Golden Knights beat Panthers, move atop Pacific Division

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LAS VEGAS— Erik Haula scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 Sunday.

Nate Schmidt, Colin Miller, Jonathan Marchessault and James Neal also scored for Vegas, while goalie Malcolm Subban stopped 16 shots. The Golden Knights moved into first place in the Pacific Division. They are tied with Los Angeles with 44 points, but have the tiebreaker by having played two fewer games.

Vegas improved to 13-2-1 at T-Mobile Arena with the most home wins by any team in the Western Conference.

Radim Vraba and Mike Matheson scored for the Panthers, while James Reimer stopped 35 shots.

With the score tied 2-2, Haula gave the Golden Knights their first lead of the game when he was left alone to the left of Reimer to tip Marchessault’s wrist shot from the point with 8:20 left.

Marchessault and Neal added empty-net goals in the final 2:10.

BLACKHAWKS 4, WILD 1

CHICAGO (AP) Patrick Kane scored two slick goals, Corey Crawford made 27 saves and Chicago got its season-high fifth straight win.

Ryan Hartman snapped a 17-game goal-scoring drought dating to Oct. 28, and Tommy Wingels added a short-handed empty-netter for the Blackhawks.

Matt Dumba scored at 5:56 of the third, spoiling Crawford’s shutout bid on a screened shot from the right point. The Wild dropped their second straight after a four-game winning streak.

Kane, who has seven points in his last four games, connected on a one-timer and a breakaway to give him 14 goals this season and four in the last three games. The Chicago forward’s 298th and 299th career goals moved him into fifth place in team history, ahead of Dennis Hull.

Alex Stalock made 42 saves his third straight start in place of Minnesota No. 1 goalie Devan Dubnyk, who is sidelined with a lower-body injury.

JETS 4, BLUES 0

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots for his eighth career shutout, Patrik Laine got his team-high 16th goal of the season and Winnipeg blanked the Blues a day after being shut out at St. Louis.

Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey also scored for Winnipeg, which lost 2-0 at St. Louis the previous night. Morrissey also had an assist, and Andrew Copp and Jacob Trouba added two each to help the Jets improve to 2-4-1 in their last seven games. Hellebuyck’s shutout was his second of the season.

Jake Allen was back in goal for the Blues and finished with 42 saves. Carter Hutton had 48 saves in St. Louis’ win on Saturday night.

FLAMES 6, CANUCKS 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Mark Giordano scored twice, Sam Bennett had a goal and three assists, and Calgary snapped a three-game skid.

Mark Jankowski had a goal and two assists, and Matthew Tkachuk and Micheal Ferland also scored for the Flames. Dougie Hamilton had two assists and backup goalie David Rittich made 16 saves to pick up his third win in four appearances.

Markus Granlund scored for Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom allowed five goals on 19 shots in a forgettable outing before getting replaced by Anders Nilsson to start the third period. Nilsson made 18 saves in relief as the Canucks lost in regulation for the fifth time in six games.