Tarasenko leads Blues past Avalanche to snap four-game skid
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 Monday night, snapping a four-game losing streak.
Brayden Schenn and David Perron also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who came in with their longest skid since March 30-April 4, 2018. Jordan Binnington finished with 17 saves as the Blues improved to 8-1-0 in the last nine home games against Colorado.
Nathan MacKinnon scored for Colorado, which was the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss and fell to 7-1-1. Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots.
MacKinnon has scored at least one point in each of Colorado’s first nine games, becoming the first player in Avalanche history to do it in consecutive seasons. He tied the mark to start one season, set previously by John-Michael Liles in 2010-11, and matched by MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen last season. He also became the fifth player in NHL history with a season-opening point streak of at least nine games in consecutive seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (30 games in 1982-83; 51 in 1983-84; 16 in 1984-85 and nine in 1985-86), Charlie Simmer (nine in 1979-80 and 13 in 1980-81), Guy Lafleur (10 in 1975-76 and 10 in 1976-77) and Rod Gilbert (nine in 1971-72 and 14 in 1972-73).
BLUE JACKETS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3, OT
TORONTO (AP) — Gustav Nyquist scored on a penalty shot 1:57 into overtime to lead Columbus past Toronto.
Riley Nash, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alexander Wennberg scored in regulation for the Blue Jackets, and Nick Foligno had two assists. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 28 shots.
Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen also scored for Toronto. Andreas Johnsson and Jake Muzzin each had two assists, and Frederik Andersen finished with 34 saves.
Andersen stopped Dubois on a breakaway seconds into overtime. He then robbed Wennberg, before Nyquist was hooked by Mitch Marner on another 1-on-1 chance at the end of a long shift for the Maple Leafs. With fans inside Scotiabank Arena voicing their displeasure, Nyquist moved in and beat Andersen under the glove for his second goal of the season.
FLYERS 6, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kevin Hayes, Michael Raffl, Matt Niskanen and Oskar Lindblom all scored in the second period as Philadelphia snapped a four-game losing streak.
Travis Konecny scored a power-play goal just 4:15 into the game for the Flyers, and they took off from there, an appetizer for what would be the Flyers first four-goal period since March 15, 2019 against Toronto. Raffl added his second of the night late in the third.
Brian Elliott had 33 saves for the Flyers, 25 straight through the first two periods when they played more like an Eastern Conference contender than the one that entered buried near the bottom of the standings.
DALLAS (AP) — Joe Pavelski scored a power-play goal midway through the second period, and Dallas won its second straight.
Radek Faksa also scored for Dallas, and Anton Khudobin made 19 saves for his first win in four games this season. The Stars won for the first time in four home games.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored his team-high fourth of the season with 1:12 left to spoil Khudobin’s bid for his ninth career shutout. Anders Nilsson stopped 41 shots for the Senators, who have lost four straight (0-3-1).
