NHL News

The 29-year-old Pastrnak, a four-time All-Star forward, and McAvoy, 27, an All-Star defenseman, will join the Bruins on their three-game road trip that opens on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues. Boston will then visit the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday and the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.

Pastrnak, who has 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists) in 25 games this season, has missed the last five games with an undisclosed injury. In his 12th season with the Bruins, who selected him No. 25 overall in the 2014 draft, Pastrnak has 862 points (402 goals, 460 assists) over 781 games.

McAvoy, who has sat out the last 10 games after he was hit in the face with a puck, has posted 14 points (all assists) this season over 19 games. He also leads all Bruins defensemen in average ice time (23:46). In his ninth season with Boston after he was its No. 14 overall pick in 2016, he has 314 points (60 goals, 254 assists) in 523 games.

"We just have to make sure nothing will change," Bruins coach Marco Sturm told reporters Monday. "I think we've been very, very good structure-wise for a bit and that's going to be the biggest thing, the guys who are coming back, they have to find their way back in the lineup, playing the same way, just exactly the way they finished. I think that's all."

Out since Nov. 26 against the New York Islanders, Pastrnak said he expected to return for the Bruins' next game two days later against the New York Rangers. He hadn't skated with the Bruins until Monday, taking part in practice in a non-contact jersey.

"It sucks," Pastrnak said. "I'm happy I was back out there today. Felt great. See how I feel tomorrow. I've been pretty fortunate the last couple years, so just want to get back out there."

McAvoy, who underwent facial surgery after the puck incident on Nov. 15 against the Montreal Canadiens, had to go on a liquid diet, which resulted in him dropping 20 pounds.

"Getting it back," McAvoy said. "One day at a time, but every day I feel better so keep doing that."

McKenna, who turns 18 Dec. 20, has totaled 18 points in 16 games as a freshman forward at Penn State. He is the consensus best prospect in the ‘,26 draft class and scored one goal in five appearances for Canada at the 2025 world junior tournament.

The 27-man roster announced by Hockey Canada on Monday includes four forwards (Braeden Cootes, Jett Luchanko, Brady Martin, Michael Misa) and one defenseman (Zayne Parekh) who have played a smattering of games at the NHL level.

The electrifying Parekh, a Calgary Flames prospect, was controversially snubbed from the lineup that underperformed at the 2025 world juniors in Ottawa. Czechia eliminated Canada in the quarterfinals.

The United States beat Finland in overtime to win that edition of the tournament and will host the upcoming world juniors in Minnesota from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.

Six returning Canadian players are part of the 2026 camp roster -- Luchanko and McKenna, fellow forwards Cole Beaudoin and Porter Martone and goaltenders Carter George and Jack Ivankovic.

Hockey Canada will trim the roster to 24 ahead of the tournament opener against Czechia in Minneapolis on Boxing Day.

Besides McKenna, the draft-eligible players on the roster are defensemen Carson Carels, Ethan MacKenzie and fellow star prospect Keaton Verhoeff.

The other Canadian players, all recent NHL draft picks, are forwards Carter Bear, Caleb Desnoyers, Liam Greentree, Michael Hage, Tij Iginla, Jake O'Brien, Sam O'Reilly and Cole Reschny; defensemen Kashawn Aitcheson, Harrison Brunicke, Ben Danford, Cameron Reid and Jackson Smith; and goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen.

Teenagers still occupying fringe roles in the NHL, such as Seattle Kraken forward Berkly Catton and San Jose Sharks defenseman Sam Dickinson, could potentially be added to the team at another player's expense.

Canada is a 20-time tournament winner. The U.S. (seven wins) is the reigning back-to-back champion.

Cooley smashed his left leg into the post while carrying the puck to the net during Utah's 4-1 road win over Vancouver. He sat out a 2-0 road loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

Cooley previously exited Utah's Nov. 29 matchup after his left knee absorbed a hit from St. Louis Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko. That blow did not cause him to miss additional games.

Cooley, 21, leads the Mammoth with 14 goals in 29 games and his 23 points rank third on the team.

The No. 3 overall draft pick by the franchise in 2022, when it played in Arizona, Cooley leads his draft class in career scoring with 59 goals and 132 points in 186 games.

After goalie Carter Hart (21 saves) edged out of the crease to deny Mika Zibanejad with 18 seconds left, Brett Howden -- who scored 36 seconds into the game -- won a defensive zone faceoff from Zibanejad at the left faceoff dot with 17 seconds left.

Shea Thedore banked the puck off the boards in the neutral zone near the benches. Eichel retrieved it and outraced Matthew Robertson, finishing it off by cutting from the middle of the slot to the right edge of the crease and slipped the puck past Jonathan Quick. Vegas matched its longest win streak of the season at four games.

Quick had 26 saves as New York dropped to 3-8-3 at home and took its second straight overtime loss. Mika Zibanejad and Alex Lafreniere scored second-period goals to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Stars 3, Penguins 2 (SO)

Miro Heiskanen scored the tying goal with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, then Mikko Rantanen had the lone score in the shootout as surging Dallas rallied for a victory over visiting Pittsburgh.

Down 2-1 and with Jake Oettinger (27 saves) on the bench for an extra skater, the Stars tied it with 1:49 left in the third. Heiskanen's drive through traffic beat the Penguins' Tristan Jarry (21 saves) as Dallas won its third straight and improved to 13-1-2 since Nov. 8.

Connor Dewar and Tommy Novak scored for Pittsburgh, which capped a 2-0-1 road stretch while playing without star Evgeni Malkin (upper-body injury). Fellow star Sidney Crosby, a career Penguin in his 21st season, earned an assist Sunday to move within six points of Mario Lemieux's club-record 1,723 set from 1984-2006).

Capitals 2, Blue Jackets 0

Washington goaltender Logan Thompson sparkled as he delivered his first shutout of the season to backstop his squad to a victory over visiting Columbus.

Thompson made 39 saves to earn his seventh career shutout. Jakob Chychrun and Aliaksei Protas scored for the Capitals, who are riding a 10-1-1 roll that has lifted them atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves stopped 36 shots for Columbus, which lost on consecutive nights.

Ducks 7, Blackhawks 1

Leo Carlsson scored two goals, Beckett Sennecke added a goal with an assist and Anaheim turned a franchise-record 27-shot second period into a victory over visiting Chicago.

