The New Jersey Devils are hiring former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe for the same position.

An official announcement will be made on Thursday.

Keefe’s deal with the Devils will be for four years, including the two years owed to him by the Maple Leafs, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Keefe, 43, was fired by Toronto after the Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Boston Bruins in seven games.

Keefe led Toronto to the playoffs in each of his four-plus seasons there, but won just one round.  

He takes over a Devils team that fell well short of expectations last season, missing the playoffs after they had 112 points and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23.

Lindy Ruff was fired by New Jersey late this season and was replaced on an interim basis by Travis Green.

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said at the end of the season that he would be conducting an extensive coaching search.

Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel each had a goal and an assist in a four-goal first period and the Vegas Golden Knights extended their point streak to seven games with a 6-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

Anthony Mantha and Noah Hanifin also scored in the opening period and Brett Howden also tallied for Vegas, which has gone 6-0-1 in its last seven games to pull within three points of Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division.

Logan Thompson made 27 saves to win his sixth straight start in his 99th career game.

Quinn Hughes scored twice for the Canucks, who have lost three of four but are five points up on the Oilers for first in the Pacific.

Ullmark perfect in Bruins’ win

Linus Ullmark turned away 32 shots and assisted on Charlie Coyle’s short-handed, game-winning goal in the third period to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators.

David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist apiece to help Boston win for the third time in four games and extend its Atlantic Division lead to four points over Florida.

Juuse Saros made 30 saves for the Predators, who dropped their third in a row following a franchise-record 18-game point streak.

Surging Penguins rally past Devils

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice during the Penguins’ five-goal third period and Pittsburgh remained in the playoff race with a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

The Devils took a 3-1 lead into the third period, but Crosby scored on a power play at 6:48 and Malkin’s first goal of the game just over a minute later tied it.

Rickard Rakell’s goal with 3:44 left put the Penguins ahead and Malkin made it 5-3 32 seconds later. Crosby’s empty-net goal closed the scoring.

Pittsburgh is 4-0-2 in its last six games and had moved within three points of Washington for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

David Rittich stopped all 26 shots he faced as the Los Angeles Kings put an end to the New York Islanders' six-game winning streak with Monday's 3-0 victory.

Adrian Kempe, Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore all had goals to back Rittich's second shutout of the season as the Kings bounced back from Saturday's 4-1 home defeat to the Dallas Stars. Moore added an assist on Danault's goal, which gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead 6:07 into the third period.

After an eventful opening period, Kempe put the Kings ahead 7:14 into the second by rifling a shot over the glove of New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin.

Moore set up Danault's close-range goal that gave Los Angeles some more breathing room, then sealed the outcome with an empty-netter with 2:22 left to play.

Rittch polished off his sixth career shutout by making 13 saves in the final period.

Sorokin stopped 22 of 24 shots for New York, which had totalled 13 goals in winning the first two games of its current four-game road trip.

Kapanen, Hofer lead Blues over Bruins

Kasperi Kapanen had a goal and two assists to support a 36-save effort from Joel Hofer that sparked the St. Louis Blues to a needed 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.

Kevin Hayes and Brandon Saad added a goal and an assist each to help the Blues end a three-game losing streak and gain some ground in the Western Conference play-off race. St. Louis is six points back of the current holders of the West's final wild-card spot, the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

Despite the Bruins owning a 24-17 shot advantage through the first two periods, the Blues built a 4-0 lead as Hofer outperformed counterpart Jeremy Swayman.

Kapanen opened the scoring midway through the first period and Robert Thomas made it 2-0 with a power-play goal later on in the frame. Hayes then extended the margin by burying a feed from Kapanen on a 3-on-1 rush with 4:31 elapsed in the second period.

Saad scored St. Louis' fourth goal later in the second period before the Bruins finally got on the board early in the third on David Pastrnak's team-leading 41st goal of the season.

Boston later pulled Swayman with still nearly nine minutes remaining, a decision that enabled St. Louis' Alexey Toropchenko to score into an empty net with 8:33 left to play.

Swayman stopped just 17 of 21 shots as the Bruins had a four-game point streak snapped (3-0-1).

