Roundup: Rangers begin preseason with win over rival Devils

NEW YORK -- Dane Byers and Ryan Callahan scored first-period power-play goals to spark the New York Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Blair Betts and Martin Straka also scored as the Rangers kicked off their preseason schedule. Al Montoya, bidding to win the backup goaltender job behind Henrik Lundqvist, got the start and played well. He stopped 12 of 13 shots in a period and a half of action. Steve Valiquette finished up.

Dainius Zubrus, Zach Parise and Brian Gionta scored for the Devils who fell to 1-2 in preseason and may have lost backup goaltender Kevin Weekes for some time.

The former Ranger was signed as a free agent over the summer to spell Martin Brodeur. Weekes was injured 6:06 in the game when Rangers forward Sean Avery shoved Devils defensemen Johnny Oduya into the crease, sending Weekes crashing into the post before hitting the ice hard. Weekes appeared woozy as he was helped to the locker room.

Jordan Parise, the older brother of Devils winger Zach Parise, replaced Weekes and played the rest of the game. Full story

Blue Jackets 4, Sabres 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Gilbert Brule scored twice, leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to a victory over the Buffalo Sabres in a preseason game.

Kris Russell and Rick Nash added goals for Columbus, which improved to 2-2 in the preseason. Clarke MacArthur scored for Buffalo, in its first preseason game.

Steve Mason stopped 20 shots for Columbus. Buffalo goalie Jocelyn Thibault, the Sabres' lone free-agent signing of the offseason, made 18 saves.

Russell and Brule scored power-play goals 25 seconds apart in the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead. Columbus started the second period with a two-man advantage carried over from the first period, and Russell scored 49 seconds in on a deflection. Brule then snapped in a shot from the left faceoff circle with one second remaining in the power play.

Red Wings 1, Penguins 0 (OT)

DETROIT -- Chris Chelios scored one minute, 18 seconds into overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Chelios scored from the bottom of the left circle after taking a pass from Pavel Datsyuk.

Tomas Holmstrom also got an assist, making Detroit 2-1 in the preseason and Pittsburgh 1-0-2.

Chris Osgood played the first two periods and made 16 saves for Detroit, and Jimmy Howard stopped the other three Pittsburgh shots.

Hurricanes 3, Predators 0

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Cam Ward stopped 18 shots to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a preseason victory over the Nashville Predators.

Casey Boyer and former Predator Scott Walker each had a goal and an assist, and Ray Whitney also scored for Carolina, which overcame a slow start and got its offense rolling late to improve to 2-0 in the preseason.

Ward, the MVP of the Hurricanes' run to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2006, seemed in midseason form in shutting down a Nashville offense that entered with eight goals in two games.

Dan Ellis -- who won the only start of his NHL career when he debuted with Dallas in 2004 -- stopped nine shots in two periods for Nashville before giving way to Pekka Rinne. He had 12 saves and was pulled with 1:42 remaining for an extra attacker.

Canadiens 3, Islanders 2

MONTREAL -- Matt D'Agostini scored his second goal of the game 1:45 into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a win over the New York Islanders.

D'Agostini, who opened the scoring 6:53 in, jumped on a loose puck in front of the Islanders' net and put a quick shot past Mike Morrison after Montreal blew its second one-goal lead with 5:57 remaining in the third.

Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek tied it at 2 when he scored 14:03 into the third. Jeff Tambellini also scored to draw New York even in the second.

Guillaume Latendresse had a goal and an assist and highly touted Canadiens prospect Carey Price made 22 saves.

Wild 5, Blackhawks 4 (OT)

CHICAGO -- Mikko Koivu's third goal of the game -- a deflection during a power play with 5.3 seconds left in overtime -- lifted the Minnesota Wild to a preseason win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Koivu scored with Chicago's Patrick Kane, the first pick overall in the 2007 draft, off for holding.

In regulation, Kane got his first goal and assist with the Blackhawks in his second preseason game.

Chicago's Sergei Samsonov scored from the slot with one second left in the third period and Blackhawks goalie Patrick Lalime on the bench for a sixth attacker to set up overtime.

Sharks 3, Ducks 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Joe Pavelski scored his first two goals of the preseason and San Jose beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks.

Pavelski's second goal came at 15:48 of the third period, breaking up a close game that San Jose (2-0-1) dominated, outshooting the Ducks 36-19. It was San Jose's second win over the Ducks (2-3-1) in three nights.

San Jose rookie Devin Setoguchi broke a 1-1 tie in the second period with a power-play goal from the slot. It was Setoguchi's second goal in three preseason appearances.

Anaheim tied it 1-1 in the second when top forward prospect Bobby Ryan scored his first goal of the preseason on a power play.