EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — With the hockey world watching, the first-round draft pick lived up to all of his expectations and more with a goal and two points in his first NHL game.
Zach Parise, New Jersey's first-round draft pick in 2003, scored a power-play goal and assisted on one of Brian Gionta's two goals in an outstanding debut that led the New Jersey Devils to a 5-1 victory over Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.
Sergei Brylin also scored twice for New Jersey as the NHL returned after a lockout canceled the 2004-05 season. Crosby, the NHL's most-awaited rookie in a generation and the 18-year-old poster child of the new-look league on its first opening night in two years, assisted on Mark Recchi's power-play goal in the third.
LIGHTNING 5, HURRICANES 2: At Tampa, Fla., Vinny Prospal scored on Tampa Bay's first shot of the season and assisted on goals by Dan Boyle and Vincent Lecavalier to help the Lightning build a 4-2 lead in the club's first regular-season outing since beating Calgary in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals 16 months ago. Tim Taylor and Stanley Cup MVP Brad Richards also scored for the Lightning. John Grahame stopped 24 shots in his first start since the departure of Nikolai Khabibulin, who signed with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Radim Vrbata scored an unassisted goal for Carolina in the first period. The Hurricanes also got an unassisted goal from Eric Staal to trim Tampa Bay's lead to 3-2 early in the second period.
RED WINGS 5, BLUES 1: At Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist in the first seven minutes and the Red Wings went on to beat St. Louis.
The game turned into a rout in the second period when Detroit scored three goals while St. Louis took just three shots, none of which got past Manny Legace, who needed to make a mere 13 saves. Patrick Lalime allowed four goals on 24 shots before the Blues replaced him with Reinhard Divis midway through the second period.
Robert Lang, Mathieu Schneider, Mikael Samuelsson and Brett Lebda scored for the Red Wings, while Eric Brewer had the lone goal for the Blues.
CAPITALS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2: At Washington, Alexander Ovechkin became the first Capitals player to score twice in his NHL debut, as the Capitals beat the Blue JacketsDainius Zubrus also scored for Washington, and new captain Jeff Halpern had three assists in a game that included 18 penalties.
Dan Fritsche scored both goals for Columbus, twice as many as he had in his entire rookie season before the lockout. All five goals came in a 10-minute span in the second period.
SABRES 6, ISLANDERS 4: At Buffalo, N.Y., Daniel Briere scored two goals and set up another, leading the Sabres to a victory over New York. Maxim Afinogenov scored twice, J.P. Dumont had a goal and an assist and Brian Campbell added a goal in a game Buffalo never trailed. Ryan Miller stopped 22 shots and overcame a very soft goal to win his seventh career game and end a four-game losing streak dating to Feb. 19, 2003.
Alexei Zhitnik, Alexei Yashin, Jason Blake and Chris Campoli scored and Mike York had two assists for the Islanders, who are 1-6-3 in their last 10 openers and 8-17-8 overall.
PANTHERS 2, THRASHERS 0: At Sunrise, Fla., Roberto Luongo made 34 saves for his 24th career shutout, and Nathan Horton and Lucas Krajicek scored in the third period for Florida. Luongo, who had seven shutouts and a league-record 2,303 saves during the NHL's pre-lockout season of 2003-04, made 10 stops during a 5-minute shorthanded stretch of the third period, holding up a 1-0 lead.
Horton — the third overall pick in the 2003 draft — intercepted Atlanta goalie Mike Dunham's clearing pass along the right wing boards, then sent a quick shot deflecting off Dunham and into the net to break a scoreless tie 1:08 into the third.
CANADIENS 2, BRUINS 1: At Boston, Michael Ryder backhanded in the rebound of Alexei Kovalev's shot on the power play with 11.1 seconds remaining to give Montreal the win.
Boston's Tom Fitzgerald was called for hooking with 26 seconds to play to set up the power play for the Canadians. Jan Bulis also had a goal, and Jose Theodore made 29 saves for Montreal.
Patrice Bergeron scored for Boston, which outshot the Canadiens 30-21 but failed to score on seven power-play opportunities, including four in the third period.
RANGERS 5, FLYERS 3: At Philadelphia, Jaromir Jagr spoiled Peter Forsberg's Flyers debut.
Jagr scored a pair of power-play goals in the third period, leading the Rangers to victory. Jason Strudwick, Jamie Lundmark and Marcel Hossa also scored for New York, which overcame a two-goal deficit with four straight goals.
Forsberg had two assists in his first game with the Flyers after leaving Colorado, where he helped lead the Avalanche to two Stanley Cup championships.
PREDATORS 3, SHARKS 2: At Nashville, Tenn., Scott Hartnell broke a tie with 4:13 left, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 22 shots to help the Predators beat the Sharks. Paul Kariya scored his first goal in a Nashville uniform, and Scott Walker also scored for the small-market team whose owner helped negotiate the new labor deal designed to bring more parity to the NHL.
WILD 6, FLAMES 3: At St. Louis, Marc Chouinard scored three goals and Todd White added a goal and two assists, leading Minnesota past Calgary. Pierre-Marc Bouchard had three assists, and Brent Burns and Kyle Wanvig each contributed a power-play goal for Minnesota, which gave Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff a not-so-warm welcome.
MIGHTY DUCKS 5, BLACKHAWKS 3: At Chicago, the Mighty Ducks got power-play goals from Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer and Jeffrey Lupul added two more to lift Anaheim over Chicago. Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin — the highest profile goalie on last summer's free agent market after helping the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup — allowed all five goals on 24 shots.
Anaheim got 36 saves from Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Rob Niedermayer added a short-handed goal for the Mighty Ducks.
Chicago rookie Rene Bourque scored in his first NHL game. Mark Bell and Curtis Brown also connected for the Blackhawks.
STARS 5, KINGS 4: At Dallas, Philippe Boucher capped the Stars' comeback from an early four-goal deficit with a shot that went in off a Los Angeles defenseman with 4:46 left. Newly acquired Jeremy Roenick scored twice as Los Angeles went up 3-0 after just 4:18. Dustin Brown stretched the lead by scoring with 8.1 seconds left in the period.
Jason Arnott started the Stars' rally by beating goalie Mathieu Garon early in the second period, then Sergei Zubov followed with two goals within a few minutes. Bill Guerin scored the tying goal midway through the third period.
SENATORS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2, SO: At Toronto, Daniel Alfredsson scored twice in the final 6 minutes of regulation and once during the first shootout in NHL history as Ottawa rallied over the Maple Leafs. Toronto captain Mats Sundin didn't return after being struck in the face by a puck seven minutes into the first period, forcing him to leave for the dressing room with a cut around his right eye.