Rangers extend Devils' struggles, pad lead in Metropolitan Division

Jonathan Quick made 20 saves and the New York Rangers scored twice in the second period en route to a 3-1 win over the still-slumping New Jersey Devils.

Mika Zibanejad and Erik Gustafsson accounted for the second-period goals that helped New York extend its lead over the second-place Carolina Hurricanes to four points in the Metropolitan Division. 

Quick yielded only Simon Nemec's goal with 2:34 remaining to record his 389th career victory, two shy of tying Ryan Miller for the most by an American-born goaltender in NHL history.

Vincent Trocheck tacked on an empty-net goal with 1:13 left that sealed New Jersey's eighth loss in 11 games, and third in four outings since Travis Green replaced the fired Lindy Ruff as head coach last week. 

Kaapo Kahknonen stopped 23 of 25 shots in his Devils' debut. The goaltender was acquired by New Jersey from the San Jose Sharks at Friday's trade deadline.

 

Nick Cousins scored twice and the Florida Panthers held on for their sixth straight victory, 5-3 over the New Jersey Devils to spoil the debut of interim coach Travis Green on Tuesday.

Eetu Luostarinen, Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart had the other goals as Florida won for the 12th time in 13 games and extended its NHL lead with 43 wins and 90 points.

The Panthers, who are 25-4-2 since Dec. 23, have won 14 of their past 15 road games.

Jack Hughes, Timo Meier and Colin Miller scored for the Devils, who lost their third straight and fell in their first game since Lindy Ruff was relieved of his coaching duties on Monday.

Backup Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves to win his fourth consecutive start.

 

Oilers rally past Bruins

Leon Draisaitl scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the surging Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

Stuart Skinner made 25 saves and Connor McDavid assisted on both goals to help the Oilers win their fifth straight game.

McDavid extended his point streak to 12 games, during which he has two goals and 26 assists. He is one point away from his fourth straight 100-point season.

Pavel Zacha scored for the Bruins, who dropped to 2-2-3 in their last seven home games.

 

Canadiens rally to end Predators’ streak

Nick Suzuki scored just 17 seconds into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens rallied for a 4-3 victory, ending the Nashville Predators’ eight-game winning streak.

The Predators appeared headed for another win when Ryan O’Reilly scored with 7:41 left in regulation for a 3-2 lead, but Joshua Roy tallied the tying goal 2 ½ minutes later.

Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist for Nashville, which suffered its first loss since Feb. 15.

Brendan Gallagher and David Savard also scored for the Canadiens, who have points in four straight (2-0-2).

Alex Ovechkin ignited a run of five unanswered goals and the Washington Capitals picked up a key 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.

Ovechkin’s 17th goal of the season and 839th of his career at 4:34 of the second period cut Philadelphia’s lead to 2-1 before Sonny Milano and John Carlson scored later in the period to put Washington ahead for good.

Anthony Mantha and Dylan Strome added third-period goals for the Capitals, who have won five of seven to pull within four points of the third-place Flyers in the Metropolitan Division.

Bobby Brink and Owen Tippett scored for Philadelphia, which has dropped five of seven. The Flyers played their fourth straight game without All-Star forward Travis Konecny, who could return next week.

Coyotes snap 14-game losing streak

Dylan Guenther snapped a tie in the third period and the Arizona Coyotes held on for a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators to end a 14-game losing streak.

Michael Carcone, J.J. Moser, Nick Schmaltz and Matias Maccelli had the other goals to help Arizona stop a 0-12-2 slide with its first win since Jan. 22.

Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves to earn his first win since Dec. 27 after going 0-8-0 in 10 appearances since.

Ottawa lost its third straight game and both meetings this season against Arizona.

Dostal stars in Ducks’ win

Lukas Dostal stopped 52 shots and Jack Hughes’ penalty shot with 2.1 seconds remaining to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Frank Vatrano scored twice and Adam Henrique and Max Jones had the other goals as the Ducks won back-to-back games after a three-game skid.

Hughes had a goal and two assists but failed to convert a late penalty shot, awarded when Vatrano deliberately knocked the net off its moorings following a scramble around Dostal.

