Golden Knights dominate Blues
Vegas is one win away from West’s top seed
EDMONTON, Alberta — Mark Stone scored the goahead goal on a deflection with under 7 minutes left, and the Vegas Golden Knights took a big step toward clinching the top seed in the Western Conference by beating the St. Louis Blues 6-4 in round-robin play Thursday night.
Vegas would be the West’s No. 1 seed with a win against Colorado on Saturday. Despite leading the conference when the NHL season was shut down in March, defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis can finish no higher than third and needs to beat Dallas on Sunday to avoid the No. 4 seed.
The Golden Knights dominated the Blues in each team’s second round-robin game, outshooting them 38-17. St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington was sharp early and made 32 saves but wound up getting shelled.
Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore each scored twice for Vegas, while defenseman Zach Whitecloud and Stone added a goal each. Tuch also had an assist on Whitecloud’s goal.
Flyers 3, Capitals 1
TORONTO — Scott Laughton had two goals and an assist to help the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 on Thursday.
Travis Sanheim also scored and Brian Elliott stopped 16 shots to keep the Flyers rolling as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. The Flyers won nine straight games before losing the final one before the COVID-19 shutdown. The Flyers have resumed the season with wins over Boston and the Capitals in the NHL’s playoff seeding round and can’t finish any worse than second in the Eastern Conference.
Canucks 3, Wild 0
EDMONTON, Alberta — Brock Boeser and Elias Petterson each had a power-play goal and an assist, Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves for his first postseason shutout, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five qualifier series.
Antoine Roussel and Elias Pettersson also scored for the Canucks, who outlasted the Wild in another penalty-filled, extra-testy matchup and moved within one game of advancing to the first round in their first appearance in the playoffs since 2015.
Blue Jackets vs. Maple Leafs, late
Jets vs. Flames, late