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.

Brayden Schenn and Pavel Buchnevich each notched a hat trick and the St. Louis Blues rolled to an 8-2 drubbing of the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

Schenn’s hat trick was the fourth of his career and first since 2017 and Buchnevich tallied his third.

They became the third pair of teammates in franchise history to record hat tricks in the same game. It last happened in 1986. 

Alexey Toropchenko and Torey Krug also scored for the Blues and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves to help St. Louis win for the fourth time in five games.

Alexander Georgiev started and gave up six goals on 28 shots before he was replaced by Ivan Prosvetov early in the third period.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar remained one win shy of 300.

Maple Leafs’ Nylander extends point streak in win

William Nylander scored to extend his franchise-record season-opening point streak to 15 games as the Toronto Maple Leafs cooled off the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2.

Noah Gregor had a goal and an assist and Ilya Samsonov stopped 31 shots as Toronto won for the third time in four games following a four-game skid (0-2-2).

Nylander tallied his 10th goal of the season in the second period to forge a 2-2 tie and Gregor’s goal with 5:38 left in the period put the Leafs on top for good.

Nylander has 22 points during his streak and ranks among the NHL scoring leaders.

Vancouver got goals from J.T. Miller and Pius Suter as its five-game winning streak was snapped. The Canucks dropped to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.

Penguins down Sabres for fourth straight win

Erik Karlsson scored twice and Tristan Jarry had a shutout in his return from injury to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to their fourth consecutive win, 4-0 over the Buffalo Sabres.

Evgeni Malkin and Drew O’Connor also scored for the Penguins, who have outscored opponents 20-5 during the four-game run after losing five of six.

Jarry made 35 saves for his third shutout of the season and 16th of his career. He missed Thursday’s game at Los Angeles with a facial injury.