Igor Shesterkin took a shutout late into the third period and Alexis Lafreniere scored twice as the New York Rangers rolled to their ninth straight victory, 5-1 over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist and Artemi Panarin set up three scores for the Rangers, who moved within one point of Boston for the Eastern Conference lead.

Shesterkin finished with 39 saves, allowing only Jack Hughes’ goal with 2:07 remaining, and also picked up his first assist of the season.

The Rangers killed off all five New Jersey power plays and have remained perfect since a loss to Stanley Cup champion Vegas on Jan. 26.

New York’s nine-game streak is tied for the third-longest in franchise history, bettered only by 10-game runs in 1939-40 and 1972-73.

The Devils lost their second straight and third in four games.

 

Hurricanes end Panthers’ 11-game road winning streak

Sebastian Aho scored with 18.9 seconds left and Pyotr Kochetkov turned aside 44 shots to help the Carolina Hurricanes to a 1-0 victory, snapping the Florida Panthers’ 11-game road winning streak.

Kochetkov stopped 16 shots in the first period, 12 in the second and 16 more in the third for his third shutout of the season and seventh of his career.

Florida’s 11-game road streak was one short of matching the NHL record.

Carolina has won four straight and six of seven to tighten its grip on second place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Panthers played the final two periods without star forward Matthew Tkachuk and defenseman Gustav Forsling.

 

Maple Leafs handle Golden Knights

Auston Matthews kept up his torrid pace with his league-leading 52nd goal and the Toronto Maple Leafs rolled past the Vegas Golden Knights, 7-3 for their sixth straight win.

Matthews was held off the scoresheet until he tallied midway through the third period to extend Toronto’s lead to 7-3.

He has goals in five straight games with 10 during that span and has 18 with nine assists in his past 14 contests.

Max Domi scored twice and Pontus Holmberg, David Kampf, Jacke McCabe and John Tavares also had goals to help the Maple Leafs win their 10th in 12 games.

Vegas set a season high in goals allowed and lost its fourth in five games.

Charlie Coyle had a goal and an assist to back 20 saves from Jeremy Swayman as the Boston Bruins remained hot with Monday's 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets in a clash of division leaders.

Jake DeBrusk scored short-handed in the third period to help Boston to a fifth consecutive victory, while Brad Marchand and Jakub Lauko added goals for the Atlantic leaders. 

The Central-leading Jets lost for just the second time in 12 games and had a streak of 34 straight games allowing three goals or fewer halted. The run was one short of an NHL record in a single season during the expansion era, as the Minnesota Wild did so in 35 in a row from Jan.-April 2005.

After Lauko and Winnipeg's Vladislav Namestnikov traded early goals, Coyle put the Bruins back ahead by redirecting Hampus Lindholm's shot past Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with 1:34 left in the first period. 

DeBrusk fired a loose puck by Hellebuyck with the Jets on a power play to increase the lead to 3-1 with 5:25 left to play, and Marchand sealed the win with an empty-net goal inside the final minute.

Hellebuyck stopped 17 of 20 shots for Winnipeg.

Devils' Toffoli has hat trick, overtime winner against Golden Knights

Tyler Toffoli scored with 2:25 left in overtime to cap his second hat trick of the season and give the New Jersey Devils a thrilling 6-5 comeback win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

New Jersey trailed 5-3 late in the second period before getting two unanswered goals from Toffoli and another from Curtis Lazar to halt the defending Stanley Cup champions' three-game winning streak.

Lazar also scored in the first period and Nico Hischier added a goal to help the Devils avoid a fourth loss in five games.

Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist for Vegas, which also received a goal and two assists from Nicolas Roy and one goal and one assist from Chandler Stephenson.

Toffoli started New Jersey's rally by ripping a shot past Knights goaltender Logan Thompson with 15.8 seconds left in the second period. Lazar's second of the night created a 5-5 tie midway through the third, and Toffoli completed his three-goal outing by converting a feed from Luke Hughes with the Devils on a 3-on-2 rush in overtime.

