Canadiens’ Theodore Spoils Night for Rangers

Jose Theodore did pretty much everything last season except beat the New York Rangers.

He took care of that in this year’s season opener, stopping 20 shots in the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-1 victory that spoiled the Rangers’ home opener Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Theodore was the league MVP, the Vezina Trophy winner and the goalie who helped end the Canadiens’ three-year playoff drought a season ago. He was also the guy who went 0-4 against New York.

“The first win is never easy to get, especially here in New York,” said Theodore, who won 30 games against the rest of the NHL last season. “Whatever happened last year, we just forget about it.”

Yanic Perreault had a goal and an assist during Montreal’s three-goal second period that turned around an early 1-0 deficit.

Oleg Petrov had two assists and Mariusz Czerkawski scored an empty-net goal with 3.1 seconds left as the Canadiens beat the Rangers for the first time since April 5, 2000, ending an 0-7-1 streak.

Washington 5, Nashville 4--Robert Lang poked home the winning goal during a scramble on a five-on-three power play with 1:04 remaining for the Capitals at Washington. Lang’s goal capped a wild third period that included five goals and three five-on-three power plays, two of which were killed despite each lasting nearly a minute.

Peter Bondra had two goals and an assist, including a goal that bounced off goaltender Mike Dunham’s back. Jaromir Jagr had one goal and two assists for the Capitals.

Carolina 5, Atlanta 3--Joe Vasicek scored the go-ahead goal less than two minutes into the third period as the Hurricanes twice rallied from two-goal deficits to win at Raleigh, N.C.

Atlanta lost its season opener despite leading 2-0 and 3-1. The Thrashers are 0-13-3 all-time against the defending Eastern Conference champions.

Minnesota 5, Boston 1--Andrew Brunette had a goal and an assist and Manny Fernandez stopped 26 shots to lead the Wild at St. Paul, Minn. It was the first season-opening win for the third-year Wild.