On Saturday, he scored the game’s first goal at 10 minutes 53 seconds when a shot by Dan Girardi caromed off Stepan and into the net off the Sabres’ Tyler Myers, who was distracted by Sean Avery’s repeated cross-checking. Stepan got the credit, his first N.H.L. goal in his first N.H.L. game. “I wanted it to be that it bounced in off the other team, because I think that’s how everyone scores their first one,” Stepan said. “You know, off the shin pad, off the elbow pad, off someone else. Avery said that at first he thought he was the last person to touch the puck. “Then Step came in the pile and whispered to me,” Avery said. “He was like, kind of afraid to tell me that it hit the defenseman’s stick. I said as long as I get the assist, you can have the goal.” Stepan scored his second goal at 15:08 of the second period with a nifty close-range flip of a rebound over Ryan Miller’s blocker for a 3-1 lead. It took fast hands for Stepan to beat Miller, the Vezina Trophy winner last season. Avery set up Stepan’s third goal when he passed from behind the net and found Stepan open in the slot. Stepan accepted and shot in one motion, making it 4-1.2 assists. Just being an all around team player. You can have the goal as long as I get the assist. A point is a point in #16's mind.
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