Hischier and Lazar each struck in the first period after Pavel Dorofeyev gave Vegas a 1-0 lead 6:12 in. Toffoli extended the margin to 3-1 with just 1:37 elapsed in the second, but the Knights scored four times before the end of the period to move ahead.

Marchessault tied the game at 3-3 with a pair of goals 2:21 apart, and Stephenson scored just 48 seconds after Marchessault's second before Roy gave Vegas a 5-3 edge in the final minute of the period.

Thompson finished with 32 saves while Vitek Vanecek stopped 27 shots for the Devils. 

Canucks' Demko blanks Blackhawks for fifth shutout

Thatcher Demko turned aside 31 shots to record his fifth shutout of the season and lead the red-hot Vancouver Canucks to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

The All-Star goaltender tied Arizona's Connor Ingram and Pittsburgh's Tristan Jarry for the NHL's lead in shutouts while sparking Vancouver to its third straight win. The Pacific Division-leading Canucks are now 8-0-1 over a nine-game point streak.

Vancouver got all its scoring in the opening period, as Pius Suter knocked in a feed from Andrei Kuzmenko 1:47 in and Quinn Hughes blasted a shot over the shoulder of Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek less than five minutes later. Kuzmenko was credited with an assist on that goal as well. 

Demko stopped 10 shots in the second period and 12 more in the third to keep the Canucks' lead intact.

The Blackhawks, who had won two of their last three games, were shut out for the fifth time this season. Mrazek finished with 27 saves. 

Lukas Dostal stopped a career-high 55 shots before Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 30th goal in overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.

Dostal protected a 1-0 lead until John Tavares banged home a rebound on a power play with 5:43 left in regulation.

Frank Vatrano scored in the second period for the Ducks, who lost their third straight and dropped to 1-5-0 on a season-high eight-game homestand.

Toronto extended its streak of not being shut out to 181 games, a run that started in November 2021.

Hischier leads Devils over Capitals

Nico Hischier scored two goals and set up another on the eve of his 25th birthday to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals.

Dawson Mercer and Michael McLeod also scored twice for the Devils, who squandered a two-goal lead before recovering to win for the fourth time in five games.

Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist for Washington to end a 10-game point drought. The Capitals dropped to 1-3-2 in their last six games.

Max Pacioretty went pointless in his Capitals debut, playing his first NHL game in nearly a year after tearing his right Achilles tendon.

Owen Tippett scored with 1:35 remaining in overtime to lead the surging Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Ryan Poeling, who entered with two goals in 25 games this season, had the other two goals and Samuel Ersson stopped 24 shots as the Flyers improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine games.

Philadelphia already has 39 points in 31 games this season after it had 75 all last season and missed the playoffs.

Michael McLeod and Jesper Bratt tallied for New Jersey, which has points in nine of its last 12 games (8-3-1).

Rangers snap Maple Leafs’ point streak

Mika Zibanejad scored two goals and Igor Shesterkin turned aside 31 shots as the New York Rangers ended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ nine-game point streak, 5-2.

Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin also had goals to help the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers win their third straight.

Auston Matthews scored two more goals for Toronto, giving him 11 in his last seven games and a league-high 25.

The Leafs had been 6-0-3 in their last nine games.

Marchenko has hat trick as Blue Jackets roll

Kirill Marchenko had a natural hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 9-4 rout of the reeling Buffalo Sabres.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, who had the second-highest scoring game in franchise history.

Columbus set the record in a 10-0 win over Montreal on Nov. 4, 2016.

Casey Mittelstadt had three assists as the Sabres dropped to 3-7-1 in their past 11 games. The nine goals were the most allowed by Buffalo since a 10-4 loss to Dallas in March.

Devon Levi was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots and was replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 11 of 16 shots the rest of the way.

The Los Angeles Kings rallied from a three-goal deficit in the third period for a 4-3 overtime victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday to match the NHL record with their 10th straight road win.

Drew Doughty scored 33 seconds into overtime after Phillip Danault scored twice in the third period. Arthur Kaliyev scored the equalizer just 90 seconds after Danault drew the Kings within one.

Los Angeles has won seven of eight and matched the road win record of the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres.

