COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Mikael Pyyhtia scored his first NHL goal, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 on Monday night for their second straight home win. Sean Monahan had two goals, Cole Sillinger added a goal and two assists, and Adam Fantilli and Mathieu Olivier also scored for Columbus, and Kirill Marchenko had two assists. Elvis Merzlikins carried a shutout through 19:33 of the third period before giving up a late goal, but he stopped 31 shots as the Blue Jackets continued their trend of winning every other game on the season.
Mattias Ekholm scored and Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots for the Oilers, who snapped a two-game win streak. The Oilers lost star center Connor McDavid to a lower-body injury 37 seconds after the opening faceoff when he collided with the boards. Despite outshooting Columbus in the first two periods, they failed to capitalize on five power-play opportunities.
PANTHERS 5, SABRES 2 BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Florida captain Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist in his return after missing eight games with a lower-body injury, and the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers defeated Buffalo.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the go-ahead goal with 3:16 left in the second period, and added an assist to extend his point streak to seven games. Jesper Boqvist and Sam Reinhart staked the Panthers to a 2-0 lead by scoring 55 seconds apart in the first period. Sam Bennett also scored, Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves and the Panthers are on a 6-1-1 run .