Jonathan Marchessault scored during a wild opening minute of overtime to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Monday that strengthened the defending Stanley Cup champions' bid for a play-off spot.

Marchessault's goal came just 19 seconds after Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson denied Pavel Buchnevich on a penalty shot that the Blues were awarded when Knights' defenseman Noah Hanifin tripped Buchnevich from behind 30 seconds into overtime.

Thompson recorded 31 saves in Vegas' third straight win, which increased the Golden Knights' lead on St. Louis to five points for the Western Conference's final wild-card berth.

The Blues lost for just the second time in their last eight games, but still managed to pick up a point when Brandon Saad knocked in a cross-ice pass from Brayden Schenn to tie the game at 1-1 with 5:07 left in regulation.

Vegas' Pavel Dorofeyev had the game's lone goal up to that point, a close-range attempt he powered past St. Louis netminder Jordan Binnington 5:59 into the contest.

Binnington regrouped to stop all 12 shots he faced in the second period and finished with 32 saves.

Kings hold on to edge Canucks for fourth straight win

The Los Angeles Kings were able to maintain a two-point edge over Vegas for third place in the Pacific Division by hanging on for a 3-2 win over the first-place Vancouver Canucks.

Anže Kopitar had a goal and an assist and Cam Talbot came up with 21 saves as Los Angeles extended its winning streak to four games.

The Kings took a 3-1 lead when Blake Lizotte and Kopitar scored less than two minutes apart late in the second period, but Vancouver fought back to make it a one-goal game when Brock Boeser's shot deflected off Kopitar and trickled past Talbot with 2:53 left to play.

Vancouver had a chance to draw even when Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty received a tripping penalty with 21 seconds remaining, but the Kings held on with the Canucks pulling goaltender Casey DeSmith for a 6-on-4 advantage.

Kevin Fiala's 24th goal of the season gave the Kings a 1-0 lead 7:01 in, but Vancouver drew even when Sam Lafferty stuffed the puck past Talbot with 7:10 to go in the first period.

DeSmith had 16 saves for the Canucks, who had a three-game winning streak halted.

Anze Kopitar scored two of Los Angeles' four first-period goals as the Kings rolled to a 5-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday to boost their playoff hopes.

Cam Talbot notched his third shutout of the season by stopping all 28 shots he faced from a Chicago team that had scored seven goals in each of its previous two games, both victories.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alex Laferriere and Jordan Spence each contributed a goal and an assist to help the Kings move two points clear of the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Divison.

The Kings dominated the first two periods and wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Dubois rocketed a rebound past Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom on a power play just 3:10 in.

Laferriere redirected a shot from teammate Matt Roy into the net a mere 2:23 later for a 2-0 lead, and Kopitar added his 19th and 20th goals of the season to cause the Blackhawks to pull Soderblom for Petr Mrazek after a little over 14 minutes.

Spence made it 5-0 with his first goal of 2023-24, a shot that trickled by a screened Mrazek 2:31 into the second period.

Soderblom stopped just 10 of 14 shots before being removed, while Mrazek finished with 22 saves.

Toffoli, Brossoit lead Jets' blowout of Ducks

The Winnipeg Jets, meanwhile, created a three-way tie atop the Central Division by cruising to a 6-0 rout of the floundering Anaheim Ducks.

Tyler Toffoli scored two goals to back a 21-save shutout for Laurent Brossoit as Winnipeg joined Colorado and Dallas in first place in the Central. All three teams have 89 points, though the Jets hold a game in hand on the Avalanche and two on the Stars.

Dylan DeMelo added a goal and an assist and Josh Morrissey recorded three assists as the Jets bounced back from Wednesday's 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators.

The Ducks were shut out for a second straight game and now have lost five straight, all in regulation.

Kyle Connor got the Jets on the board with 3:40 left in the first period and Nate Schmidt extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal in the second.

Winnipeg then put the game out of reach with a four-goal third, with DeMelo starting the barrage 4:59 into the period.

Toffoli, playing his third game since being acquired by the Jets from the New Jersey Devils at last week's trade deadline, then netted his first two goals with his new team within a span of less than three minutes to increase the margin to 5-0.

Mason Appleton closed out the scoring with a power-play goal with 5.5 seconds left.

John Gibson made 32 saves for Anaheim, which was outshot by a 38-21 margin.