Following near tragedy, Blues return to ice and fall in overtime
Jonathan Marchessault scored 2:30 into overtime, his second goal of the game, as the host Vegas Golden Knights spoiled the St. Louis Blues’ return to the ice with a 65 victory on Thursday night.
The Blues were playing their first game since defenseman Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench during a game in Anaheim on Tuesday. Bouwmeester, who suffered a cardiac episode that required use of a defibrillator, remains hospitalized in Orange County.
Zach Sanford scored four times for St. Louis, which was unable to hold leads of 10, 42 and 54.
Max Paciorety added two goals for Vegas, which had lost two in a row.
Capitals 3, Avalanche 2: T.J. Oshie deflected in the winning goal with 2:04 remaining for visiting Washington, which erased a two-goal deficit. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was held without a goal for the third consecutive game, leaving him with 698 career goals.
Lightning 3, Oilers 1: Host Tampa Bay won its ninth in a row as Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 shots. Yanni Gourde, who ended a 35-game goal drought Tuesday, scored the winner on a short-handed breakaway at 13:01 of the second period. Vasilevskiy improved to 18-0-2 in his past 20 starts. The Lightning won despite playing without their top two scorers, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, who are injured.
Flames 6, Ducks 0: Mikael Backlund and Mark Jankowski scored two goals apiece and Cam Talbot stopped 44 shots for his first shutout of the season for visiting Calgary. Elias Lindholm, Oliver Kylington, Backlund and Jankowski all scored during a four-goal opening period. Lindholm extended his scoring streak to nine games, one shy of his career high, with his 25th goal.
Sabres 4, Blue Jackets 3: Victor Olofsson scored his second goal of the game 2:44 into overtime for host Buffalo. Columbus has lost three in a row after a run of nine wins in 10 games.
Stars snapped visiting 3, Dallas Maple a 17-game earned Leafs goal its 2: drought third Tyler straight Seguin as victory. Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen, who missed the previous four games with a neck injury, stopped 16 shots. Leafs wing Andreas Johnsson left in the first period with a knee injury.
Flyers 6, Panthers 2: James van Riemsdyk had a goal and two assists and former Sharks defenseman Justin Braun added three assists as visiting Philadelphia dealt Florida its fifth loss in six games. Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim left in the third period with an upper-body injury
Predators 5, Islanders 0: Nashville center Craig Smith, playing in his 648th NHL game, had his first career hat trick, and Juuse Saros made 31 saves for his ninth career shutout for the hosts.
Rangers 4, Wild 3: Mika Zibanejad had a goal with 1:06 to play in regulation to send the game to overtime, then scored in the shootout to help visiting New York win its third in a row. Devils 4, Red Wings 1: Wayne Simmonds had two of host New Jersey’s four goals in a 4-minute span of the third period. Detroit has lost 12 of its past 14 games.
Senators 3, Coyotes 2: Marcus Hogberg made 32 saves and host Ottawa snapped a six-game losing streak.
Briefly: New Jersey put defenseman Sami Vatanen on injured reserve with a bruised leg . ... Dallas wing Alexander Radulov went on IR because of an upper-body injury . ... Buffalo activated wing Kyle Okposo from IR.