Jonathan Drouin scored twice and added an assist, Martin Necas scored his first goal with Colorado, and the Avalanche scored four goals in the first period to defeat the St. Louis Blues 5-0 in Denver on Friday night.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves for his first shutout with Colorado and his second of the season. Cale Makar and Joel Kiviranta also scored, helping Necas and Jack Drury have a successful debut in Denver.
The Avalanche traded for Necas and Drury on January 24, sending leading goal scorer Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes.
Joel Hofer stopped 31 shots for St. Louis, which has now lost four straight games. The Blues have dropped five of their last six games.
Stars 5, Canucks 3
Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz each scored two goals and added an assist to help Dallas beat Vancouver 5-3 at home.
Oskar Back also scored for the Stars, who have won four consecutive games. Goaltender Jake Oettinger made 26 saves, especially in the first two periods.
Conor Garland, Jake DeBrusk, and Carson Soucy scored for the Canucks, who saw their three-game winning streak end, just hours after trading away forward J.T. Miller. Goalie Thatcher Demko made 11 saves.
Sabres 4, Predators 3
Rookie Jiri Kulich scored twice, including the game-winning goal with 2:04 left, as Buffalo overcame blowing a 2-0 lead to beat Nashville at home.
Tage Thompson passed to Kulich, who fired a shot past Nashville goalie Justus Annunen (23 saves) to score his second two-goal game. The Sabres won back-to-back games for the second time in January.
Brady Skjei had a goal and an assist for Nashville, which has now lost three straight after winning five in a row.
Blue Jackets 3, Utah Hockey Club 2 (OT)
Zach Werenski scored 1:01 into overtime to lift Columbus over Utah 3-2 in Salt Lake City after coming back from a 2-0 third-period deficit.
Werenski finished a two-on-none breakaway with Cole Sillinger after stealing the puck in Utah’s zone. Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson also scored, and Daniil Tarasov made 31 saves for Columbus, which has now won three straight games, all in overtime.
Nick Schmaltz and Alexander Kerfoot scored for Utah. Clayton Keller added two assists, and Karel Vejmelka made 20 saves. Utah has lost four straight (0-2-2), despite being tied or ahead in the third period of each game.