Kirill Marchenko, Johnny Gaudreau and Mathieu Olivier scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost eight games this season after holding a lead in the final 20 minutes.

Bratt’s late goal rescues Devils in Hughes brothers’ reunion

Jesper Bratt scored his second goal of the night with 34 seconds remaining and the New Jersey Devils recovered for a wild 6-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks in a game featuring three Hughes brothers.

Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists, while younger brother and teammate Luke Hughes added a power-play goal for the Devils.

Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes had an assist on Sam Lafferty’s third-period goal and Nils Hoglander’s tally with 3:26 remaining forged a 5-5 tie.

Hertl, Sharks stun Islanders with OT win

William Eklund completed the San Jose Sharks’ comeback from a three-goal deficit in the third period with a late overtime goal in a stunning 5-4 win over the New York Islanders.

Tomas Hertl had a hat trick, scoring twice in the final 3 ½ minutes after Kevin Labanc’s goal ignited San Jose’s rally.

Julien Gauthier, Brock Nelson, Mike Reilly and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders, who have at least a point in nine of 10 (5-1-4).

 

Jacob McDonald and Anthony scored two goals apiece and the San Jose Sharks defeated the New Jersey Devils 6-3 on Friday for their first road win of the season.

Kaapo Kahkonen matched a season high with 44 saves and Mikael Granlund had a goal and two assists for the league-worst Sharks, who entered 0-10-0 away from home with just six goals in those games.

Dawson Mercer, Jack Hughes and Ondrej Palat scored as New Jersey had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Akira Schmid stopped just 12 of 17 shots one day after making 44 saves in a 4-3 overtime win at Philadelphia.

Timo Meier returned for the Devils to face his former team after missing seven games with a lower-body injury.

Merzlikins leads Blue Jackets over Senators

Elvis Merzlikins turned aside 41 shots and the Columbus Blue Jackets scored four unanswered goals in a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Goals by Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk gave Ottawa a 2-0 lead midway through the first period, but Patrik Laine scored on a power play with 5:07 left in the period and Dmitri Voronkov tallied less than a minute later to tie it.

Adam Fantilli and Boone Jenner scored in the second period and Merzlikins was perfect on 16 third-period shots to help the Jackets improve to 4-2-0 in their last six games.

Joonas Korpisalo made 19 saves for the Senators in his first game against the team where he spent the first 7 ½ seasons of his career.

 

Filip Forsberg scored just 14 seconds into overtime to lift the Nashville Predators to their sixth consecutive win, 3-2 over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

Michael McCarron scored twice in the first period and Juuse Saros stopped 29 shots for Nashville, which followed a four-game losing streak with wins in six straight.

Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust had goals for the Penguins, who dropped to 2-4-1 in their last seven.

Gustav Nyquist assisted on McCarron’s first goal to extend his point streak to nine games. He has two goals and nine assists during that stretch.

Pittsburgh went scoreless on both power-play opportunities and is 0 for 20 over the last eight games.

Wild stop slide in Hynes’ debut

Joel Eriksson Ek and Frederick Gaudreau scored first-period goals and the Minnesota Wild snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues in John Hynes’ debut as coach.

Matt Boldy added a goal in the third period and Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for Minnesota, playing its first game under Hynes after the Wild fired Dean Evason on Monday.

Colton Parayko scored for the Blues, who dropped to 3-4-0 in their past seven games.

Devils score 3 in third period to rally past Islanders

Curtis Lazar scored with 23 seconds left to cap a three-goal third period and rally the New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders.

New York took a 4-2 lead into the third period, but Jack Hughes scored at 5:08 and Nico Hischier netted the equaliser on a 4-on-3 power play with 8:50 remaining.

Michael McLeod and Dawson Mercer also scored for the Devils, who have won two straight after losing six of seven.

Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists for the Islanders, who had a six-game point streak snapped (3-1-3).

Artemi Panarin and Jimmy Vesey each scored twice and the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-3 on Saturday to extend their point streak to 11 games.

Panarin scored a first-period power-play goal and his second goal midway through the third forged a 3-3 tie.

He set a franchise record by running his season-opening point streak to a career-high 15 games, breaking the mark he shared with Rod Gilbert.

