ALEX PIETRANGELO

Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux scored three goals and the Metropolitan Division beat the Central Division 5-3 in the final 3-on-3 match of the NHL All-Star Game.

Most of the world’s best hockey players are spending this weekend in Las Vegas instead of the Olympic village in Beijing.

Washington star Alexander Ovechkin and high-scoring Edmonton teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl headline the rosters for the NHL All-Star Weekend announced Thursday.

“There hasn’t been a ton of information come out, and then there’s that three-to-five week (quarantine) thing ... it’s kind of been floating around. Obviously, it’s unsettling if that were to be the case when you go over there.”The NHL skipped the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, but committed to Beijing as part of the extension to the current collective bargaining agreement signed with NHL Players' Association. “I’m still a guy that’s wanting to go play in the Olympics,” McDavid said, according to The Canadian Press. “That was a cold slap (to the face).”The NHL went to every Olympics from 1998 through 2014 before declining to send its players three years ago. Owners have always been lukewarm on the Olympics for a number of reasons, including the disruption to the league calendar.

Some NHL players say they are unsettled by word that a positive COVID-19 test during the Winter Olympics in China could lead to a long quarantine.

Golden Knights Canadiens Hockey Montreal Canadiens' Josh Anderson scores past Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury during overtime in Game 3 of an NHL hockey semifinal series, Friday, June 18, 2021, in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP) (Paul Chiasson)MONTREAL — (AP) — Josh Anderson scored his second goal of the night at 12:53 of overtime, Carey Price made 43 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Friday night to a take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup semifinal series. Anderson scored after he knocked down an aerial pass at the offensive blue line. Luke Richardson took over behind and directed the Canadiens to their fourth overtime victory in these playoffs. Nicolas Roy and Alex Pietrangelo scored for Vegas, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots.

Canadiens Golden Knights Hockey Montreal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield celebrates after the goal by teammate Tyler Toffoli during the first period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup semifinal playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher)LAS VEGAS — (AP) — Carey Price made 29 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Wednesday night to tie the Stanley Cup semifinal series at a game apiece. Price improved to 9-4 in the playoffs, his most victories in a postseason. Paul Byron, Joel Armia and Tyler Toffoli scored for Montreal, with Bryon making it 3-0 with 2:45 left in the second period. Edmundson fired a shot that deflected back to Armia, who one-timed it past Fleury’s right skate.

Carey Price made 29 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Wednesday night to tie the Stanley Cup semifinal series at a game apiece.

Canadiens Golden Knights Hockey Vegas Golden Knights right wing Ryan Reaves (75) celebrates after the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup semifinal playoff series Monday, June 14, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher)LAS VEGAS — (AP) — Shea Theodore had a goal and an assist, Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in the first game of the Stanley Cup semifinal. Fleury, whose 90th career playoff win leaves him two shy of tying Grant Fuhr for third place all-time, has now allowed two or fewer goals in nine of his 13 playoff appearances this season. Alec Martinez, Mattias Janmark, and Nick Holden also scored for the Golden Knights, who were vividly fueled by an announced crowd of 17,884 glow-stick waving fans. Teams that win Game 1 are 108-50 (.684) winning a best-of-7 NHL semifinals series.

Shea Theodore had a goal and an assist, Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in the first game of the Stanley Cup semifinal.

Jonathan Marchessault, Max Pacioretty and William Karlsson came through with timely goals for the Vegas Golden Knights in their 4-2 series win over Colorado.

Alex Pietrangelo scored his first goal of the postseason to break a tie and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 in Game 6 to advance to the Stanley Cup semifinals.

Jonathan Marchessault had his fourth career hat trick to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche to tie their second-round series at two games apiece.

Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty scored 45 seconds apart in the third period to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series.

Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each scored twice as the well-rested Colorado Avalanche made quick work of Vegas with their speed, beating the Golden Knights 7-1 in a skirmish-filled Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.

Cam Talbot made 37 saves and the Minnesota Wild beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 despite having only 14 shots on goal to stave off elimination in their opening-round playoff series.

LAS VEGAS — (AP) — Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal at 3:20 of overtime lifted the Minnesota Wild past the Vegas Golden Knights 1-0 in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday. Wild goaltender Cam Talbot stopped all 42 shots he faced. Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury, the first goalie in NHL history to play in 15 consecutive postseasons, made 29 saves. After Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo failed to clear the puck, Eriksson Ek was in the slot to send a shot that went off the skate of Golden Knights defender Alec Martinez and past Fleury. Talbot got some help from his skaters, too, as they registered 11 blocked shots to help keep the game scoreless.

Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal at 3:20 of overtime lifted the Minnesota Wild past the Vegas Golden Knights 1-0 in Game 1 of their first-round series.

