Thursday’s NHL playoffs: Vegas dominates St. Louis 6-4, one win from West’s top seed

Edmonton, Alberta – Mark Stone scored the go-ahead goal on a deflection with under 7 minutes left, and the Vegas Golden Knights took a big step toward clinching the top seed in the Western Conference by beating the St. Louis Blues 6-4 in round-robin play Thursday night.

Vegas would be the West’s No. 1 seed with a win against Colorado on Saturday. The team that went to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final and was eliminated after a questionable call in Game 7 against San Jose looks capable of winning it all.

“We came into Edmonton wanting to play our best hockey, whether that got us three wins or no wins,” Stone said. “So long as we’re playing well, we feel confident against anyone.”

Despite leading the conference when the NHL season was shut down in March, defending champion St. Louis can finish no higher than third and needs to beat Dallas on Sunday to avoid the No. 4 seed.

“I don’t know if we thought it was going to be easy coming in here for these round-robin games,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “Our compete level has to come way up. … We have to get to another level Sunday.”

The Golden Knights dominated the Blues in each team’s second game, outshooting them 38-17. St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington was sharp early and made 32 saves but wound up getting shelled.

Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore each scored twice for Vegas, while defenseman Zach Whitecloud and Stone added a goal each. Tuch also had an assist on Whitecloud’s goal.

After Robin Lehner won Vegas’ first game against Dallas, Marc-Andre Fleury was solid in making 13 saves against St. Louis.

“Tonight never really felt in doubt,” Stone said. “I thought we played as good a 60 minutes as we could.”

Like the East’s top-seeded Boston Bruins, who they beat in the 2019 Cup Final, the Blues have some work to do before moving into an elimination series. They got two goals from defenseman Colton Parayko, David Perron’s second in two games and one from Troy Brouwer, who was inserted into the lineup amid several injuries.

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Flyers 3, Capitals 1: Scott Laughton had two goals and an assist to lead Philadelphia. Travis Sanheim also scored and Brian Elliott stopped 16 shots to keep the Flyers rolling as one of the hottest teams in the NHL.

The Flyers won nine straight games before losing the final one before the COVID-19 shutdown. The Flyers have resumed the season with wins over Boston and the Capitals in the NHL’s playoff seeding round and can’t finish any worse than second in the Eastern Conference.

Laughton gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the first period after capitalizing on a turnover, beating Braden Holtby. Laughton scored again to make it 3-0 in the third.

Flames 4, Jets 0: Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett each had a goal and an assist as the Flames won the series.

Dillon Dube and Rasmus Andersson also scored for the Flames, and Cam Talbot made 31 saves for the shutout.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 30 shots for the Jets.

Canucks 3, Wild 0: Brock Boeser and Elias Petterson each had a power-play goal and an assist, Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves for his first postseason shutout, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild 3-0 to take a 2-1 lead.

Antoine Roussel and Elias Pettersson also scored and Quinn Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who outlasted the Wild in another penalty-filled, extra-testy matchup and moved within one game of advancing to the first round in their first appearance in the playoffs since 2015.

Blue Jackets 4, Maple Leafs 3/OT: Pierre-Luc Dubois got his third goal of the game 18:24 into overtime, finishing the Columbus Blue Jackets/ comeback from three goals down to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs and take a 2-1 lead in their playoff qualifying series.

Dubois got the winner on a rush after Alexandre Texier stripped the puck from Toronto’s John Tavares.

The Blue Jackets rallied from from a 3-0 deficit midway through the second period, scoring twice in a three-minute stretch midway through the third to tie it.

Eastern Conference

QUALIFYING ROUND

Carolina 3, N.Y. Rangers 0

Aug. 1: Carolina 3, N.Y. Rangers 2

Aug. 3: Carolina 4, N.Y. Rangers 1

Aug. 4: Carolina 4, N.Y. Rangers 1

N.Y. Islanders 2, Florida 1

Aug. 1: N.Y. Islanders 2, Florida 1

Aug. 4: N.Y. Islanders 4, Florida 2

Aug. 5: Florida 3, N.Y. Islanders 2

Friday: Noon

x-Sunday: TBD

Montreal 2, Pittsburgh 1

Aug. 1: Montreal 3, Pittsburgh 2, OT

Aug. 3: Pittsburgh 3, Montreal 1

Aug. 5: Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 3

Friday: 4 p.m.

x-Saturday: TBD

Columbus 2, Toronto 1

Aug. 2: Columbus 2, Toronto 0

Aug. 4: Toronto 3, Columbus 0

Aug. 6: Columbus 4, Toronto 3, OT

Friday: 8 p.m.

x-Sunday: TBD

ROUND ROBIN 

Aug. 2: Philadelphia 4, Boston 1

Aug. 3: Tampa Bay 3, Washington 2, SO

Aug. 5: Tampa Bay 3, Boston 2

Aug. 6: Philadelphia 3, Washington 1

Saturday: Washington vs. Boston, TBD

Sunday: Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia, TBD

Western Conference 

QUALIFYING ROUND

Chicago 2, Edmonton 1

Aug. 1: Chicago 6, Edmonton 4

Aug. 3: Edmonton 6, Chicago 3

Aug. 5: Chicago 4, Edmonton 3

Friday: 6:45 p.m.

x-Saturday: TBD

Calgary 3, Winnipeg 1

Aug. 1: Calgary 4, Winnipeg 1

Aug. 3: Winnipeg 3, Calgary 2

Aug. 4: Calgary 6, Winnipeg 2

Aug. 6: Calgary 4, Winnipeg 0 

Arizona 2, Nashville 1

Aug. 2: Arizona 4, Nashville 3

Aug. 4: Nashville 4, Arizona 2

Aug. 5: Arizona 4, Nashville 1

Friday: 2:30 p.m.

x-Sunday: TBD

Vancouver 2, Minnesota 1

Aug. 2: Minnesota 3, Vancouver 0

Aug. 4: Vancouver 4, Minnesota 3

Aug. 6: Vancouver 3, Minnesota 0

Friday: 10:45 p.m.

x-Sunday: TBD

ROUND ROBIN 

Aug. 2: Colorado 2, St. Louis 1

Aug. 3: Las Vegas 5, Dallas 3

Aug. 5: Colorado 4, Dallas 0

Aug. 6: Las Vegas 6, St. Louis 4

Saturday: Colorado vs. Las Vegas, TBD

Sunday: St. Louis vs. Dallas, TBD

x-If necessary