Jacob Trouba, Alex Killorn, Mason McTavish and Frank Vatrano also scored for the Ducks, who tied a season high in goals. Ville Husso made 19 saves as the Ducks won for the third time in their last four games and improved to 11-4-0 at home. Anaheim took a season-high 53 total shots on goal to 20 for Chicago.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored a goal and Arvid Soderblom made 46 saves for the Blackhawks against the Ducks' offensive onslaught. Connor Bedard had one shot and an assist in 19 minutes for Chicago.

Sharks 4, Hurricanes 1

Macklin Celebrini had a goal and two assists to lead San Jose past Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.

John Klingberg and Alex Wennberg each had a goal and an assist and Collin Graf also scored for the Sharks, who had lost two straight. Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves to help snap the team's eight-game skid to the Hurricanes. San Jose had last defeated Carolina on Nov. 22, 2021.

Jordan Staal got the lone goal for the Hurricanes, who had won three of their last four and were playing the second game of a back-to-back. They beat the Nashville Predators 6-3 on Saturday night in Raleigh. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 18 shots.

Avalanche 3, Flyers 2

Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves, including one on Trevor Zegras' third-period penalty shot, and Colorado edged host Philadelphia.

Blackwood came up huge late with 13 stops in the third for the Avalanche, who won both ends of their back-to-back. Brent Burns, Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin scored for Colorado.

Sean Couturier celebrated his 33rd birthday and 900th career game with his fifth goal of the season for the Flyers, and Travis Konecny also scored. Samuel Ersson stopped 25 shots for Philadelphia, which lost for the second time in three games. Zegras had a chance to tie the game on his penalty shot with 15:06 in regulation after Nathan MacKinnon held the Flyers' co-leader in goals on a breakaway.

Panthers 4, Islanders 1

Carter Verhaeghe scored for the third straight game since he and his wife welcomed their first child into the world as Florida defeated New York in Sunrise, Fla.

Verhaeghe has four goals in those three games, and forward Sam Reinhart and defensemen Uvis Balinskis and Seth Jones had Florida's other tallies on Sunday. In a battle between backup goalies, Florida's Daniil Tarasov earned the win, making 20 saves. Florida has won two straight games after having dropped four in a row.

The Islanders, who had their three-game winning streak broken, got a goal from Mathew Barzal. Defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, had an assist, and goalie David Rittich made 26 saves.

Blues 4, Canadiens 3

Brayden Schenn scored two goals and earned an assist to lead St. Louis past host Montreal.

Dylan Holloway had a goal and two assists for the Blues, who won back-to-back games over the weekend. Pavel Buchnevich also scored for St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington made 23 saves.

Noah Dobson had a goal and assist for the Canadiens, and Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson also scored. Goaltender Jakub Dobes made 14 saves while playing on the second straight night. He filled in for Samuel Montembeault, who missed the game due to illness.

Jacob Trouba, Alex Killorn, Mason McTavish and Frank Vatrano also scored for the Ducks, who tied a season high in goals. Ville Husso made 19 saves as the Ducks won for the third time in their last four games and improved to 11-4-0 at home.

Anaheim took a season-high 53 total shots on goal to 20 for Chicago.

Sennecke, Anaheim's 19-year-old rookie, now has a point in 10 of the past 11 games. The third overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft has nine goals on the season and leads all rookies with 24 points.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored a goal and Arvid Soderblom made 46 saves for the Blackhawks against the Ducks' offensive onslaught. Connor Bedard had one shot and an assist in 19 minutes for Chicago.

The Blackhawks were outscored 13-1 in consecutive losses to Anaheim and the Los Angeles Kings while going 1-2-1 on a four-game West Coast trip.

Trouba gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead midway through the first period when he ripped a slap shot from the top of the right circle after a Chicago turnover.

The Ducks unleashed their offense in a four-goal second period. McTavish started the rush with a power-play goal at 6:40 of the period off an assist from Sennecke, and the rookie added his own goal 2:46 later.

Killorn delivered for a 4-0 lead at 16:09 of the second period, and Carlsson added his goal 1:14 later on a shot that was deflected past Soderblom.

Anaheim already set a season high with 44 shots through two periods.

Carlsson scored his second of the game 15 seconds into the third period on the power play for a 6-0 lead to give him 16 goals on the season, tied for the team lead.

The Blackhawks avoided the shutout 1:40 into the third on a goal from Bertuzzi that was deflected across the line by Husso.

After goalie Carter Hart edged out of the crease to deny Mike Zibanejad with 18 seconds left, Brett Howden won a defensive zone faceoff from Zibanejad at the left faceoff dot with 17 seconds left.

Shea Thedore banked the puck off the boards in the neutral zone near the benches, Eichel retrieved it and outraced Matthew Robertson while the rookie New York defenseman tried to slow down the play.

Eichel finished it off by cutting from the middle of the slot to the right edge of the crease and slipped the puck past goalie Jonathan Quick.

The Golden Knights matched a season high with their fourth straight win when Eichel scored. Eichel also had an assist when Hertl swept in a backhander by Quick on a rebound of the center's shot from near the crease.

Hertl scored while Howden and New York defenseman Will Borgen were serving coincidental minors for roughing in what essentially became a power play when Vegas pulled Hart.

Howden scored 36 seconds into the contest following a defensive zone giveaway by New York's Vladislav Gavrikov.

The Golden Knights lost the lead when Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere scored in a span of 3:53 in the second period, during which the Rangers outshot the Golden Knights 16-6.

Zibanejad scored on a backhander off Robertson's shot 9:08 into the second moments after another shot sailed wide. Lafreniere put the Rangers ahead with a hard wrister from the right faceoff circle but New York dropped to 3-8-3 at home and took its second straight overtime loss.

Hart stopped 21 shots for Vegas.

Quick returned from a lower-body injury and made 26 saves, denying Ivan Barbashev on a breakaway with about 7 1/2 minutes left.

Thompson made 39 saves to earn his seventh career shutout.

Jakob Chychrun and Aliaksei Protas scored for the Capitals, who are riding a 10-1-1 roll that has lifted them atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves stopped 36 shots for Columbus, which lost on consecutive nights.

After a scoreless first period, Chychrun cracked the goose eggs 50 seconds into the middle frame. While his team was buzzing around the offensive zone, Chychrun was set up by Tom Wilson for a one-timer from just inside the top of the left circle and buried his 11th goal of the season, tops among NHL defensemen.

From that point, Thompson stood tall.

He was especially strong during a Columbus four-minute power play midway through the third period in which the Blue Jackets fired five shots on goal. Thompson provided highlight-reel worth saves in successive scoring chances in a flurry.

