ST. PAUL, Minn. — Robert Thomas tracked down a skipping puck and snapped it into the top of the net with 23 seconds left, capping a three-goal third-period rally by the St. Louis Blues for a 4-3 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night to stop the Wild’s seven-game winning streak.
Mike Hoffman’s second power play goal of the game, both assisted by David Perron, brought the Blues within one early in the third period. Jordan Kyrou tied the game about four minutes later. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves as St. Louis won its third straight.
Marcus Foligno had a goal and an assist, Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored and Jordan Greenway had two assists for the Wild. Cam Talbot, who stopped 28 shots, had his five-start winning streak snapped.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, CANADIENS 1
MONTREAL (AP) — Auston Matthews got his NHL-best 35th goal of the season and Toronto clinched a playoff spot.
William Nylander, Jake Muzzin and Adam Brooks also scored for Toronto, and Morgan Rielly and Jason Spezza each had two assists. Jack Campbell had 32 saves as the North Division-leading Maple Leafs beat the Canadiens for the fifth time in seven meetings this season.
Spezza is now tied with Canadiens legend Maurice (Rocket) Richard for 99th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list with 966 points. Joe Thornton helped set up Muzzin’s goal to become just the seventh player in league history to register 1,100 career assists.
Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal and Jake Allen stopped 25 shots.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, AVALANCHE 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Max Pacioretty scored twice to lead Vegas to its franchise-best 10th straight win.
The Golden Knights now lead Colorado by six points, with the Avalanche having a game in hand. Vegas has outscored teams 45-17 during its win streak.
William Karlsson, Mark Stone, and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury, who has won five in a row, made 35 saves while improving to 15-8-2 lifetime against Colorado.
Devon Toews and Ryan Graves scored for Colorado, which is 11-4-0 after a loss this season, and has now lost three straight. Devan Dubnyk, who came in 4-3-2 with a 2.54 goals-against average and .924 save percentage against Vegas, made 21 saves.
SHARKS 4, COYOTES 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Evander Kane reached the 20-goal mark for the sixth straight season, Josef Korenar made 28 saves to win his second straight start and San Jose beat Arizona.
Kane’s goal started a three-goal barrage for San Jose in the first period with Rudolfs Balcers and Kevin Labanc following up to help San Jose sweep the two-game series against Arizona. Tomas Hertl sealed the game with an empty-net goal for San Jose.
Phil Kessel and Johan Larsson scored, and Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves for Arizona.
With the back-to-back losses the Coyotes fell three points behind St. Louis for the final playoff spot in the West Division with the Blues holding three games in hand. Arizona has lost nine of 11 games overall.
DUCKS 3, KINGS 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cam Fowler scored with 1:01 remaining and Anaheim ended a five-game losing streak.
Sam Carrick and Sam Steel also scored and John Gibson made 28 saves for the Ducks.
Gabriel Vilardi and Adrian Kempe had a goal for the Kings, who have lost three of four. Cal Petersen made 19 saves.
Fowler scored on a wrist shot at 18:59 of the third period to cap a rally after falling behind 2-0 in the second.
OILERS 3, JETS 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Tyson Barrie and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist as Edmonton beat Winnipeg.
Leon Draisaitl added a late empty-netter, and Connor McDavid had assists on all three goals for the Oilers, who have won four of their last five games. Mikko Koskinen stopped 29 shots for his 11th win of the season.
Blake Wheeler scored for Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck had 24 saves. The Jets lost their fifth straight.
Edmonton won seven of nine in the season series and sits in second place in the North Division — seven points behind Toronto. Winnipeg is third, three points behind the Oilers.
SENATORS 6, CANUCKS 3
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist to lead Ottawa to a victory over Vancouver.
Josh Norris, Victor Mete, Chris Tierney, Thomas Chabot and Colin White also scored for Ottawa. Marcus Hogberg finished with 16 saves.
Tyler Myers, Jake Virtanen and Brandon Sutter scored for Vancouver, which needed a strong game from Thatcher Demko to keep the score from ballooning.
Ottawa outshot Vancouver 33-22.
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The Associated Press