DENVER (AP) — Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals to reach 200 for his career, helping the Colorado Avalanche rebound from an opening-night loss with an 8-0 rout of the St. Louis Blues. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen scored the 100th goal of his career and added an assist, and Nazem Kadri also had a goal and an assist. Philipp Grubauer faced just 20 shots in his 12th career shutout and Cale Makar had three assists for Colorado. The Avalanche entered the season with title expectations but had a lackluster effort in a 4-1 loss to St. Louis on Wednesday night. After a scoreless first period, their offense broke out in the second and third.
In other Friday action on the ice:
— Travis Konecny had his first career hat trick to lead the Philadelphia Flyers past the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2. The Flyers did lose team MVP Sean Couturier to an unspecified injury. Couturier was plowed into the boards and may have hurt his left shoulder. He left after just two shifts and 45 seconds. Konecny scored the first goals of the game and another one late in the third to get the hat trick.
— Vitek Vanecek made 28 saves in his NHL debut, Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist and the Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 on Friday night to sweep the season-opening series. Jakub Vrana scored his second goal of the season for the Capitals, 6-4 winners over the Sabres on Thursday night. Rasmus Ristolainen scored for Buffalo.
— Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Matt Murray made 20 saves in his Ottawa debut and the Senators beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Friday night in their first game in more than 10 months. Thomas Chabot, Austin Watson, Derek Stepan and Chris Tierney also scored for Ottawa. Josh Norris, with his first NHL points, Drake Batherson and Nikita Zaitsev added two assists each in the opener of a two-day set in Ottawa. John Tavares had a goal and assist for Toronto, Zach Hyman and Alexander Kerfoot also scored and Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots.
— Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist each, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2. Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman added a goal and an assist and Alex Killorn also scored as Tampa Bay completed a sweep in a season-opening two-game set against Chicago. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 34 shots for Tampa Bay.
In other NHL News:
— The Dallas Stars will open their season Jan. 22 at Nashville after a teamwide outbreak forced their first four games to be postponed. The National Hockey League rescheduled the Stars’ opening games and moved several others around to accommodate. The regular season started Wednesday, and the Stars were set to play Thursday. But 17 players tested positive for the virus, leading the NHL to close down team facilities and Dallas to halt practice.
—- The Edmonton Oilers placed goalie Mike Smith on long-term injury reserve Friday and re-assigned Olivier Rodrigue to the taxi squad, pending quarantine protocols. Edmonton did not elaborate on Smith’s injury. He was supposed to start Thursday night at home against Vancouver, but was declared inactive, forcing Mikko Koskinen into back-to-back starts.