For his part, Greaves provided a fantastic effort in a classic goaltending battle from the drop of the puck, staring down Nic Dowd's deflection and Protas' golden chance in the opening minute.

The Blue Jackets pulled Greaves for the extra attacker with 2:40 remaining in regulation but Protas notched an empty-net goal at 18:34 to run his point-scoring streak to six games (four goals, two assists).

Earlier in the day, Washington coach Spencer Carbery announced that forward Ryan Leonard (upper-body injury) will be out "an extended period" after he was on the receiving end of a hard hit from Anaheim's Jacob Trouba on Friday. Backup goalie Charlie Lindgren (upper-body injury) will be out of action at least one week.

Dylan Holloway had a goal and two assists for the Blues, who won back-to-back games over the weekend.

Pavel Buchnevich also scored for St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington made 23 saves.

Noah Dobson had a goal and assist for the Canadiens, and Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson also scored.

Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes made 14 saves while playing on the second straight night. He filled in for Samuel Montembeault, who missed the game due to illness.

Montreal outshot the Blues 11-4 in the first period while taking a 2-1 lead.

The Blues struck first on the power play. Cam Fowler shot into traffic from the left point, and the puck caromed to Schenn for his weak-side conversion.

Hutson tied the game 1-1 with 7:40 left in the period. He cut to the net from the right point, took a pass from Zachary Bolduc and beat Binnington one on one.

Caufield put Montreal 2-1 with 57 seconds in the period left by taking a pass from Nick Suzuki and chipping a shot past Binnington from the near right side.

The Blues surged ahead 3-2 with two goals in the first 65 seconds of the second period.

Holloway scored by finishing off a 2-on-1 break with Schenn. Then it was Buchnevich's turn, punching in a shot from directly in front from Robert Thomas' pass from behind the net.

Schenn increased the Blues lead to 4-2 midway through the third period. Mathieu Joseph pushed the puck up the left wing, creating a 2-on-1 break that saw Holloway set up Schenn's goal from the right wing.

Dobson cut the lead to 4-3 with 3:45 left with a slap shot from the left point, but the Blues held off the late Montreal charge.

The Canucks, last in the Pacific Division with 25 points, surprised the Wild and red-hot goaltender Jesper Wallstedt with a 4-2 win to snap a four-game losing streak and win for just the second time in nine games.

The Canucks did it without star center Elias Pettersson who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. Pettersson, tied for the team lead in points with defenseman Quinn Hughes with 22, was scheduled to have an MRI on Sunday to determine a timeline for his recovery.

With Pettersson out, Aatu Raty stepped up with two goals and an assist, his first career three-point game. Rookie defenseman Tom Willander, the 11th overall pick of the 2023 Draft, scored his first NHL goal and also had an assist.

"We played a grittier game," Foote said. "The confidence went up and you saw that with the young players. They had more zip. ... They were challenged to play more in the hard areas and have snap and more gristle."

The 20-year-old Willander tied it 1-1 in the second period when he ripped a wrist shot from above the right circle into the top far corner.

"It meant everything," Willander said of scoring his first career goal. "That was amazing. A big personal achievement, but helping chip into the team, getting one of these in very important victories, it was great.

"We've had a rough run. I think maybe the results haven't really reflected how we play. Being on the good end of that feels good."

Detroit will be playing the third game on a season-long six-game, 10-day road trip that started with a 6-5 shootout loss at Columbus on Thursday and continued with a 4-3 win at Seattle on Saturday.

Patrick Kane scored the game-winner with 2:29 remaining in the third period when he ripped a wrist shot from the high slot off an Alex DeBrincat pass over goaltender Joey Daccord's glove and into the top-right corner for his 497th career goal.

It was also Kane's 1,500th career point (regular season and playoffs), making him the second U.S. born skater to reach that mark after Mike Modano (1,520).

"It's been the same the 20 years that I've known him," James van Riemsdyk said of Kane's goal. "When the game's on the line, he's the guy you want with the puck on his stick, and he usually comes through. Obviously, a world-class shot there and a big two points for us."

Van Riemsdyk tied the game at 3 late in the second period with his fifth goal in six games. Kane and he were the first two players selected in the 2007 NHL Draft to Chicago and Philadelphia, respectively.

The long-tangled pair is now together, with Kane in his third season at Detroit while Van Riemsdyk joined the Red Wings this offseason.

The Red Wings have largely been alternating in goal. John Gibson (3.58 goals-against average) started the Seattle win and has won his last two starts. Cam Talbot (3.01 GAA) has lost his last four starts since starting the season with a 9-2-0 record.

After Monday's game, Detroit has a back-to-back at Calgary and Edmonton on Wednesday and Thursday before finishing the trip at Chicago on Saturday.

Minnesota's rookie goaltender took his first regulation loss of the season Saturday, a 4-2 loss at Vancouver.

It was the second consecutive defeat for the Wild following a 12-game point streak.

Minnesota will look to bounce back when it wraps up a four-game trip Monday in Seattle against the struggling Kraken.

"They scored good hockey goals, and they switched the momentum, and we just couldn't get the puck in," said Wallstedt (8-1-2), whose winning streak was snapped at seven. "I just got to fight through the screen a little better. I thought I got stuck behind the screen a couple times today where I just couldn't catch the release, and that makes it hard. I felt like I just didn't give us a good enough chance to win."

Wallstedt also has a costly mistake behind his own net, pickpocketed by Aatu Raty for the Canucks' final goal.

"I thought a different player was coming in and then I just missed the puck twice, and he ended up stripping it from me," said Wallstedt, whose 10-game point streak was tied for the fourth longest by a rookie in NHL history to start a season. "I should make a play faster and just get the puck out of my hands, but it happened, it's a lesson to be learned and move on from."

Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist for the Wild, giving him 31 points on the season (16 goals, 15 assists), one shy of team leader Kirill Kaprizov (17 goals, 15 assists).

"We didn't get rewarded for the effort we put in offensively and then we had a couple self-inflicted wounds," Wild coach John Hynes said. "But I thought, from an effort standpoint and the intensity standpoint, I think when you look at the overall game in any measure, we probably deserved a little bit better than what we got."

The Kraken have lost five in a row (0-4-1), including four straight in regulation after a 4-3 defeat Saturday to visiting Detroit in which Patrick Kane scored the deciding goal with 2:29 remaining.

The Kraken have been outscored 20-9 over the past four games, but their scoring woes extend beyond that stretch.

