Hurricanes at Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks attempt to make it two wins in as many nights when they continue their season-opening four-game homestand Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Vancouver was one of three teams that waited until Saturday to begin their campaigns and came away with a 2-1 shootout triumph over Calgary as Brandon Sutter scored the lone goal of the bonus format in the fourth round.
Daniel Sedin, who topped the Canucks with 28 tallies last season and is the franchise's all-time leader in goals with 356, helped the club avoid a shutout loss by scoring with 3:51 remaining in the third period. Carolina kicked off its season-opening six-game road trip in disappointing fashion, dropping a 5-4 overtime decision in Winnipeg on Thursday after squandering a three-goal lead in the third period. Jeff Skinner and Lee Stempniak each recorded a goal and an assist while 19-year-old right wing Sebastian Aho notched an assist in his NHL debut. A second-round pick in the 2015 draft, Aho scored 20 goals with Oulun Karpat in his native Finland last season.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Carolina, Sportsnet 1 (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (0-0-1): Jakub Nakladal, who was signed by Carolina last Sunday, participated in his first practice with the team in Vancouver on Saturday but is not expected to be in the lineup against the Canucks. The 28-year-old defenseman made his NHL debut with Calgary last season, recording two goals, three assists and a minus-5 rating in 27 games. Carolina became the 10th NHL team for which Stempniak has played, tying him with five other players for second place on the all-time list behind Mike Sillinger, who skated for 12 different clubs from 1990-2009.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (1-0-0): Three players - Loui Eriksson, defensemen Erik Gudbranson and Philip Larsen - made their debuts with Vancouver on Saturday, but Jack Skille was denied the chance to be the fourth as he was a healthy scratch. Eriksson skated on a line with the Sedin twins, notching an assist, while Larsen appeared in his first NHL game since 2013-14 with Edmonton. The 31-year-old Eriksson did manage to shoot the puck into the net against Calgary, but it happened to be his own as the snafu just over nine minutes into the game nearly wound up costing the Canucks two points.
OVERTIME
1. Hurricanes C Jordan Staal, who scored a goal on Thursday, is eight points shy of 400 for his career.
2. Captain Henrik Sedin was the only Vancouver skater that did not register a shot on Saturday.
3. Carolina assigned D Roland McKeown, who was a healthy scratch in the season opener, to Charlotte of the American Hockey League.