MONTREAL — Drayson Bowman broke a tie with 48 seconds left in the third period, and the Montreal Canadiens rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 at Bell Centre in the exhibition opener for both teams.

Jiri Sekac and Christian Thomas scored for the Canadiens, who trailed 2-0 9:12 into the game. Joey MacDonald stopped all 14 shots he faced; Dustin Tokarski made eight saves.

Additional Images

Boston Bruins center David Krejci is knocked to the ice by Montreal defenseman Joe Finley in front of goalie Dustin Tokarski during Tuesday’s exhibition in Montreal. The Associated Press

Ryan Spooner and Matt Fraser scored for Boston. Niklas Svedberg allowed two goals on 18 shots, and Malcolm Subban made nine saves.

BLUE JACKETS 2, PENGUINS 0: Sergei Bobrovsky and Oscar Dansk combined to make 42 saves, and Columbus won at home against Pittsburgh.

Bobrovsky played the first two periods and finished with 30 saves. Dansk made 12 in relief.

LIGHTNING 4, PREDATORS 2: Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals in the third period, leading host Tampa Bay against Nashville.

The second period was halted with 26.9 seconds left when veteran linesman Tim Nowak was injured. He didn’t return.

NOTES

HURRICANES: Center Jordan Staal was walking on crutches and will require further tests to determine the severity of a right leg injury sustained in a preseason game at Buffalo.

Hurricanes Coach Bill Peters said he didn’t have an update from doctors after Staal had initial tests taken immediately following the 2-0 loss.

“I’m concerned for sure. He’s a big piece of what we’re going to do moving forward,” Peters said. “Hopefully we catch a break here.”

While the Hurricanes will travel to play the New York Islanders on Wednesday, Peters said he expected Staal to fly home to Raleigh for more tests.

Staal was hurt on what appeared to be an innocent play with 6:35 left in the third period. He was skating up the right boards inside the Sabres’ zone when he was checked into the boards by defenseman Josh Gorges. Staal immediately fell to the ice and lay on his side for a few seconds before play was stopped.

A trainer attended to Staal, who eventually needed help to get up. He was unable to put any weight on his leg while being escorted off the ice.

About 20 minutes after the game, Staal was on crutches with his right leg elevated.

LIGHTNING: Rookie forward Jonathan Drouin will miss 3 to 4 weeks due to a right thumb injury.

Drouin, the third overall pick in the 2013 draft, has a slight fracture of the thumb that he said occurred when he fell to the ice during practice Thursday.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the league has no immediate plans to expand and adjust its unbalanced conference alignment.

“What most people say to me is, well, there’s 16 teams in the East, 14 in the West. What’s wrong with you? Can’t you count?” Bettman said at a Canadian Club luncheon. “And I say, ‘Yes, I can count, but I also can tell time and we finally have all 16 teams in the Eastern Time Zone in the right place.’

“But you don’t expand just to fulfill somebody’s notion of symmetry. It’s a very important business decision to make, and you do it for the right reasons at the right time.”

The league listens to expressions of interest from markets, but Bettman reiterates there no expansion plans. A recent Twitter report by Sports Business News said the NHL would expand by four teams – Quebec City, Seattle, Las Vegas and Toronto – by 2017.

The issue of expansion has particular resonance in Ontario. A second team in Toronto, even in the Eastern Time Zone, could theoretically play in the Western Conference for the sake of balance. The Leafs played in the West until the 1998-99 season.

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