Jordan Eberle is tied for the team lead with eight goals with Jaden Schwartz, who is out for the next five or so weeks with a lower-body injury. No Kraken player has more than 16 points.

"We have a tough time scoring goals," Seattle defenseman Brandon Montour said. "It's not that we can't score goals, it's just not going in or we're not getting enough to the net or making it hard on their goalie, making it hard on the D. So the best way to kind of get out of that is to shoot more pucks at the net, and we're trying to get them there."

Montour scored Saturday and fellow defenseman Adam Larsson had a goal and an assist.

"I thought we did a lot of good things offensively," Larsson said. "Every team goes through tough stretches. It's a long season, and I mean, you lose one, and then you can go on a heater too. We've just got to stay positive. I thought (Saturday) was a lot better than the last three."

This will be the first of three meetings between the teams this season.

The Mammoth are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday in the finale of a six-game road trip, which prevented them from winning three in a row after two impressive road wins against the Anaheim Ducks (7-0) and Vancouver Canucks (4-1).

The road trip began with three straight losses, including a discomforting 6-3 defeat against the San Jose Sharks.

"There's a ton of room for improvement," Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. "We got better during the (Calgary) game, we got better since the start of the season, but it's a work in progress for us to have that speed, that execution, the moving of the puck quick and moving the puck into speed, and that's where we're at our best."

Once set up in the offensive zone, Tourigny suggested the Mammoth look for some simpler scoring opportunities.

"If you want to score in the league, you need to get in the eyes of the goalie," Tourigny said. "You need to disturb the defense a little bit more."

Utah forward Logan Cooley did not play against the Flames because of a lower-body injury that occurred when his left leg collided with the goal post late in the third period against the Canucks on Friday.

Tourigny did not offer any prognosis on Cooley moving forward.

"He didn't play, that's what I will say," Tourigny said.

Cooley leads Utah with 14 goals and ranks third with 23 points.

The Kings performed well in a bounce-back game on Saturday night, beating the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 6-0 after losing to them 2-1 two nights earlier on the same ice.

Los Angeles was held to two goals or fewer in five of the previous six games before Saturday's offensive explosion.

"It's been tough treading the last little bit, scoring, and we all know it, it's not a secret," Kings forward Alex Turcotte said. "To get six, it felt great, and we were making a lot of plays there. You could tell that we were playing a little bit more free, which is good. A lot of us have been struggling offensively, so we've been gripping our sticks a little too much. Definitely it's nice, but it's one game, so we've got to build off of it."

Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said the second goal on Saturday night - Andrei Kuzmenko's power-play goal at 16:38 of the second period -- seemed to free up the Kings. They reeled off four more goals in the next 13 minutes.

"It felt like, at least the players, every one of them, went 10 pounds lighter, and we were just quicker and more fluid," Hiller said. "We had talked about holding sticks really tight. I think we saw the example of them loosening up."

Kuzmenko's goal also was vital because it came on a power play, an area where the Kings have struggled mightily this season. They're no longer at the bottom of the league in power-play percentage with their 13.8% conversion rate, but they still have a ways to go.

"No matter what way we scored the second goal (on Saturday), it would have been similar," Hiller said. "But I think the fact that it was a power play, that it was Kuzmenko who was so good for us on the power play last year and hadn't scored in a while, I think those factors definitely weighed into (the importance)."

Down 2-1 and with goaltender Jake Oettinger (27 saves) on the bench for an extra skater, the Stars tied it with 1:49 left in the third period. With the same Pittsburgh skaters on the ice for roughly two minutes and unable to clear its own zone, Heiskanen's drive through traffic beat the Penguins' Tristan Jarry (21 saves).

Dallas needed only Rantanen's goal as Oettinger stopped all three of the Penguins' attempts in the shootout to win its third straight and improve to 13-1-2 since Nov. 8.

Connor Dewar and Tommy Novak scored for Pittsburgh, which capped a 2-0-1 road stretch while playing without star Evgeni Malkin (upper-body injury). Fellow star Sidney Crosby, a career Penguin in his 21st season, earned an assist Sunday to move within six points of Mario Lemieux's club-record 1,723 set from 1984-2006).

Pittsburgh opened the scoring with 1:42 left in the first period. On the push, Noel Acciari, back from missing 12 games with an upper-body injury, got the puck to Blake Lizotte, who found Dewar alone in the slot for a successful slapper past Oettinger.

Dallas equalized just 1:27 into the second period via some nifty end-to-end passing. Roope Hintz, streaking down the left wing, sent the puck into the slot for Jamie Benn to convert by a late-reacting Jarry.

However, Pittsburgh regained the lead a little more than four minutes later. Crosby, from close to the far board, sent the puck into the high slot for Kris Letang, who drilled a shot that was deflected in by Novak.

Despite the outcome, Jarry came through with several key saves. Notably on point-blank overtime chances from Dallas' Jason Robertson and Rantanen in overtime.

Dallas veteran forward Matt Duchene returned to the ice Sunday after missing 24 games with an upper-body injury.

Especially the Sabres, who have no points on the board after the first two outings of a make-or-break road trip.

The Sabres arrive in Calgary on the heels of a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. Buffalo dropped a 5-2 decision to the Philadelphia Flyers in the opener of its six-game trek.

Outshooting the Jets, regarded as a strong defensive club, by a 35-23 count was cold comfort since Winnipeg closed out the clash with three unanswered goals to break open a game that was tied after the first period.

"We're not here for moral victories," said Sabres forward Jason Zucker, who has tallied in three consecutive games. "We didn't do enough to win. We've got to be better."

The Sabres last made the playoffs in 2011, the longest active drought in the NHL and equal to the NFL's New York Jets for the longest futility run in North American major sports. They currently sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Changing their fortunes will require better results offensively. Buffalo has scored only three goals in its past two games, and only one at even strength.

To coach Lindy Ruff, the level of determination must be elevated.

"Stick the puck in your teeth and dive in the net head-first," Ruff said after Sunday's practice. "I think when you look at the couple situations where the puck is loose in the crease (in Winnipeg), I didn't think our desperation was good enough."

The Flames are also well off the playoff pace but believing they can make a run. After a horrid start to the campaign had them at the bottom of the league standings for a lengthy period, the Flames have turned their fortunes around somewhat over the past four weeks.

Thanks to a 2-0 victory over the Utah Mammoth on Saturday, Calgary has won two straight -- both at home -- and posted a 7-3-2 mark in its last dozen outings.

