MONTREAL (AP) - Carey Price made 17 saves for his first shutout of the season and Victor Mete and Nick Suzuki scored their first NHL goals in a first-period burst in the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
Joel Armia and Brendan Gallagher also scored and Nick Cousins had an assist in his Montreal debut to help the Canadiens improve to 3-2-2. The 32-year-old Price has 45 career shutouts.
Alex Stalock stopped 28 shots for the reeling Wild. They dropped to 1-6-0.
Playing his 127th NHL game, the 21-year-old Mete opened the scoring with 5:23 left in the first. He found space in the slot, took a backhand pass from Cousins from behind the net and beat Stalock to the glove side. That ended the longest goal drought to start a career in Canadiens history, a mark previously held by Mike Komisarek at 122 games.
Armia connected on a 5-on-3 power play with 2:28 left, and Suzuki scored with 37 seconds remaining in the period. Gallagher finished the scoring in the third period.
ISLANDERS 3, JETS 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) - Mathew Barzal scored two second-period goals and Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves in New York’s victory over Winnipeg.
Josh Bailey scored into an empty net on a power play with 27 seconds left in the third period to cap New York’s third straight victory and seal Winnipeg’s third loss in a row.
Nikolaj Ehlers had a power-play goal for Winnipeg and Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves.
The Islanders didn’t get their sixth shot until 7:41 of the second period - and it was a power-play goal by Barzal that tied it 16 seconds after Dmitry Kulikov went to the penalty box for tripping.
Barzal broke the tie with 17 seconds remaining in the second period.
CANUCKS 4, BLUES 3, SO
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Josh Leivo scored the lone shootout goal and Thatcher Demko stopped 31 shots in Vancouver’s victory over St. Louis.
Leivo lifted a shot over Jordan Binnington in the bottom half of the sixth shootout round. Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller and Micheal Ferland scored in regulation for the Canucks.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo and Robby Fabbri scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Blues. They have lost three in a row.
LIGHTNING 4, BRUINS 3, SO
BOSTON (AP) - Steven Stamkos scored the lone goal in the shootout to lift Tampa Bay past Boston.
After the first three shooters for both sides failed, Stamkos put a wrist shot past Tuukka Rask. Andrei Vasilevskiy then stopped Jake DeBrusk.
Brayden Point, Mathieu Joseph and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in regulation for Tampa Bay and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves. David Pastrnak had two goals and an assist, and Patrice Bergeron added a goal for Boston. Boston three goals came on power plays.
COYOTES 5, PREDATORS 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Phil Kessel scored his first two goals for Arizona, and Christian Dvorak scored his third goal in two games in the Coyotes’ victory over Nashville.
Arizona, 3-0-1 in its last four games, went 3 for 6 on the power play. Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots and set a franchise record by allowing no more than two goals in 12 consecutive games. Jakob Chychrun added his first goal of the season. Dante Fabbro and Nick Bonino scored for the Predators.
DEVILS 5, RANGERS 2
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Kyle Palmieri and Myles Wood scored in the second period and New Jersey held off New York for its their first victory of the season.
Blake Coleman, Nikita Gusev and P.K. Subban also scored and Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves to help the Devils improve to 1-4-2. Tony DeAngelo and Jesper Fast scored for the Rangers.
FLAMES 5, RED WINGS 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Sam Bennett, Derek Ryan and Mark Giordano scored in a 5:18 span of the third period to break open a close game in Calgary’s victory over Detroit.
Bennett gave Calgary a 3-1 lead at 3:29, Ryan connected at 4:57 and Giordano added a power-play goal at 8:47. Andrew Mangiapane and Elias Lindholm also scored and David Rittich made 27 saves.
Darren Helm scored for Detroit. The Red Wings have lost three.
SABRES 3, KINGS 0
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Carter Hutton made 47 saves for his second straight shutout andCasey Mittelstadt scored twice in Buffalo’s win over Los Angeles.
Conor Sheary also scored for the Sabres, who bounced back from their first regulation loss of the season at Anaheim on Wednesday.
Jack Campbell made 21 saves for the Kings, who were shut out in the second straight game and have lost three straight.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, SENATORS 2, SO
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Jonathan Marchessault scored his first career shootout game-winning goal and Vegas beat Ottawa.
Vegas fired a franchise-record 54 shots on goal.
Reilly Smith and Nick Holden scored for Vegas.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 37 saves.
Thomas Chabot and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for Ottawa. Anders Nilsson, who lost his only previous start against Vegas by allowing five goals, made 52 saves.
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