BOSTON (AP) — Jakub Vrana scored the only goal in the shootout and the Washington Capitals beat the Bruins 2-1 on Wednesday night in Zdeno Chara’s return to Boston.
Lars Eller scored in regulation, and Vitek Vanecek made 18 saves to help the Capitals improved to 7-1-1 in their last nine games.
The 43-year-old Chara, the Bruins’ captain for his 14 seasons with the club, signed a one-year contract as a free agent with the Capitals in the offseason. He helped Boston win the 2011 Stanley Cup, and was a key part of its runner-up teams in 2013 and 2019.
David Pastrnak scored for Boston, and Tuukka Rask stopped 27 shots.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, OILERS 1
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Jimmy Vesey scored twice, Frederik Andersen made 26 saves in his return from an injury and NHL-leading Toronto completed a three-game sweep of Edmonton.
John Tavares and Zach Hyman each had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander and Ilya Mikheyhev also scored to help Toronto improve to 18-4-2.
Andersen returned after missing four games with a lower-body injury. Auston Matthews, the NHL goals leader with 18, also was back after missing the last two games with a sore wrist/hand.
The Maple Leafs outscored the Oilers 13-1 in the three games, winning 4-0 on Saturday night and 3-0 on Monday night.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for Edmonton.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, WILD 1
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves and Vegas beat Minnesota to sweep the two-game set and remain atop the West Division, one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues.
Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch, Mark Stone, Chandler Stephenson, William Karlsson scored.
Fleury improved to 11-3-0. He has limited teams to two goals or fewer in 10 of his 14 appearances.
Marcus Foligno scored for Minnesota.
BLUES 3, DUCKS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jordan Binnington made 27 saves and St. Louis scored on all three of its power plays to beat skidding Anaheim.
Oskar Sundqvist, Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford scored for St. Louis, The Blues are 6 for 10 with the man advantage against Anaheim this season. Overall, the Blues have converted 17.1% of their power plays.
St. Louis has won all four meetings against the Ducks this year and six of their last seven.
Max Comtois and Rickard Rakell scored for Anaheim. The Ducks are 0-6-2 in their last eight.
COYOTES 3, KINGS 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz scored power-play goals in the second period and Antti Raanta made 40 saves in Arizona’s victory over Los Angeles.
Johan Larsson scored 13 seconds after Schmaltz’s goal, and the Coyotes snapped a two-game skid by hanging on in the final minute of their only road game in a 27-day span.
Drew Doughty and Gabriel Vilardi scored for the Kings.
AVALANCHE 4, SHARKS 0
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Mikko Rantanen scored twice and had two assists as Colorado blanked San Jose.
Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves for his 14th career shutout and the Avalanche got payback for a 6-2 loss Monday night in San Jose.
Gabriel Landeskog added a goal and three assists for Colorado, which went 3-1 on its road trip and pulled into a three-way tie for third place in the West Division with Arizona and Minnesota.
Martin Jones stopped 34 shots for the Sharks.
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