Nikita Kucherov tallies a season-opening hat trick, Tyler Myers sidelined in Canucks loss to shootout loss to the Flyers, plus the latest on Jonathan Drouin, Macklin Celebrini, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

GAME RECAPS

NHL.COM: Nikita Kucherov tallied a natural hat trick and collected an assist to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a season-opening 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Victor Hedman had three assists and Jake Guentzel had two assists in his Lightning debut. Jordan Staal scored for the Hurricanes.

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kucherov picked up where he left off last season when he won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer.

The Philadelphia Flyers nipped the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on a shootout goal by Morgan Frost. Samuel Ersson stopped 24 shots for his first win of the season while Kevin Lankinen turned aside 29 shots for the Canucks, who also lost defenseman Tyler Myers after injuring his right leg in the first period.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Flyers rookies Matvei Michkov and Jett Luchanko were held scoreless in their NHL debut. The Flyers played without defenseman Nick Seeler, who was placed on injured reserve before this game with a knee injury.

Vegas Golden Knights forwards Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev each had a goal and an assist to defeat the St. Louis Blues 4-3. Pavel Buchnevich scored two goals and collected an assist for the Blues.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game began, the Golden Knights reclaimed forward Raphael Lavoie off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers and sent him to their AHL affiliate.

They claimed him from the Oilers earlier in the week, who reclaimed him on Wednesday before putting him on waivers Thursday. No other team made a claim for Lavoie, meaning he didn’t have to pass through waivers to be sent to the Golden Knights’ farm team.

The Winnipeg Jets got two goals from Mark Scheifele for a 2-1 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Scheifele tied the game with 1:04 remaining in the third period and scored 38 seconds into the extra frame. Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the win. Ryan Donato scored for the Blackhawks, who got a 33-save performance from Arvid Soderblom.

HEADLINES

SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Macklin Celebrini is questionable for Saturday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks’ promising young center suffered a lower-body injury during his NHL debut on Thursday against the Blues.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sharks lost that game in overtime but Celebrini played well, collecting his first NHL goal and assist.

THE DENVER POST: The injury-ravaged Colorado Avalanche are missing another veteran forward as Jonathan Drouin will miss at least the next two games with an upper-body injury. He joins Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder) and Valeri Nichushkin (NHL/NHLPA player assistance program) on the sidelines.

DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

THE SEATTLE TIMES: The pairing of Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson remains the one constant on the changing Kraken blueline.

DAILY FACEOFF: The Bruins placed defenseman Ian Mitchell on waivers.