National Hockey

Nashville Predators (11-8-1, second in the Central) vs. Colorado Avalanche (10-6-1, fifth in the Central) Denver; Saturday, 9 p.m.

Columbus Blue Jackets (12-6-0, third in the Metropolitan) vs. St. Louis Blues (10-7-3, third in the Central) St. Louis; Saturday, 8 p.m.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — John Tavares and William Nylander each had a goal and assist and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Friday night.

BOSTON (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored the first of New York’s three third-period goals with 8:25 left and the Rangers beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on Friday, giving Gerard Gallant the best start in his first 20 games as coach in team history.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tage Thompson scored twice, Cody Eakin had a goal and an assist, and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 on Friday night to snap a four-game skid.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Elvis Merzlikins stopped 39 shots, Gustav Nyquist scored short-handed and had an assist, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat Vancouver Canucks 4-2 Friday night.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tristan Jarry made 25 saves, Kasperi Kapanen scored in the second period and the Pittsburgh Penguins kept the depleted New York Islanders winless at their new arena with a 1-0 victory Friday night.

DALLAS (AP) — Joe Pavelski scored twice in 20 seconds in the opening 1:31 to reach 400 career goals, and two goaltenders combined to shut down the NHL’s highest-scoring team Friday night, as the Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves in his 200th victory and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Seattle Kraken 3-0 Friday night for their sixth win in seven games.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Roman Josi and Alexandre Carrier each scored and had an assist to lead the Nashville Predators over the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Friday night.