The Flames are riding a 4-0-1 run at the Saddledome and have won the first two contests of a stretch with 11 of 14 games in Calgary.

"It's nice to come home and actually be home for a little bit and, hopefully, we can keep taking advantage of this homestand, and then we'll see where it takes us," defenseman Rasmus Andersson said.

The Flames have a long hill to climb but take solace in their strong defensive play, backstopped by strong goaltender play. Dustin Wolf stopped 27 shots against the Mammoth and has blocked 53 of 54 pucks he has faced in the first two games of the homestand.

He spent a few outings riding the pine after surrendering a trio of early goals in the Nov. 26 clash at the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he's responded.

"I wasn't really happy with some areas of my game, but bounces happen, and that's hockey," Wolf said. "I like the way my game's at and keep building, and at the end of the day, you're trying to give your team a chance to win."

Calgary has not surrendered an opposition power-play goal in its last six games and snuffed 31 of 32 penalties in the last 10.

Defenseman John Klingberg and Alex Wennberg each had a goal and an assist and Collin Graf also scored for the Sharks, who had lost two in a row. Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves.

The win also snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Hurricanes. San Jose had last defeated Carolina on Nov. 22, 2021.

Jordan Staal got the lone goal for the Hurricanes, who had won three of their last four and were playing the second game of a back-to-back. They beat the Nashville Predators 6-3 on Saturday night in Raleigh.

Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 18 shots.

San Jose scored twice in the second period to take a 3-1 lead.

Klingberg gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead 7:54 into the second when he roofed a one-timer from the slot as he worked a give and go with Celebrini, who was in the right corner.

Celebrini then drew a tripping penalty on Jackson Blake late in the period and Wennberg's power-play goal 23 seconds later made it a two-goal lead with 4:46 left in the middle period. Wennberg, at the bottom of the right circle, fired in a rebound of William Eklund's shot from the slot.

Celebrini's empty-net goal clinched it with 1:20 left.

The game was tied at 1 after the first period.

Graf opened the scoring 33 seconds into the game when he tipped in Celebrini's pass. Celebrini made the pass from the high slot as Graf was cutting to the net from the left wing for his second goal in two games.

Carolina tied it on Staal's power-play goal with 6:42 left in the opening period. He tipped defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's shot out of the air and through Nedeljkovic. It was the Hurricane captain's first power-play goal in over four calendar years. His last one had come in October 2021.

Verhaeghe has four goals in those three games, and forward Sam Reinhart and defensemen Uvis Balinskis and Seth Jones had Florida's other tallies on Sunday.

In a battle between backup goalies, Florida's Daniil Tarasov earned the win, making 20 saves.

Florida has won two straight games after having dropped four in a row.

The Islanders, who had their three-game winning streak broken, got a goal from Mathew Barzal. Defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, had an assist, and goalie David Rittich made 26 saves.

Florida opened the scoring with 7:46 remaining in the first. Mackie Samoskevich (primary) and A.J. Greer earned assists for their forechecking behind the Islanders' net. Balkinskis then shot from beyond the left circle, and the puck went in off the right post.

The Panthers scored again with 12:55 left in the second as Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry poked a loose puck away from Schaefer. The puck went right to Verhaeghe, who scored from the slot.

New York cut its deficit to 2-1 on Barzal's goal with 10:57 left in the second. This time, Schaefer made the winning play, dishing to Barzal, who scored on a backhander that bounced in off the body of Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling.

It was the second straight game that the Panthers allowed a goal that caromed in off of Forsling.

Florida extended its lead to 3-1 on the goal by Jones with 6:03 left in the third. Anton Lundell stick-handled through New York's defense before dishing to Jones, who performed a toe drag before beating Rittich to the near side.

Then, with 2:54 left, Reinhart clinched the win with his empty-net goal.

Up next, the Panthers will start a four-game road trip that will start with Utah on Wednesday and continue on with clashes against Colorado, Dallas and Tampa Bay.

New York will start a three-game homestand against Vegas on Tuesday and continue on to host Anaheim and Tampa Bay.

The Lightning dropped their third in a row with a 2-0 home loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday. The other two defeats were by one goal.

The Saturday game was decided by third-period goals, one on a power play and the other into an empty net.

"These ones sting because you're playing pretty sound hockey and you're not getting rewarded for it," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "And so our job is to make sure that we don't change the way we play, that we just keep plugging along and keep doing the right things. And eventually you'll get rewarded, just as we've been rewarded for 15 games before it."

Before their current losing streak, the Lightning won seven straight and 15 of 18.

The Lightning open a four-game road trip against the Maple Leafs, who want to rebound from a 2-1 home shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens Saturday that snapped their three-game winning streak.

The Maple Leafs showed improvement on a 4-2-0 road trip and hoped to build on that when they started a five-game homestand.

"Missed the net like 15 times at least, I think that's a number," Toronto coach Craig Berube said. "Good opportunities too. We have to hit the net on those opportunities. The power play needed to come through and it didn't, but I thought our goaltending was good and we got a point out of it."

Goaltender Joseph Woll was put on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, so Dennis Hildeby started and made 33 saves.

"Dennis kept us in that game," Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "He's been really good. Last year, he was really good when he got the chance to come in and play, and this year, he seems like he took that to the next level with confidence and poise."

Toronto's power play continued to struggle, however, going 0-for-3.

"Right now, what I see when I watch it, they're unsure of themselves a little bit," Berube said. "In particular, a power play in the second period. We moved it well and we didn't take a shot. The shots are there and we're not taking them."

Toronto had 23 shots on goal, only three in the second period.

"We were trying to make too many plays, not go north," said Scott Laughton, who scored a short-handed goal in the third period. "It put a lot of pressure on our 'D' to go back for pucks. We need to clean that up. We found a way to get a point and keep moving forward, but definitely we didn't have our best stuff."

The Lightning were without two important players against the Islanders -- goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and forward Nikita Kucherov -- because of undisclosed injuries.

Also, forwards Curtis Douglas and Dominic James left in the third period and did not return. Defenseman Victor Hedman played 16:43 after missing 12 games with an injury.

"We didn't play him as often as he usually does," Cooper said, "but I don't think Vic wanted to play that much anyway. It's hard to go from practice right into a game, especially 30 games in, when the (pace) is picked up, but he did a great job."

Blackwood started games on consecutive days for the first time this season and came up huge late with 13 stops in the third for the Avalanche, who won both ends of their back-to-back.

Brent Burns, Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin scored for Colorado. Six players earned assists for the Avalanche, including Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas.

