Stephenson Scores in OT, Golden Knights Rally Past Blues

LAS VEGAS — Chandler Stephenson scored in overtime and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from an early three-goal deficit to beat the St. Louis Blues 5-4 Saturday.

Stephenson streaked in on a breakaway and beat goalie Jake Allen with a backhand 3:01 into overtime.

Ryan Reaves, Paul Stastny, Nicolas Roy and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves.

Alex Pietrangelo, Jaden Schwartz, Oskar Sundqvist and David Perron scored for the Blues. Allen made 28 saves.

St. Louis Blues Alex Pietrangelo Stanley Cup
St. Louis Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo holds the Stanley Cup (Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports)

Pacific Division-leading Vegas is 15-6-3 since Nov. 17 and leads the NHL with 33 points in that span.

The Blues are 5-0-3 against the Golden Knights since they entered the NHL in the 2017-18 season and remained the only NHL team that has never lost in regulation against Vegas.

BRUINS 4, OILERS 1

BOSTON (AP) — Darnell Nurse and Gaetan Haas each had a second-period goal off poor Boston plays, Connor McDavid added an insurance score for Edmonton in the third after being stopped twice by Jaroslav Halak.

Mike Smith made 35 saves for the Oilers, who won for the second time in five games. Leon Draisaitl added an empty-net goal.

Mike Smith Edmonton Oilers
Mike Smith, Edmonton Oilers (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

David Pastrnak scored his NHL-leading 31st goal for the Bruins, who have won just four times in their past 10 games. Halak made 22 saves.

Nurse’s goal with 6.3 seconds left in the second gave the Oilers a 2-1 edge. He fired what looked like a relatively easy shot to handle from the left circle, but the puck slipped into the net between the post and Halak’s right shoulder.

The Oilers tied it at 1 in the second when Boston winger Jake DeBrusk turned the puck over right in front of his own net — whiffing on a pass — and Haas slipped a shot under Halak 7:41 into the period.

WILD 3, JETS 2, OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Eric Staal poked home a rebound after a scramble in front of the Winnipeg goal, sending Minnesota past the Jets.

Marcus Foligno and Luke Kunin also scored for Minnesota, which put up a season-high 44 shots on goal. Devan Dubynk stopped 19 shots for the Wild, who finally solved Winnipeg’s league-worst penalty-kill.

Luke Kunin Minnesota Wild
Luke Kunin, Minnesota Wild (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Minnesota was 0 for 5 on the power play in regulation before scoring on Blake Wheeler’s slashing penalty in the extra session.

Wheeler and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, who have lost three of their past four games. Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves for Winnipeg.

SHARKS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Aaron Dell stopped 21 shots, and Barclay Goodrow, Evander Kane and Kevin Labanc scored for San Jose. The Sharks won their second straight and are 3-1-1 in their past five.

The loss ended a 12-game point streak for the Blue Jackets (8-0-4).

Zach Werenski had both goals for Columbus, and Elvis Merlikins had 25 saves. Merlikins had his first loss in three starts since starter Joonas Korpisalo was injured.

SABRES 3, PANTHERS 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist, and Conor Sheary and Henri Jokiharju also scored for Buffalo in its second straight win. Linus Ullmark made 32 saves.

Conor Sheary Buffalo Sabres
Conor Sheary, Buffalo Sabres (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Florida lost for the second time in three games. Mike Matheson and Evgenii Dadonov scored for the Panthers, and Chris Driedger stopped all 11 shots he faced after replacing Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period.

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