Marleau makes history, but Sharks fall to Knights

Robin Lehner made 29 saves and stopped all three shootout attempts as the Vegas Golden Knights, on a night that San Jose’s Patrick Marleau played in his 1,768th game to pass Gordie Howe and etch his name in the NHL record book for most games played, won their seventh straight contest, 3-2 on Monday in Las Vegas.
Alex Tuch scored the game-winner in the first round of the shootout and Mark Stone scored two goals for Vegas, which moved into sole possession of first place in the West Division, two points ahead of the idle Colorado Avalanche. The seven-game winning streak is just one shy of the team record, set in 2017-18 and matched just prior to the pandemic pause last season.
It was the fifth consecutive multi-point game for Stone. Max Pacioretty and Shea Theodore each had two assists while Lehner improved to 11-1-2 for the season.
Nikolai Knyzhov and Noah Gregor scored goals while Martin Jones finished with 38 saves for the Sharks.
The 41-year-old Marleau, who also was playing in his 899th consecutive game, moved past Howe, who had held the record since Nov. 26, 1961, when he played his 1,000th game.
Marleau, who made his NHL debut on Oct. 1, 1997, started the contest, and the game was paused at the first stoppage in play for a special video acknowledgement of the record by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
“Just extremely grateful for all the support everyone’s given me throughout my career,” Marleau told NBC Sports California afterward. “I don’t know how many calls or texts I’ve got. It’ll take me a week to get back to them. It’s
been overwhelmingly humbling, to say the least.”
San Jose took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Knyzhov scooped up a puck along as the boards near the left point and then rifled a snap shot through traffic and over Lehner’s right shoulder for his second goal of the season.
Marleau had a chance to make it 2-0 a few minutes later when he broke in on a breakaway, but Lehner turned away his backhand try.
Gregor made it 2-0 early in the second period with his fourth goal of the season, spinning and firing a shot from the right circle that bounced off Lehner’s glove and into the net.
Vegas came back to tie it on a pair of power-play goals by Stone, the first 53 seconds after Gregor’s goal on a deflection of Theodore’s point shot.
The second came early in the third period when Stone took a Pacioretty pass by the left side of the goal and then whipped a shot around Jones inside the far post for his 17th goal of the season.
Marleau was one of the Sharks players who were unsuccessful in the shootout.

Kaprizov sets Wild’s rookie points mark in win over Coyotes
Kirill Kaprizov broke the single-season franchise record for points by a rookie to help the Minnesota Wild earn a 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Monday in Glendale, Ariz.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist while Cam Talbot made 22 saves for the Wild, who have won four in a row.
Kaprizov, Jordan Greenway, Marcus Johansson and Jonas Brodin also scored for Minnesota, and Nick Bonino and Matt Dumba added two assists apiece.
Christian Fischer and Alex Goligoski scored and Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for Arizona. The Coyotes are in fourth place in the West Division, but only one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues, who have played three fewer games.
Kaprizov scored on a power play at 9:19 of the first period to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. He increased his point total to 37 (18 goals, 19 assists) in 44 games this season.
Kaprizov broke the team’s rookie record set over 71 games by Marian Gaborik in 2000-01.
Fischer took advantage of a turnover by Ryan Suter to tie the score 1-1 at 14:28 of the first period with his first tally of the season. Fischer, who reached double figures in goals in back-to-back seasons from 2017-19, ended a 43-game drought without a regular-season goal.
Greenway had five goals in the first 22 games, but none in his next 21 before scoring from in close off a feed from Marcus Foligno at 3:37 of the second period, giving the Wild a 2-1 lead.
Johansson got to a loose puck in the crease and pushed it across the goal line to make it 3-1 on a power play at 9:38 of the middle period.
The Coyotes cut it to 3-2 at 1:15 of the third period when Goligoski scored on a slap shot from the left point.
Fiala re-established the two-goal lead for the Wild when he scored at 6:20 to make it 4-2. Brodin scored into an empty net with 2:07 left.

Results
Golden Knights    3-2    Sharks
Wild    5-2    Coyotes
Oilers    4-1    Canadiens
Panthers    4-2    Blue Jackets
Lightning    3-2    Hurricanes
Stars    3-2    Red Wings
Senators    4-2    Flames
Predators    5-2    Blackhawks