Sean Couturier celebrated his 33rd birthday and 900th career game with his fifth goal of the season for the Flyers, and Travis Konecny also scored.

Samuel Ersson stopped 25 shots for the Flyers, who lost for the second time in three games.

Zegras had a chance to tie the game on his penalty shot with 15:06 in regulation after MacKinnon held the Flyers' co-leader in goals on a breakaway.

However, Zegras, who is 4-for-4 in shootout attempts this season, put the puck squarely into an upright Blackwood.

Playing for the first time since Wednesday, Philadelphia scored 2:09 into the game when Couturier deflected Noah Juulsen's off-target shot into the net with the shaft of his stick.

From there, Colorado, playing for the third time in four days, took control. The Avalanche outshot their hosts 12-3 in the first period.

Burns tied the game with 11:32 to go in the opening period. His fourth of the season, from the top of the right circle, came off a pass from Necas, who got his 25th assist.

Nelson added a power-play goal in the final minute of the first to give Colorado a 2-1 lead. MacKinnon and Makar assisted.

Nichushkin increased the lead less than two minutes into the second by taking a cross-ice pass from Victor Olofsson and beating Ersson from the right circle.

Konecny got one back for the Flyers with 14:02 left in the middle period. The winger positioned himself in the neutral zone behind the Avalanche defensemen and Emil Andrae sprung him with a two-line pass for the breakaway goal.

Per Capitals coach Spencer Carbery, Leonard is expected to miss "an extended period of time" after the latter was injured following a hit from Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba during the first period of Washington's 4-3 shootout loss on Friday.

"Having it happen at this point in his career, early on when he was having some success, is no doubt unfortunate and probably frustrating, but also part of it," Carbery said. "He'll come out of it and I have no doubt he'll be back and ready to go when he is and get right back after it."

Leonard, 20, has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 29 games this season. He was selected by the Capitals with the eighth overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft.

Lindgren, 31, didn't seem the worse for wear after making 23 saves in a 7-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

He is 5-3-1 with a 2.90 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage in 10 games (nine starts) this season.

Also on Sunday, Washington recalled forward Bogdan Trineyev and goaltender Clay Stevenson from AHL affiliate Hershey.

After their quiet afternoon, the Golden Knights will attempt to earn a fourth straight win Sunday night when they face the Rangers, who are 3-8-2 on home ice.

The Golden Knights are attempting to match their longest winning streak of the season; they also won four straight Oct. 14-20. Vegas won a pair of one-goal games at home over the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks before opening its five-game road trip on Friday with a 3-0 win against the New Jersey Devils. This streak comes after Vegas dropped four straight and went 3-4-5 in its previous 12 contests.

Vegas mustered only 25 shots on goal Friday but scored two power-play goals when Tomas Hertl and Ivan Barbashev scored in a span of three minutes late in the third. It was the sixth time the Golden Knights scored multiple power-play goals.

Akira Schmid authored a 24-save shutout against his former team and may start again since Carter Hart is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

"I think a trip like this where you've been at home for a long time, you get on the road and the guys, even though they're playing together every day, now they're truly like, it's 25 guys together every day," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy told the team's official website after the team practiced at Chelsea Piers, just a few minutes south of MSG. "And then you come into a place like this and it just brings back memories."

The Rangers are struggling to consistently create positive memories at home where they have been outscored 39-22, though their past two showings were vastly improved from an uncompetitive 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 29.

New York's latest home loss was a 3-2 setback to the Colorado Avalanche when it was beaten on a backhander by Nathan MacKinnon with 2:14 left in overtime on Saturday. The Rangers allowed the game-winning goal after getting a tying goal from Artemi Panarin with 42 seconds left.

Panarin has 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in his past 15 contests but his goal occurred in a game when the Rangers tied a season-worst by allowing 42 shots on goal while getting held to two goals or fewer for the ninth time on home ice.

"We feel not bad,'' Panarin said. "This game, I think we showed good hockey against that kind of team. They're one of the top, probably, three teams in the league right now, right? So we have one point. We had a good game. We'll try to build on that.''

"Sometimes you lose and don't feel good about it,'' Rangers captain J.T. Miller said. "There's other times you don't get the result, but you can feel good and sleep tonight, knowing that you played a pretty good hockey game.''

The Rangers will hope to feel good with Jonathan Quick possibly starting. Quick was activated from injured reserve after missing six games with a lower-body injury.

If Quick plays on the second night of a back-to-back, it would be his first appearance since a 3-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth on Nov. 22 and seventh overall.

The Ducks have played eight of the past 10 games at home and have one more remaining before heading out on a five-game road trip. They are 6-4-0 during the stretch so far and have won consecutive games just once.

Anaheim continues to look for the form that led to a six-game winning streak from late October into early November when the Ducks averaged 5.7 goals per game. In the 13 games since, they have averaged 2.8 goals and have been shut out twice.

Overall, Anaheim is 10-4-0 at home this season and is one of just three NHL teams with double-digit home victories.

The last two games for the Ducks have represented a season low and high. A 7-0 loss at home to the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday was followed by a 4-3 shootout victory at home Friday that ended the Washington Capitals' six-game winning streak.

Rookie Beckett Sennecke, 19, scored the game-tying goal with 2:01 remaining in regulation against the Capitals. Mason McTavish scored the shootout winner after Troy Terry also delivered in the session.

Sennecke, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, has a point in nine of the past 10 games. He leads all rookies with 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists).

"He's got an evasiveness that's a little bit unpredictable," Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said. "A lot of guys haven't seen him yet and I think they're still probably trying to gauge what the next move could be because he is so slippery, but he's got that reach and sometimes it looks like you've got him, but he finds a way to keep on that puck."

The Blackhawks are set to bring their Southern California residency to an end, while also closing out a four-game West Coast road trip. Chicago opened its travels with a 4-3 shootout loss against the Vegas Golden Knights then split a pair of games against the Los Angeles Kings.

After a 2-1 victory at Los Angeles on Thursday, the Blackhawks were overwhelmed 6-0 on Saturday when goalie Spencer Knight was peppered for three goals in each of the final two periods. Now come the challenges of a quick turnaround to face the young and speedy Ducks.

"(If) the guys around you look like they have more energy on their own home ice, you start to sometimes feel panicked," veteran Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy told the Chicago Sun-Times. "You think you need to be at your best, (with what) you usually have. But you don't need to be. You can win with your B game. That's just the nature of the game, realizing you can win and play well with whatever your body is showing that day."

