NEW YORK (AP) The New York Rangers scored three goals in the first period to lay the foundation for a 6-3 victory over St. Louis on Friday in a predictably high-scoring encounter between two of the early-season pacesetters in the NHL.
The Rangers remained four points clear atop the Metropolitan Division while the Blues dropped three points behind Central Division leader Dallas, which beat Winnipeg by the same 6-3 scoreline.
Elsewhere, Los Angeles had a tight win against the New York Islanders, and Ottawa edged Vancouver for its first win in regulation time at home this season.
New York’s Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes all scored in the first period, and J.T. Miller, Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi also netted for the Rangers, who are the highest-scoring team in the league.
Dmitrij Jaskin, Vladimir Tarasenko and Troy Brouwer scored for St. Louis, which had won its previous three games.
Dallas’ Jamie Benn scored the tiebreaking goal on a third-period power play and the Stars pulled away to defeat Winnipeg 6-3.
Antoine Roussel and Vernon Fiddler added empty-net goals, Ales Hemsky had a goal and two assists while John Klingberg and Colton Sceviour had a goal and an assist for the Stars.
Tyler Myers’ first goal this season had tied the game 3-3 at 9:17 of the third. Blake Wheeler and Jacob Trouba also scored for the Jets.
Los Angeles goaltender Jhonas Enroth stayed unbeaten in a Kings uniform with 31 saves, as the hosts beat the Islanders 2-1.
Enroth has yielded two goals over his first three starts in place of Jonathan Quick, racking up a .979 save percentage. He was outstanding during a prolonged third-period penalty kill.
Drew Doughty and Milan Lucic scored for the Pacific Division-leading Kings.
Brock Nelson scored an early goal for New York, which has scored more than two goals only once in its past eight games.
Ottawa’s Bobby Ryan and Chris Wideman had power-play goals as the Senators beat Vancouver 3-2.
Erik Karlsson also scored for the Senators.
Sven Baertschi and Alexander Edler scored for the Canucks, who have played four of seven games on their current road trip.
New Jersey’s Sergey Kalinin scored a power-play goal with 2:27 left to give the Devils a 3-2 win against Chicago and their second victory over the defending Stanley Cup champions inside a week.
With Patrick Kane off for high sticking, Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford stopped Kyle Palmieri’s shot from the left circle but Kalinin was alone at the edge of the crease and slipped the rebound in the net.
Adam Henrique and Palmieri had scored in the second to put New Jersey ahead.
Chicago rookie Artemi Panarin scored from a sharp angle with 6:41 left in the third. Kane assisted on that one and scored a 5-on-3 goal in the first to extend his point streak to 11 games.
Washington’s Jason Chimera had two goals and an assist to lead the Capitals to a 5-2 victory at slumping Philadelphia.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin remained one goal shy of becoming the top Russian-born goal scorer in NHL history, with his apparent goal in the final minute of the second period ruled out for offside.
T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Williams all scored for the Capitals.
Scott Laughton and Claude Giroux had goals for Philadelphia, which has lost four straight games at home and eight of nine overall.
Toronto’s Peter Holland scored the only goal in a five-round shootout to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 victory at Nashville.
Minnesota’s Jason Zucker scored his second goal of the game with 1:10 left in overtime, giving the Wild a 3-2 win over Carolina.
Arizona raced past Edmonton after a slow start and won 4-1, with Max Domi having a goal and an assist, Mike Smith stopping 27 shots.
Improving Buffalo won 3-2 at Florida, with Cody Franson scoring the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Sam Reinhart adding a power-play goal early in the third.
Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos scored a go-ahead power-play goal in the third period and goalie Ben Bishop stopped a personal five-game losing sequence as the Lightning defeated Calgary 3-1.
Colorado’s Matt Duchene broke a tie in the third period with his sixth goal in five games to help the Avalanche win 3-2 at Boston.
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