Jon Merrill’s first goal of the season snapped a third period tie, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots against his former team and Vegas beat Pittsburgh, 2-1, on Thursday in National Hockey League action.
It was the first meeting between the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions and Vegas, which acquired Fleury from Pittsburgh during the NHL expansion draft on June 21.
Fleury was taken by Pittsburgh with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft.
James Neal got his 15th goal of the season for Vegas. Ian Cole scored Pittsburgh’s goal.
Ducks 3, Blues 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kevin Roy scored twice and John Gibson made 29 saves as Anaheim defeated St. Louis.
Andrew Cogliano also scored for the Ducks, who have won three of four. Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues, who have lost two in a row.
Gibson earned his second victory at St. Louis in the last 16 days. He stopped 37 shots in a 3-2 win on Nov. 29.
Roy scored twice in a span of 2:45 in the third period to push the lead to 3-0. He was called up Tuesday following an injury to Corey Perry.
Blackhawks 5, Jets 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Patrick Kane and Nick Schmaltz each had a goal and an assist as Chicago extended its season-high winning streak to four with a victory over Winnipeg.
Vinnie Hinostroza, Tommy Wingels and Michal Kempny also scored for the Blackhawks (16-11-5). Corey Crawford made 27 saves in the first of five games this season between the Central Division foes.
Nikolaj Ehlers thwarted Crawford’s shutout bid when he scored a power-play goal at 5:35 of the third period. He has a goal in each of his past four games.
The loss ended Winnipeg’s string of seven straight wins at home.
Blue Jackets 6, Islanders 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots to help Columbus hold off New York.
Markus Nutivaara, Pierre- Luc Dubois, Seth Jones, Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who snuffed out an Islanders comeback attempt that included a hat trick by wing Josh Bailey.
Columbus (20-11-1) has won 11 of its last 15 and is in a knot of teams battling for supremacy in the tough Metropolitan Division.
Wild 2, Maple Leafs 0
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Alex Stalock stopped 28 shots for his first NHL shutout in three seasons, steering Minnesota past Toronto for its fourth straight victory.
Tyler Ennis scored early and Mikael Granlund added a late goal for the Wild, whose first three wins during the streak were all in extra time. They handed the Maple Leafs their first blank slate since a 3-0 loss at Calgary on Nov. 30, 2016.
The Maple Leafs, who have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and entered with the fifth-highest scoring average in the league, have totaled three goals over their last three games without young star center Auston Matthews (upper-body injury).
Flyers 2, Sabres 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Valtteri Filppula scored the game-winner with 2 1/2 minutes left in the second period and Travis Sanheim netted his first career goal to help Philadelphia edge Buffalo for its fifth straight victory.
Brian Elliott made 19 saves for the Flyers, whose winning streak comes on the heels of a 10-game skid. The winning stretch began with a three-game trip to Canada that started with coach Dave Hakstol changing the team’s formation to a more defensive minded 1-2-2 alignment. Philadelphia (13-11-7) has outscored opponents 19-8 since.
Habs 2, Devils 1 (OT)
MONTREAL (AP) — Tomas Plekanec scored 1:52 into overtime and Montreal beat New Jersey to snap a three-game slide.
Andrew Shaw scored for the Canadiens (14-14-4) in the first period and Carey Price made 31 saves in his ninth straight start.
Stefan Noesen had the goal for the Devils (17-9-5), who remained third in the rugged Metropolitan Division. Cory Schneider stopped 34 shots in defeat.
Predators 4, Oilers 0
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Juuse Saros made 46 saves for his second career shutout and Kyle Turris had a goal and an assist as Nashville kept up its torrid pace of late by blanking Edmonton.
Pontus Aberg, Kevin Fiala and Roman Josi also scored for the Predators (20-7-4), who are 10-1-2 in their last 13 games and have won 10 straight against Edmonton.
Lightning 4, Coyotes 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored to remain tied for the NHL goals lead and Tampa Bay beat Arizona for its season-high sixth straight victory.
Kucherov matched Washington’s Alex Ovechkin with his 22nd goal to help the NHL-best Lightning push aside the league-worst Coyotes in front of a small, quiet crowd.
Avalanche 2, Panthers 1
DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves and Colorado topped Florida for the second time in five days.
Colorado won 7-3 in Florida on Saturday night and swept the season series behind a strong game from MacKinnon. He had his third two-goal game and leads the Avalanche with 35 points.
Sharks 3, Flames 2
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Joonas Donskoi scored the game-winner late in the third period and had an assist to lead San Jose over Calgary.
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