(The Sports Xchange) – Highlights of National Hockey League games on Wednesday:
Golden Knights 4, Ducks 1
Shea Theodore, Cody Eakin, William Karlsson and David Perron registered goals, and Malcolm Subban made 27 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Wednesday night.
Vegas won its fifth consecutive game and remained undefeated in regulation play through 10 games (9-0-1), the longest point streak by a team in its inaugural NHL season.
Anaheim had a two-game winning streak snapped. Rickard Rakell registered the lone Ducks’ goal, and John Gibson made 24 saves.
Coyotes 3, Avalanche 1
Tobias Rieder, Alex Goligoski and Lawson Crouse scored goals, Antti Raanta made 25 saves, and Arizona defeated Colorado.
The Coyotes won for the second time in three games after going 1-8-2 in their previous 11 contests.
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots for the Avalanche, who lost home games to the two worst teams in the league this month. The Buffalo Sabres beat Colorado 4-2 on Dec. 5.
Jets 4, Oilers 3
Winnipeg may have picked up a valuable two points with a victory over Edmonton, but it also lost offensive leader Mark Scheifele with a serious arm or shoulder injury.
After assisting on a goal, Scheifele was taken hard into the end boards. The Jets’ second-leading scorer fell awkwardly, immediately grabbed his right shoulder and writhed on the ice for about 30 seconds. He finally got up under his own power and went straight to the dressing room. He did not return.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 21 shots in picking up his 13th win of the season for the Jets while Cam Talbot got in front of 35 shots directed his way at the other end of the ice for the Oilers.
Wild 4, Stars 2
Mikael Granlund’s second-period goal stood up as the game-winner, and Alex Stalock made 24 saves as Minnesota held on for a victory over Dallas.
Jared Spurgeon and Eric Staal added goals the Wild and Charlie Coyle had a pair of assists.
Tyler Seguin and Mattias Janmark scored for the Stars, but it wasn’t enough as Dallas saw its two-game winning streak snapped. Ben Bishop kept his team within striking distance with 27 saves.
Predators 2, Blues 1
Pekka Rinne stopped 29 shots and Nashville got goals from Craig Smith and Calle Jarnkrok in a win over St. Louis.
The win moved the Predators past the Blues into first place in the Central Division.
The Blues fell behind 2-0 after the first two periods before ruining Rinne’s bid for his fourth shutout of the season on a goal by Vladimir Sobotka, who deflected a shot by Kyle Brodziak with 6:23 to go in the third period.
Rangers 1, Capitals 0 (SO)
Mats Zuccarello and Mika Zibanejad scored during a shootout as New York defeated Washington.
Both backup goaltenders kept the game scoreless through regulation and overtime.
The Rangers’ Ondrej Pavelec turned aside 27 shots through the first 60 minutes, three more in overtime and two during the shootout. The Capitals Philipp Grubauer stopped 37 shots, including 18 in the third period and one in overtime. Grubauer was beaten on both of New York’s shootout attempts.
Bruins 5, Senators 1
Riley Nash scored his first two goals since Nov. 28 and added an assist, and Boston came out of the holiday break with a convincing victory over Ottawa.
Nash matched his career high for points in a single game. Tuukka Rask made 25 saves to go to 9-0-1 in his past 10 starts. David Backes and Danton Heinen both posted a goal and an assist, and Kevan Miller scored his first goal in 35 games, and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk had two assists for Boston.
Thomas Chabot scored the lone goal for the Senators on a slap shot.
Islanders 3, Sabres 2 (OT)
Mathew Barzal scored 1:08 into overtime as New York mounted a late comeback to beat Buffalo.
Josh Bailey forced overtime by scoring with 1:09 left in regulation for the Islanders, who won two straight for the first time this month. Jason Chimera scored in the second period and Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves.
Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo scored for the Sabres, who have lost 11 of 14 (3-7-4). Robin Lehner made 31 saves.
Devils 3, Red Wings 1
Rookie Nico Hischier scored two goals, and Cory Schneider made 31 saves as New Jersey extended its winning streak to a season-high five games with a victory over Detroit.
Hischier, the top pick in the 2017 draft, scored twice in the first period, the second two-goal game of his young career. The Red Wings answered back in the second period with a Justin Abdelkader goal but could not score the equalizer against an exceptionally sharp Schneider.
The Devils’ Sami Vatanen collected an empty-net goal to close out the scoring in the final minute.
Penguins 5, Blue Jackets 4 (SO)
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby scored in a shootout as Pittsburgh overcame three two-goal deficits to beat Columbus.
The Penguins’ Jake Guentzel scored with 1:40 left in the third period to force a 4-4 tie. Conor Sheary, Phil Kessel and Malkin also scored for the Penguins.
Sonny Milano and Boone Jenner staked the Blue Jackets to a 2-0 lead in the first before leading scorer Artemi Panarin scored once in the second and once in the third.
Hurricanes 3, Canadiens 1
Sebastian Aho, the third member of Carolina to put a shot on goal in a five-second sequence, scored the winning goal against Montreal.
Aho’s go-ahead power-play goal came with 10:45 remaining. He added an empty-netter with 1:24 to play, giving him 10 goals this season. Teuvo Teravainen opened the scoring for the Hurricanes, who won six of their last seven games.
Alex Galchenyuk scored for the Canadiens, who began a stretch of three road games in four nights. Cam Ward, who made a third consecutive start for the first time this season, was credited with 23 saves.
