Ottawa, Ontario • Maxime Lagace was relieved to pick up his first NHL victory after allowing 11 goals in his first three appearances.
The 24-year-old goalie made 24 saves for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
“It’s good to have the first one finally,” Lagace said. “The guys played really well so I have them to thank for that win.”
The game was all the more special with Lagace’s parents and other family members in attendance.
“It’s a really special moment and I’m pretty excited,” Lagace said.
Expansion Vegas snapped a three game-losing streak to improve to 9-4-0.
“They are the hardest-working team in the league,” Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. “That’s how they win. They’re relentless. They have four lines of guys who work hard and if you don’t have four lines and six D that are working as hard then sooner or later they’re going to hurt you.”
Erik Haula had two goals and an assist, Alex Tuch, William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault also scored, and Marchessault added two assists.
“They didn’t surprise us, they played a well-structured game and did the things they needed to do to be successful,” Senators captain Erik Karlsson said. “We couldn’t find a way to break their pattern and find our own way to be successful for long enough.”
Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Alex Burrows and Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots. The Senators will leave Monday for Sweden for two games against the Colorado Avalanche.
Marchessault gave Vegas a 3-2 lead on a power player with 7:21 left in the second.
William Karlsson scored on a wraparound to make it 4-2 at 3:29 of the third, and Haula had a power-play goal at 6:47. Dzingel’s fifth of the season for Ottawa made it 5-3 at 7:52, and Erik Karlsson scored his first of the season in the final minute of play.
Blackhawks 2, Wild 0 • In St. Paul, Minn., Artem Anisimov scored a power-play goal with 5:42 left in the third period, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 2-0 on Saturday night.
Corey Crawford made 24 saves for his second straight shutout as the Blackhawks won their second straight after three straight losses.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 33 shots for Minnesota, which finished a season-long six-game homestand 3-3-0.
With Minnesota's Luke Kunin serving a double-minor for high-sticking, Duncan Keith's shot from just inside the blue line was deflected in front by Anisimov just past the halfway point of the man advantage.
Alex DeBrincat added an empty-net goal for the second straight game.
Blues 6, Maple Leafs 4 • In St. Louis, Alex Pietrangelo scored twice for St. Louis, and Brayden Schenn had four assists.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Joel Edmundson, Magnus Paajarvi and Vladimir Sobotka also scored for the Blues, who improved to 6-1 at home. Jake Allen had 26 saves.
Edmundson and Pietrangelo gave St. Louis a league-best 17 goals from defensemen this season. Pietrangelo's 15 points leads all NHL defensemen.
Tyler Bozak scored twice, Andreas Borgman had a goal and an assist and Connor Brown also scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost for the fifth time in six games. Frederik Andersen made 27 saves.
Lightning 5, Blue Jackets 4, SO • In Tampa, Fla., Steven Stamkos had a power-play goal in regulation and the lone goal during the shootout, helping Tampa Bay to the win.
Stamkos is 9 for 38 in the shootout over his career.
Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.
Columbus got goals from Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, Markus Hannikainen and Brandon Dubinsky, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots.
Capitals 3, Bruins 2 • In Boston, Tom Wilson posted his first two goals of the season, Alex Ovechkin also scored and Washington continued its recent success against Boston.
The Capitals have won the last 10 meetings against the Bruins, including two in overtime. Braden Holtby made 31 saves while improving to 12-2 against Boston for his career.
David Pastrnak scored both goals for the Bruins, who had collected at least a point in their last six games, going 3-0-3. Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots, falling to 1-10-5 in his career against Washington.
Rangers 5, Panthers 4 • In Sunrise, Fla., Kevin Shattenkirk scored twice for New York, including the winner in overtime.
Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and Nick Holden also scored for the Rangers, who won their third straight. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 shots.
Colton Sceviour scored two goals for the Panthers. Vincent Trocheck and Keith Yandle also scored, and Roberto Luongo made 39 saves in his first game since he injured a hand against Pittsburgh on Oct. 20.
Florida dropped its fourth consecutive game.
Shattenkirk fired a shot from the right side that beat Luongo 1:08 into overtime.
Stars 5, Sabres 1 • In Dallas, Tyler Seguin scored his fifth power-play goal of the season in Dallas' four-goal first period.
Seguin's goal on a slap shot from the left faceoff circle made it 4-0 just 12:51 into the game.
Remi Elie, Radek Faksa and Stephen Johns also scored in the first, and Antoine Roussel added a second-period goal. Johns' goal chased goaltender Robin Lehner at 10:27.
Kari Lehtonen had 27 saves to win his second straight start. Ryan O'Reilly broke up Lehtonen's shutout bid by winning a faceoff and sending a shot between the goalie's legs late in the second.
Coyotes 2, Hurricanes 1, SO • In Glendale, Ariz., rookie Clayton Keller scored in regulation and the shootout, leading lowly Arizona to its first home win.
Antti Raanta had 35 saves in Arizona's second win of the season. Derek Stepan also scored in the shootout, and Raanta stopped Derek Ryan's attempt to end the game.
The Hurricanes tied it at 1 with 2:25 to play in the third period when Jordan Staal scored off a pass from Sebastian Aho.
Scott Darling had 23 saves for Carolina, which dropped to 1-4-2 in its last seven games.
Avalanche 5, Flyers 4 • In Philadelphia, Mikko Rantanen scored the winner in the shootout, and the Avalanche kicked off a lengthy road trip with their third straight victory.
In the third round, Rantanen made a nifty move and fired a shot past the sprawled-out Michal Neuvirth.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 33 shots for Colorado, three on point-blank shots in overtime.
The Flyers scored twice and the Avalanche once in a frantic 2:04 stretch early in the third period that ended with Philadelphia tying it at 4 on Dale Weise's goal at 6:37.
Canadiens 5, Jets 4, OT • In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Max Pacioretty scored a power-play goal at 3:07 of overtime, lifting Montreal to the win.
Jets defenseman Tyler Myers cross-checked Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk at 1:54 to give the Habs the man advantage.
Some mishandling of the puck by the Jets behind the net led to Pacioretty's fifth of the season from in close on goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Pacioretty also had two assists.
The Canadiens peppered Hellebuyck with 50 shots. He made 45 saves as Winnipeg's winning streak ended at three games.
Al Montoya started in goal for the injured Carey Price and stopped 19 shots.