Marc-Andre Fleury picked up win No. 485 on Wednesday night when he stopped 20 of 22 shots in a 6-2 victory over Los Angeles. He claimed sole possession of fourth place on the NHL all-time wins list when he moved ahead of Ed Belfour. Fleury is currently just four wins behind Roberto Luongo for third. Martin Brodeur leads the pack with 691 victories and Patrick Roy sits in second with 551.
Elsewhere, Vancouver’s COVID-19 protocol list is down to seven players after nine were removed on Wednesday. The Canucks got Thatcher Demko, Travis Boyd, Braden Holtby, Bo Horvat, Marc Michaelis, Tyler Motte, Tyler Myers, Antoine Roussel and Brandon Sutter back.
According to multiple reports, Canucks players had a zoom call with the NHLPA on Wednesday night and an update on the team’s return to play is expected to come on Thursday. As it stands right now, Vancouver is scheduled to play against Edmonton on Friday. However, there appears to be a growing possibility that could change.
The players who have been cleared haven’t had much time to skate and get their conditioning back up, which puts them in a difficult position as well as increases the chance of injuries occurring. Jalen Chatfield, Alexander Edler, Jayce Hawryluk, Nils Hoglander, Zack MacEwen, Nate Schmidt and Jake Virtanen are still unavailable due to COVID protocol.[[ad:athena]]
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ARIZONA 2 MINNESOTA 5
The Wild returned to action for an afternoon matchup against the Coyotes after the team’s game on postponed. Minnesota rebounded from a pair of losses, including one in overtime, to St. Louis last week with a victory.
Mats Zuccarello scored a pair of power-play goals in the contest. The Wild went 3-for-3 on the man advantage on Wednesday.
Nick Bonino registered one goal and two helpers for his first multi-point performance of the season. Zach Parise notched one goal and one assist.
Marcus Johansson earned two helpers, while Johan Larsson, Dryden Hunt, Nick Schmaltz, Alex Goligoski, Nico Sturm, Kevin Fiala, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Dumba picked up one assist apiece.
Phil Kessel and Jakob Chychrun scored for the Coyotes in the loss. Kessel has a team-leading 16 goals on the year, while Chychrun is tied for the league lead among blueliners in goals with 13.
Jared Spurgeon had the other goal in the match.
Antti Raanta returned to the lineup from a lower-body injury and he allowed five goals on 22 shots in his first appearance since March 22.
Cam Talbot stopped 28 of 30 shots for his 13th win in 23 starts.
Marcus Foligno was also back in the lineup on Wednesday for the first time since March 12 due to a broken right ankle. He posted four penalty minutes and a game-high five hits.
CALGARY 4 MONTREAL 1
The Flames won a third straight game on Wednesday night and sit just four points behind the Canadiens for the final playoff spot in the Scotia North Division.
Noah Hanifin and Mark Giordano gave the Flames a 2-0 lead. Hanifin scored 3:58 into the game, while Giordano lit the lamp 29 seconds into the second stanza.
Brett Kulak got the Canadiens on the board with his first goal of the year just past the midway mark of the contest.
Josh Leivo and Sean Monahan (empty-netter) scored for Calgary in the third period.
Chris Tanev picked up two helpers, while Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm. Josh Anderson, Jonathan Drouin and Giordano added an assist apiece.
Jake Allen blocked 30 of 33 shots in the defeat. He has lost four of five contests since he took over between the pipes for injured number one netminder Carey Price.
Jacob Markstrom, who played for the second time in two nights, made 26 saves for his third consecutive victory. He has 15 wins in 31 games this season.
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WINNIPEG 3 OTTAWA 2
The Jets bounced back from Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Senators with a victory in Wednesday’s rematch. Winnipeg returns to action on Thursday versus Toronto.
Nick Paul gave the Senators a 1-0 lead only 1:19 into the contest.
Mark Scheifele tied the game with his 16th goal of the year just over two minutes later.
