Penguins 4, Canucks 3 (SO)
Defenseman Kris Letang celebrated his 300th NHL game with two assists and the decisive goal in the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins posted a 4-3 road victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday in the season opener for both teams.
After Marc-Andre Fleury denied Mikael Samuelsson on Vancouver's first shootout attempt, Letang made several dekes before putting a backhander past Roberto Luongo. Fleury made a superb glove save on Alex Burrows, and Evgeni Malkin beat Luongo in the second round to seal Pittsburgh's fourth straight road opener.
Pittsburgh grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period on power-play goals by James Neal and former Canuck Matt Cooke, who added a shorthanded marker early in the second to make it 3-1. Neal scored just once in 20 games last season after being acquired from Dallas.
Defenseman Keith Ballard drew Vancouver within one late in the second and Daniel Sedin converted a pass from twin brother Henrik at 7:51 of the third to forge a 3-3 tie.
Maxim Lapierre also scored for the Canucks, who fell to 2-3-1 in their last six season openers.