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Vegas Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch (89) races for the puck against the Colorado Avalanche during the first period of of Outdoor Lake Tahoe NHL hockey game at Stateline, Nev., Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli))STATELINE, Nev. – Nathan MacKinnon scored a dazzling goal more than nine hours after assisting on another to highlight a most unusual and lengthy outdoor game at Lake Tahoe that the Colorado Avalanche won 3-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. Although it’s fair to say that none of those had the picturesque setting of this rink located on the 18th fairway of a golf course on the shores of Lake Tahoe and surrounded by trees with snow-covered mountains towering in the background. Fleury made 36 saves for Vegas and fell to 0-3 in three career outdoor game starts. AdPART 1The Avs controlled the play under the sun, getting an early goal from Girard and outshooting Vegas 17-8 in the first 20 minutes.

Zdeno Chara is no longer in Boston after the Bruins captain signed with Washington. And the Sabres made an even bigger splash in free agency by landing 2018 NHL MVP Taylor Hall in October. Hall, for example, signed a one-year, $8 million deal with Buffalo by realizing the free-agent market was going to be tight. Oilers general manager Ken Holland chalked it up to the new economic realities facing the NHL. “It’s salary-cap related, which is related to the pandemic, which has given us a hard, flat cap for the foreseeable future,” Holland said.

FILE - In this March 9, 2020, file photo, St. Louis Blues' Alex Pietrangelo (27) and Florida Panthers' Aleksi Saarela (28) chase after the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game in St. Louis. The Vegas Golden Knights have agreed to terms on a $61.6 million, seven-year contract with top free agent Pietrangelo, a person with direct knowledge of the move tells The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)Alex Pietrangelo heard it can snow in Las Vegas and wasn't worried about bundling up his four children if necessary. After leaving the Blues he led to the 2019 title to sign a $61.6 million contract with the Golden Knights, Pietrangelo hopes to play a big role in getting the young franchise to the top of the NHL. Talking with Foley and seeing the other moves the Golden Knights have made to move into perennial Cup contention convinced Pietrangelo to put St. Louis in his past and sign with Vegas.

The Vegas Golden Knights have agreed to terms on a $61.6 million, seven-year contract with top free agent Pietrangelo, a person with direct knowledge of the move tells The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)Alex Pietrangelo is Vegas bound, and the Golden Knights are shuffling the deck to fit him in. Pietrangelo signed a $61.6 million, seven-year deal with Vegas on Monday that carries an $8.8 million annual salary cap hit through 2027. Before registering Pietrangelo's contract, the Golden Knights traded defenseman Nate Schmidt to the Vancouver Canucks for a 2022 third-round pick, clearing his $5.95 million cap hit off the books. The 30-year-old leaves the St. Louis Blues after serving as captain of their 2019 Stanley Cup championship team.

FILE - In this June 15, 2015, file photo, Chicago Blackhawks' goalie Corey Crawford kisses the Stanley Cup Trophy after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series in Chicago. The past few weeks have seen several recent Stanley Cup winners get rid of members of their championship core. The Blackhawks moved on from Corey Crawford, the Washington Capitals did the same with Braden Holtby, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded fellow goalie Matt Murray and forward Patric Hornqvist and the St. Louis Blues signing Torey Krug means captain Alex Pietrangelo will sign elsewhere. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - In this June 15, 2015, file photo, Chicago Blackhawks' goalie Corey Crawford kisses the Stanley Cup Trophy after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series in Chicago. The past few weeks have seen several recent Stanley Cup winners get rid of members of their championship core. Hornqvist was “blindsided” the Pittsburgh Penguins wanted to trade him. The past several weeks have featured several recent Stanley Cup winners breaking up their championship core by saying goodbye to a key player with his name on the trophy. The agitating, go-to-the-net winger helped Pittsburgh win the Cup in 2016 and 2017.

The NHL is embarking on a free agent period like never before in hockey history. A handful of the top free agents are still available, but NHL teams aren't waiting for those big fish to sign to make other moves. Koivu signed for $1.5 million for next season, and they need to re-up top center Pierre-Luc Dubois and other restricted free agents. Teams have to move money, and in order to move money, they might have to move some really good players.”Some good free agents found new homes Saturday. The Buffalo Sabres signed center Cody Eakin to a $4.5 million, two-year contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal.

Jacob Markstrom left Vancouver to sign a six-year, $36 million contract with the Calgary Flames. The Wild quickly addressed their goaltending needs after trading Devan Dubnyk to San Jose, by signing Cam Talbot signing a three-year, $11 million deal. — Veteran forward Wayne Simmonds was among the first free agents to sign, reaching a one-year $1.5 million deal with the Maple Leafs. With starting goalie Corey Crawford leaving for New Jersey in free agency, the Blackhawks also signed goalie Malcolm Subban to a two-year, $1.7 million contract. — The Senators and newly acquired goalie Matt Murray agreed to two-year, $25 million deal.