Mathieu Perreault potted a power-play goal in the third period with assists going to Andrew Copp and Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Trevor Lewis’ shorthanded tally shortly afterward held up as the game winner after Josh Norris scored his 12th marker of 2020-21 on a late power play opportunity for the Senators.
Thomas Chabot collected two assists, while Nate Thompson, Nikolaj Ehlers, Neal Pionk and Connor Brown contributed one helper each.
Matt Murray stopped 32 of 35 shots in the defeat, which was his first outing since March 10 because of an upper-body injury.
Laurent Brossoit shielded 27 shots for his sixth win of the year. He halted his losing skid at two games in the process.
COLORADO 4 ST. LOUIS 3
The Avalanche hung on to defeat the Blues on Wednesday night to extend the team’s win spree to four straight games.
Mikko Rantanen notched one goal and one assist to extend his point streak to six games. He has generated five goals and four helpers during that span.
Nathan MacKinnon also continued his point spree on Wednesday with an assist. He has seven markers and 11 helpers over an 11-game point streak.
J.T. Compher had one goal and one assist for his second multi-point effort of the year.
Mike Hoffman was the offensive star for the Blues with two goals and one assist. That includes one goal and one helper on the power play.
Vince Dunn, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Brandon Saad scored the other goals in the match.
Liam O’Brien provided two helpers, while Tyson Jost, Cale Makar, Conor Timmins, Tyler Bozak, Jordan Kyrou, David Perron, Vladimir Tarasenko and Torey Krug posted one assist apiece.
Jordan Binnington made 24 saves on 28 shots in the defeat.
Devan Dubnyk defended 31 of 34 shots for his first win as a member of the Avalanche. He got the nod after Philipp Grubauer was added to the NHL’s COVID protocol list.
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VEGAS 6 LOS ANGELES 2
The Golden Knights swept a two-game set versus the Kings and won for a fourth straight time on Wednesday night.
Max Pacioretty and Tomas Nosek generated one goal and two assists each.
Nosek registered two points, including his eighth goal of the year, and Pacioretty scored his 21st marker of the season in the first period when Vegas took a 3-1 lead.
Alex Tuch and Trevor Moore (power play) also found the back of the net in the first frame.
Moore scored again in the second period to cut the Golden Knights’ lead to 4-2, but that was as close as the Kings would come.
Mark Stone and Alex Pietrangelo, who lit the lamp for the first time in 13 outings, pulled Vegas ahead in the third period.
Adrian Kempe had the lone assist on both of Moore’s goals, while Mattias Janmark, Zach Whitecloud, Alec Martinez, Shea Theodore, Tuch and Stone earned one assist each.
Jonathan Quick was pulled after he allowed three goals on eight shots. He got the hook after he surrendered a goal to Pacioretty from just outside the attacking zone when the Vegas forward flipped the puck in on his backhand.
Cal Petersen surrendered three goals on 24 shots in relief.
Marc-Andre Fleury blocked 20 shots for his 19th win of the season and the 485th of his career.
ANAHEIM 4 SAN JOSE 1
The Ducks won both games on the road of a two-game set versus the Sharks, while outscoring San Jose by an 8-1 margin.
Anthony Stolarz was in the crease for both matches and he stopped 73 of 74 shots. He has posted three wins in five appearances this season.
Ryan Getzlaf opened the scoring at the 8:08 mark of the first period.
Derek Grant and Alexander Volkov gave Anaheim a 3-0 lead going into the second intermission. They also picked up an assist each in the contest.
Erik Karlsson snapped a second straight shutout bid for Stolarz in the third period at the 17:44 mark.
Jakob Silfverberg netted a power-play goal with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
Max Comtois, Troy Terry, Cam Fowler, Kevin Shattenkirk, Josh Manson Timo Meier and Brent Burns contributed one assist apiece.
Josef Korenar turned aside 23 of 27 shots to take the loss in his first NHL start.
