New-Look Red Wings Still Impressive, 6-3

New coach. New goalie. No captain.

Same Red Wings.

Kirk Maltby scored two short-handed goals in the first 7:05, and Curtis Joseph made 23 saves to win his Detroit debut Thursday night as the Stanley Cup champions opened with a 6-3 road victory over the San Jose Sharks.

Sergei Fedorov also scored two goals for the Red Wings, who were without injured captain Steve Yzerman and delivered an easy victory for new Coach Dave Lewis.

Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom also scored as the Red Wings ripped San Jose goalie Miikka Kiprusoff for six goals in 15 shots in the first two periods.

Joseph bolted from Toronto in hopes of winning a title as the replacement for retired Dominik Hasek. Wearing his customary rabid-dog mask--in red instead of Maple Leafs blue now--Joseph was mostly solid, with a stunning point-blank stop of Todd Harvey late in the second period.

Vincent Damphousse had two goals and an assist, and captain Owen Nolan had three assists for the Sharks.

Toronto 6, Pittsburgh 0--Alexander Mogilny and Mats Sundin each scored twice, and Ed Belfour had a shutout in his first start for the Maple Leafs in a victory at Pittsburgh.

It was the worst opening-game loss in the Penguins’ 35-year history.

Darcy Tucker set up the first four goals, and both Mogilny and Sundin had four-point games.

Columbus 2, Chicago 1--Rick Nash, the first player selected in the NHL draft, scored on his second shot as the Blue Jackets won at Columbus, Ohio.

Mike Sillinger had a goal and an assist, and Marc Denis stopped 31 shots, including several in the last two minutes when the Blackhawks applied steady pressure on the power play.

New Jersey 2, Ottawa 1--John Madden scored twice, and Martin Brodeur came within 1:14 of a shutout as the Devils won at Ottawa.

Brodeur made 33 saves, losing his shutout on Ottawa’s 32nd shot, when Daniel Alfredsson tipped in Petr Schastlivy’s shot.

Buffalo 5, New York Islanders 1--Chris Gratton and J.P. Dumont had a goal and an assist each as the Sabres won at Buffalo, N.Y. Gratton, with the third opening-night goal of his career, and newcomer Jochen Hecht scored 1:31 apart late in the period to put Buffalo ahead 3-1.

Tampa Bay 4, Florida 3--Vaclav Prospal pounced on a loose puck and shot it past goalie Roberto Luongo at 3:34 of overtime to lift the Lightning past the Panthers at Sunrise, Fla. Brad Richards, Brad Lukowich and Vincent Lecavlier also scored for the Lightning.

Philadelphia 2, Edmonton 2--John LeClair scored twice, but the Oilers rallied with two goals late in the third period to tie the Flyers at Edmonton, Canada. Anson Carter evened the score with a power-play goal at 16:23 of the third period.

Vancouver 3, Calgary 0--Dan Cloutier made 19 saves as the Canucks won at Calgary, Canada. Brendan Morrison, Bryan Allen and Markus Naslund scored first-period goals for the Canucks.