Carey Price, returning from a three-game injury absence, stopped 33 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Montreal Canadiens blanked the visiting Vancouver Canucks 2-0 Thursday night.

Price thrived in his return from an undisclosed lower-body injury that bothered him for several weeks. He has now won nine of his past 12 games. Jordie Benn and Jonathan Drouin scored for the Canadiens in their first home game since Dec. 17.

The Canadiens posted their fifth win in six games and 10th in the past 14. The Canucks suffered only their fifth loss in 14 outings.

The Canucks lost rookie center Elias Pettersson, the club’s top scorer, to an apparent leg injury 5:48 into the second period. Pettersson’s right leg twisted awkwardly as he became entangled with Montreal rookie center Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

Blues 5, Capitals 2

Alex Pietrangelo finished with one goal and one assist as St. Louis defeated visiting Washington. The Blues snapped a two-game losing streak and ended Washington’s five-game road winning streak.

Tyler Bozak, Colton Parayko, Oskar Sundqvist and Robert Thomas also scored for St. Louis, while Alex Ovechkin and Brett Connolly replied for the Capitals.

Ovechkin ended a six-game stretch without a goal by scoring in the first period. It was his 30th goal this season, and he joined former Capital Mike Gartner as the only NHL players to reach that mark in each of their first 14 seasons.

Lightning 6, Kings 2

Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each scored goals on a two-man advantage less than two minutes apart in the first period as Tampa Bay extended its points streak to 16 games with a victory at Los Angeles.

After going 13-0-1 in December to become just the eighth team in the last 10 years to avoid a loss in regulation during a calendar month, the Lightning made it 1-0-0 in the new year. Only five other teams in the past 10 years have gone on points streaks of at least 16 games.

Steven Stamkos added a goal and two assists while Kucherov also had three assists as Tampa Bay earned its seventh win in a row.

Islanders 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)

Devon Toews scored his first NHL goal 1:48 into overtime as surging New York edged Chicago in Uniondale, N.Y.

Toews, who was playing in his fifth career game, put back the rebound of his own shot to give the Islanders their fifth consecutive win. New York is also 3-0-1 in four games at Nassau Coliseum, where it will play 16 more regular-season contests.

Mathew Barzal scored both goals in regulation for the Islanders. Robin Lehner recorded 19 saves in winning his sixth straight decision. Dominik Kahun and Patrick Kane scored for the Blackhawks, who got 47 saves from Collin Delia.

Hurricanes 5, Flyers 3

Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and an assist, and Dougie Hamilton and Sebastian Aho had each two points as visiting Carolina held off Philadelphia.

Hamilton, Justin Williams and Warren Foegele scored one goal each, and Aho recorded two assists for the Hurricanes. Carolina goaltender Petr Mrazek, who was playing in his 200th career NHL game, stopped 34 shots.

Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk each scored in the third period for the Flyers, who cut the deficit to 4-3 before dropping their fifth consecutive game. Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek had two assists apiece.

Bruins 6, Flames 4

Jake DeBrusk and Brad Marchand each scored two goals, 11 different Boston players registered points, and the Bruins beat visiting Calgary.

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, and John Moore also scored. Torey Krug, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron each added a pair of helpers for the Bruins, who won their third straight. Jaroslav Halak stopped 33 of 37 shots and recorded his third assist this season on Pastrnak’s tally.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and an assist, and Michael Frolik, Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames, whose two-game winning streak and four-game point streak came to an end.

Sabers 4, Panthers 3

Jeff Skinner scored two goals, leading host Buffalo past Florida. Skinner’s 28 goals rank second in the NHL behind Ovechkin’s 30. He has already overshadowed his performance last season, when he had 24 goals in 82 games with the Hurricanes.

The Sabres, who also got goals from Tage Thompson and Sam Reinhart, snapped a three-game winless streak (0-2-1). Buffalo’s Linus Ullmark made 35 saves to improve his season record to 9-1-3.

Frank Vatrano, Mike Hoffman and Aleksander Barkov scored for Florida. Roberto Luongo made 29 saves for the Panthers.

Wild 4, Maple Leafs 3

Zach Parise scored early in the third period, and Minnesota held on to earn a comeback win at Toronto.

Jared Spurgeon notched a goal and two assists for the Wild, and Charlie Coyle had a goal and an assist. Mikko Koivu added a goal, and Parise also had an assist.

Mitch Marner scored twice for the Maple Leafs, who led 2-0 and 3-2. William Nylander also scored a goal and John Tavares added two assists for Toronto.

—Field Level Media