BUFFALO, N.Y. — Valeri Nichushkin scored 51 seconds into the game and Antti Niemi stopped 24 shots to help the Dallas Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 Tuesday night.

Alex Goligoski and Tyler Seguin also scored, and Dallas won a late coach’s challenge on the way to becoming the first NHL team to 15 wins this season. The Stars’ 30 points are tied with Montreal and the New York Rangers for tops in the league.

Ryan O’Reilly’s power-play goal with 6:57 to play broke Niemi’s shutout. Sam Reinhart tied the score moments later only to see the goal overturned after Stars Coach Lindy Ruff challenged the call, and video review showed Tyler Ennis to be offside.

BLUE JACKETS 3, BLUES 1: Brandon Saad scored twice to help host Columbus get its first three-game winning streak of the season.

KINGS 3, FLYERS 2: Anze Kopitar scored in the shootout to lead visiting Los Angeles.

Milan Lucic and Jamie McBain scored in regulation for Los Angeles, which opened a five-game trip with its 12th win in the last 15 games while improving to 5-1 on the road this season.

PENGUINS 4, WILD 3: Evgeni Malkin scored two goals and picked up two assists for his first four-point game in two seasons to lead host Pittsburgh.

David Perron and Beau Bennett also scored for Pittsburgh, which rode Malkin’s inspired play to win for just the second time in five games.

MAPLE LEAFS 5, AVALANCHE 1: P.A. Parenteau scored twice as Toronto had four power-play goals and a short-handed score to beat visiting Colorado.

Tyler Bozak had his first power-play goal of the season, Leo Komarov had Toronto’s first short-handed goal, and James van Riemsdyk also scored to help the Leafs win for the fourth time in five games.

James Reimer stopped 34 shots for his fourth straight victory.

PREDATORS 3, DUCKS 2: James Neal and Miikka Salomaki gave Nashville the lead, and Pekka Rinne stopped 38 shots to lead the Predators at home.

Shea Weber also scored as Nashville won for the third time in four games.

Rickard Rakell and Mike Santorelli had the goals for the Ducks, who have lost four of five. Frederik Andersen gave up three goals on 10 shots and was replaced in the second period by Anton Khudobin, who stopped all 11 shots he faced.

NOTES

ISLANDERS: After 11 games in their new Brooklyn home, the Islanders rank next-to-last in the NHL with an average of 12,157 in paid attendance per game, ahead of only the Carolina Hurricanes’ 11,227.

They also are third from last in average percentage of capacity at 76.9, ahead of only the Hurricanes (60.1) and Florida Panthers (75.3). Barclays Center’s hockey capacity is listed at 15,795.

Monday’s 5-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes marked the seventh time in 11 home dates the Islanders have drawn fewer than 12,000.

In their final season at Nassau Coliseum in 2014-15, the Islanders were averaging 13,842 after 11 games.

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