The Blackhawks ended their most recent homestand with a 5-3 victory over the Ducks last weekend. That result snapped a five-game losing streak (0-4-1).

Connor Bedard put the Blackhawks into the lead for good midway through the third period. He had two goals and four points in the win.

Bedard is tied for third in the NHL with 18 goals and is fourth with 39 points.

The Blue Jackets arrive in Washington, D.C. after dropping a wild 7-6 overtime decision to the Florida Panthers on Saturday,

"That's the beauty of the NHL, there's not much time to dwell on the past or think about yesterday," forward Cole Sillinger said. "Once you're on the bus and on the plane, our focus is on Washington and make sure we give ourselves the best chance at getting two points."

The Blue Jackets had plenty of chances to beat the defending Stanley Cup-champion Panthers.

Columbus held a 4-1 lead only to see it become a tied game - aided by a couple of Florida power-play goals. The Blue Jackets then squandered a 6-4 edge with 16 minutes remaining in regulation.

"We played hard, and I think we deserved better," defenseman Ivan Provorov said. "There were a couple bad bounces and then we were short-handed quite a bit for some reason. Any time you lose, you wish you won."

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Blue Jackets, who have cobbled together a 3-1-4 mark in their last eight outings. Columbus has scored 19 goals in the last four games, plus a shootout marker.

"When you score six goals, you give yourself a pretty good position to win," Sillinger said. "We were short for a little bit, and you don't want to give their power play any momentum. ... I definitely thought we were in a good position, and the expectation is to close that game out."

The Capitals return home after suffering a 4-3 shootout loss in Anaheim to end a four-game road swing that concluded with a trio of games against the California clubs.

The defeat snapped a six-game winning streak.

"We didn't have our fastball, but we were gutting through the game against a really good hockey team, against a fast team, against a team that can give you all sorts of issues defensively," coach Spencer Carbery said. "So, I give our guys a lot of credit. At the end of a trip, you could tell we didn't have - like I said - our best, but we found a way to get a point."

Washington surrendered a trio of leads before losing, but nobody is about to be devastated. The Capitals posted a 3-0-1 mark on the journey, which began with a clash against the New York Islanders, before heading back across the country.

"We probably turned too many pucks over in the second and third (periods) and it fed their transition a bit," forward Dylan Strome said. "Overall, take the positives from the road trip and take the point and move on."

Even with the drawback, they are on a 9-1-2 roll that has them atop the Eastern Conference standings. With their position, the Capitals can afford to accept a disappointment without too much stress.

"We have a really good grasp of what we need to do and what it looks like and how it feels," Carbery said. "When you have that at this point of the year, it's nice as a coach because the guys can correct a lot of the stuff. I don't need to say anything. They know what needs to be done."

So both teams should be riding a high when they meet in Montreal on Sunday night.

The Canadiens prevailed over the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in a shootout Saturday to earn their fifth victory in their last seven games.

Cole Caufield scored Montreal's regulation goal on a power play, extending his point streak (three goals, nine assists) to 10 games.

Rookie Ivan Demidov assisted on the goal, giving him eight points (two goals, six assists) in his last nine games. He has also drawn praise from his coach for his solid all-around play recently.

"He is not the biggest guy, but he plays much bigger," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "He's using his body to win battles, to take care of the puck offensively. He's able to extend plays or create opportunities because of it.

"If you go into battles with white gloves, you're not going to do the next thing or generate something quick out of that. From what I've seen so far, he's not just a perimeter player. He gets in there."

Jakub Dobes played goal against the Leafs so Montreal will likely start Sam Montembeault against St. Louis.

The Blues snapped a two-game losing streak Saturday by defeating the Ottawa Senators with Joel Hofer making 41 saves. They will likely start Jordan Binnington in goal Sunday in the second half of back-to-back games.

They managed to kill off six of their seven penalties against the Senators while getting outshot 42-20 overall.

"Our PK was unbelievable," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "The sacrifice by everybody, but it starts with (Hofer) in the nets."

The Blues were credited with 21 blocked shots.

"If you're going to be (penalty killing), you have to be willing to block shots," Montgomery said. "There's a lot of guys with ice bags. When you have a lot of guys with ice bags, it's usually because you're a very determined group and you've played the game the right way. And we got rewarded for it."

The Blues' injury woes worsened with the loss of winger Jordan Kyrou to a left leg issue. Kyrou, who is tied for the Blues' goal-scoring lead with eight this season, was hurt in the first period Saturday night while taking a hit along the wall.

"I think he's day-to-day right now," Montgomery said. "We'll have more when we get a picture on (Kyrou). At the most, we think it's a week to 10 days, but we've got to get an MRI when we get back just to make sure."

St. Louis already has wingers Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist surgery), Nathan Walker (upper-body injury) and Alexey Toropchenko (leg burns in domestic accident) on the injured list. In their absence, Jake Neighbours scored twice in Ottawa for his first goals since Oct. 25.

Winger Matt Luff, a recent promotion from the AHL, could make his Blues debut filling in for Kyrou.

The Florida Panthers, who play host to the New York Islanders on Sunday, are coming off a wild 7-6 overtime win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

That win ended Florida's five-game home losing streak. The Panthers had also lost four straight games overall.

In beating Columbus, the Panthers rallied from several deficits -- 1-0, 4-1 and 6-4 -- and never led until the game's final seconds.

"We needed a comeback game -- we haven't had one in a while," said Panthers forward Sam Bennett, who scored the game-winning goal with 3.2 seconds left in overtime. "We showed our resiliency and our toughness."

Bennett centers a line that includes Carter Verhaeghe and Brad Marchand. Since Verhaeghe's wife had their first child just a few days ago, the Panthers winger has scored three goals in two games.

For the season, Marchand has a team-high 31 points in 26 games. Verhaeghe has 20 points and Bennett has 17.

On the other end of the ice, the Panthers are led by goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who is 11-8-1 with a 2.98 goals-against average. However, there's a chance -- with games on consecutive days -- that the Panthers will start backup Daniil Tarasov (2-4-1, 2.67 GAA).

Tarasov has yet to play this month as Bobrovsky has started three in a row, going 1-1-1 in that span.

The Islanders, meanwhile, have won three straight games, including a 2-0 victory at Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

New York is led by goalie Ilya Sorokin, who is 10-8-2 with a 2.47 GAA, three shutouts in 20 games, including the blanking of the Lightning. Last season, Sorokin had four shutouts in 61 games.

