
Backstrom’s Late Goal Lifts Capitals Past Blues
In Washington, Nicklas Backstrom’s goal with 7 seconds remaining gave the Capitals a 3-2 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Blues.
Radko Gudas and Richard Panik also scored for Washington, which had Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek each play half the game in goal. Vanecek started and made 13 saves on 14 shots, while Samsonov stopped 12 of 13 shots he faced.
Austin Poganski and Zach Sanford scored for St. Louis.
Jordan Binnington started in goal for the Blues and picked up where he left off last season, as he made 22 saves on 23 shots in the first two periods. Evan Fitzpatrick played the third and allowed two goals on 10 shots.
Hurricanes Blank Lightning
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Petr Mrazek and Alex Nedeljkovic combined for 21 saves in the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Mrazek started and made six saves before giving way to Nedeljkovic, who stopped all 15 shots he faced in his half of the game.
Steven Lorentz and Clark Bishop scored for the Hurricanes.
Spencer Martin started in goal for Tampa Bay and allowed one goal on 13 shots before being replaced by Zach Fucale, who made 10 saves on 11 shots.
Canadiens Stay Unbeaten Against Panthers
In Bathurst, New Brunswick, Alex Belzile scored a short-handed goal with less than five minutes remaining to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers.
Matthew Peca and Jeff Petry each had a goal and an asssit and Riley Barber also scored to help the Canadiens improve to 2-0 in preseason play. Charlie Lindgren stopped 17 shots for Montreal.
Evgenii Dadonov, Mike Hoffman and Jonathan Huberdeau had goals for Florida, which lost its third straight. Chris Driedger finished with 15 saves.
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The Associated Press