Stanley Cup holders the Pittsburgh Penguins began the defence of their crown with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers.
Sidney Crosby and Tyler Kennedy produced two quick-fire scores in the second with the game level at 1-1 to get their side's campaign off to a winning start.
Finland hosted its first fully-fledged NHL regular season fixture as the Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in a shoot-out.
More than 12,000 people turned up to watch the match in Hels! inki and fittingly, Finnish star Ville Koistinen scored the winner in the sudden-death decider.
"I didn't dream anything about this," Koistinen told MLB.com.
Meanwhile in Stockholm, Sweden, the Detroit Red Wings went down 4-3 against the St Louis Blues.
Paul Kariya scored two as the St Louis got their season off to a great star.
Goaltender Ray Emery was the Philadelphia Flyers' hero as he made 28 saves as power-play goals by Jeff Carter and Mike Richards in the second period gave them a 2-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