"What I love is that (Sorokin) makes it look pretty easy," said Islanders coach Patrick Roy, one of the greatest goalies in NHL history. "I know when I played, if everything looked easy, I knew I was going to have a big game."

If the Islanders decide to rest Sorokin due to the back-to-back games, they would start David Rittich (6-2-1, 2.61 GAA). This is Rittich's 10th NHL season, and the Islanders haven't missed much when starting him.

Like Tarasov, though, Rittich has yet to play this month.

As for their defensemen, the Islanders have an interesting group. There's Alexander Romanov, who signed an eight-year, $50 million extension in July. There's Scott Mayfield, who signed a seven-year, $24.5 million extension in July 2023. There's Adam Boqvist, whom the Islanders signed after the Panthers released him in January.

And there's Tony DeAngelo, who posted impressive numbers earlier in his career but has trended downward the past two-plus years.

However, New York's best blueliner is rookie Matthew Schaefer, who turned 18 in September. Schaefer, the first pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, has not disappointed as he has eight goals and 12 assists in 29 games. He's an elite two-way defenseman and highly mature for his age.

New York's top forwards are Bo Horvat, who leads the team in goals (17) and points (29), and Mathew Barzal, who is healthy after playing just 30 games last season and has 21 points in 28 games. In 2023-24, Barzal had 80 points in 80 games.

Other Islanders forwards to watch are captain Anders Lee, who had 29 goals last season and six this year; and former Panther Anthony Duclair, who has terrific speed but has slumped in recent years.

It will be the second of a back-to-back for the Hurricanes, who defeated the visiting Nashville Predators 6-3 on Saturday night.

Jackson Blake had two goals and an assist to end a six-game pointless streak.

"(Blake) is skating, holding onto the puck, making some good plays," said linemate Nikolaj Ehlers, who had a goal and two assists. "And shooting the puck as well. For me it's the same. When I shoot the puck, that's when I'm at my best. When us three are able to have that shoot-first mentality, we're a pretty fast line."

Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour also praised Blake.

"‘(Blake) especially had a real solid game," Brind'Amour said. "You don't even have to know hockey. Just watch it; he stands out almost every shift."

Logan Stankoven -- Blake and Ehlers' linemate on the Hurricanes' second line -- added an assist.

"As a line, us three are known for being pretty skilled, I would say," Blake said. "When you're not providing offense for the team, it's kind of a mental struggle a little bit. Tonight was good for all of us to get rewarded."

Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi made 19 saves and won his sixth straight start.

Meanwhile, the slumping Sharks lost 4-1 to the host Dallas Stars on Friday night.

It was San Jose's second consecutive loss and third in its last four games.

Collin Graf scored the Sharks' only goal and Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves.

"I mean, it can't really get worse than the Washington game (a 7-1 loss on Wednesday), so I thought for the most part we battled with (the Stars), just a couple mistakes and didn't get the result," Graf said. "But a loss is a loss, and we got to get back in the win column.

"Obviously, things weren't going our way the last game, and we weren't generating a whole lot today," he said, "so I think it's just trying to get puck to the net and sometimes the bounces are with you."

Jeff Skinner returned after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury.

"I feel fine. Obviously, we would like to have a better result, but I feel fine," Skinner said. "It's a good team, there's not a lot of space, couldn't really get to the inside much. They closed the lanes up and were blocking shots. I thought as the game went on, we got better. I thought we had some looks on the power play, we just couldn't find it when we needed it."

The game was tied 1-1 until the Stars scored three times in the last half of the third period.

"I thought we did some good stuff," San Jose defenseman Timothy Liljegren said. "Obviously, it was a close game there until they scored their second. (I) thought we came out a little flat in the first, but came back in the second but, obviously, lost in the third. ... It was for sure better, but I think it's a process and we can still play a lot better."

Not only will the Flyers have home-ice advantage, where they are 9-4-2 this season, but they will also enjoy a significant rest edge over the Avalanche.

Philadelphia last played Wednesday, beating Buffalo 5-2 at home for its fourth win in five games. Come Sunday, the Avalanche will be playing their third road game in four days.

They started their four-game road trip Thursday, losing 6-3 to the New York Islanders in just their second defeat in regulation this season. On Saturday afternoon, they survived a last-minute goal in regulation by the New York Rangers to pull out a 3-2 overtime victory.

Nathan MacKinnon scored twice Saturday, including the game-winner with 2:14 left in the 3-on-3 session. He now leads the league with 24 goals and 48 points. Martin Necas assisted on all three goals Saturday and shares the team lead with the former Hart Trophy winner with 24 assists.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after the win he saw his team defend much better than it did on Thursday.

"We made some crazy bad decisions in our checking game (vs. the Islanders)," he said. "Gave up too many scoring chances and gave up six goals. Then we came out tonight. I thought we checked really hard. So it helped get us a win for sure."

Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood played in his fourth straight game and made his second consecutive start for Colorado as top netminder Scott Wedgewood did not dress Saturday. Wedgewood has been out since leaving midway through the team's 3-1 home victory on Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks.

Blackwood has yet to play on consecutive days this season. If he does not play and Wedgewood remains out, then Trent Miner would start. Miner, 24, has played in four games over the past two seasons with two starts. He's 0-1-2 with a 2.34 goals-against average and a .896 save percentage.

The Flyers had 10 players register a point in their last win, with Bobby Brink, Noah Cates and Travis Konecny each tallying a goal and an assist.

Trevor Zegras scored his 10th goal in the win, knotting him with Tyson Foerster for the team lead. He also leads the team with 26 points, and his 16 helpers tie him for the team lead with Konecny.

While the Flyers will be well-rested, they also will not be at 100% heading into Sunday. The team placed Foerster on injured reserve on Wednesday with an upper-body injury that will sideline him for two to three months.

The following day, coach Rick Tocchet said Cam York was day-to-day as the defenseman also has been battling an upper-body issue.

York ranks fourth on the team with 11 assists, and he also logs the second-most time on the ice, averaging 23:31 a game.

"Possibly (York) might not play," Tocchet said Thursday. "Whoever's going to come in there, as a group, we're going to have to make up for those minutes."

Late Saturday, the Flyers announced they recalled defenseman Ty Murchison from the team's AHL affiliate. That may indicate York will not be available.

Dan Vladar should start in net for the Flyers. He last played on Monday and matched his season worst by allowing five goals in a 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Vladar, who played the past four seasons with the Calgary Flames, is 2-4 in six games against the Avalanche with a 3.88 GAA and an .887 save percentage.