The 15-game point streak is the longest by a Ranger since Wayne Gretzky in 1996-97.

Igor Shesterkin returned after missing four games with an undisclosed injury and stopped 30 shots as the Rangers improved to 10-0-1 in their last 11 contests.

Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist in his return after missing five games with an upper-body injury, but New Jersey lost for the fourth time in five games.

 

Avalanche score 6 straight to beat Stars

Valeri Nichushkin ignited a four-goal third period and the Colorado Avalanche scored six unanswered goals in a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Colorado’s Cale Makar became the fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 200 career assists with three in his 254th game.

Tyler Seguin’s second goal of the game early in the second period gave Dallas a 3-0 lead, but Colorado responded with goals by Miles Wood and Ryan Johansen to make it a one-goal game.

Nichushkin’s unassisted goal tied it at 4:19 of the third, Mikko Rantanan put the Avs on top with 5:28 remaining and Andrew Cogliano’s goal just 21 seconds later extended the advantage.

The Stars had a four-game winning streak snapped, while Colorado won its third in a row.

 

Ovechkin scores 827th as Capitals stay hot

Alex Ovechkin scored the 827th goal of his career to lead the surging Washington Capitals to a 4-3 win over the reeling Columbus Blue Jackets.

Hendrix Lapierre had a goal and two assists and Sonny Milano added a goal and an assist for the Capitals, who have won four straight and eight of 10.

Johnny Gaudreau, Justin Danforth and Ivan Provorov scored as Columbus dropped its eighth in a row (0-6-2).

The New Jersey Devils lost star center Jack Hughes to an injury and Kevin Hayes scored twice in the St. Louis Blues’ 4-1 victory.

Hughes, who entered with an NHL-leading 15 assists and 20 points, left after awkwardly crashing into the boards following a slight hook by Blues defenseman Torey Krug. No penalty was called on the play.

New Jersey was already playing without center Nico Hischier, who missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.

Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas had the other goals and Jordan Binnington made 34 saves to prevent the Blues from a third consecutive loss.

Curtis Lazer scored for the Devils, who had won three in a row.

 

Ersson leads Flyers past Sabres

Samuel Ersson turned away 22 shots and Bobby Brink had a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Scott Laughton, Louie Belpedio, Travis Konecny and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Flyers, who had allowed 15 goals during the three-game skid, including a 5-2 loss to the Sabres on Wednesday.

Henri Jokiharju had the lone goal for Buffalo, which failed in a bid for a three-game winning streak.

Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury.

The New Jersey Devils and star forward Timo Meier have agreed to an eight-year, $70.4 million extension through the 2030-31 season, the team announced hours before Wednesday's NHL draft.

Acquired from the San Jose Sharks in February, Meier was a restricted free agent who scored a career-high 40 goals this past season. The 26-year-old was an All-Star for the Sharks in 2021-22 and finished that season with 35 goals and a career-high 76 points in 77 games.

"We were excited to acquire Timo at the (trade) deadline, but it's an even greater feeling knowing that he'll be here for the next eight seasons," Devils executive vice president/general manager Tom Fitzgerald said in a statement. "Timo's unique blend of style of play, goal-scoring ability, and physical presence will prove valuable for us."

Meier is the second key player the Devils have locked up on a long contract this offseason. The team previously signed forward Jesper Bratt to an eight-year, $63 million deal earlier this month.

"In talking with him, Timo realised, and I always believed, that this is the right place for him as a player and a person," Fitzgerald said. "We've locked up another piece of our young core that is looking to take that next step together for greater success."

New Jersey also acquired 34-goal scorer Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames on Tuesday to add another proven forward to one of the NHL's up-and-coming teams. After missing the playoffs for four consecutive seasons, the Devils won a franchise-record 52 games in 2022-23 and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The ninth overall pick of the 2015 draft, Meier has recorded 163 goals and 167 assists in 472 career regular-season games and has reached the 30-goal mark in three of his seven NHL seasons. The Swiss native posted nine goals and five assists in 21 regular-season games for New Jersey following the trade, though he managed only two goals in 11 playoff games.

 

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