NHL exhibition game capsules

Hockey is back.

Twelve exhibition games were played over three days to prepare the 24 teams involved in the postseason for the start of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, which begin Saturday.

These were the first games played since March 12, the day the NHL regular season was paused due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

The games between the 12 Western Conference teams took place at Rogers Place in Edmonton, and the Eastern Conference teams played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Here is a look at each game:

Thursday

Nashville Predators 2, Dallas Stars 0 -- Juuse Saros and Pekka Rinne combined to make 26 saves for the Predators in a shutout of the Stars at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals, and Filip Forsberg had two assists for the Predators. Saros made 12 saves playing the first 30:32; Rinne made 14 in relief. Nashville blocked 23 shots, including five by defenseman Roman Josi. Ben Bishop made 16 saves on 18 shots in 30:32 of ice time for Dallas. He was replaced by Anton Khudobin, who made nine saves. Stars forward Tyler Seguin did not play but is expected to play in the Qualifiers.

Columbus Blue Jackets 4, Boston Bruins 1-- The Blue Jackets scored three goals in the first period against Tuukka Rask at Scotiabank Arena. Boone Jenner, Zach Werenski, Gustav Nyquist gave Columbus a 3-0 lead, and Alexandre Texier scored into an empty net. Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins combined for 23 saves for the Blue Jackets. David Pastrnak scored, and Rask and Jaroslav Halak combined for 27 saves for the Bruins. Boston forward Brad Marchand didn't play the final 11:40 after he appeared to grimace and showed discomfort killing a penalty during his last shift.

Vegas Golden Knights 4, Arizona Coyotes 1-- Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for the Golden Knights against the Coyotes at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Reilly Smith scored two special-teams goals in the first period, and Alex Tuch and Nick Cousins scored for Vegas. Darcy Kuemper played two periods and made 17 saves for Arizona; Antti Raanta played the third period and made seven saves. Taylor Hall scored a power-play goal at 9:14 of the third period to get the Coyotes within 2-1. Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz left the game at 13:14 of the second period after taking a hit from Ryan Reaves.

Wednesday

Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Florida Panthers 0-- Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov each scored two goals in the Tampa Bay victory at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Luke Schenn scored, Ondrej Palat had three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the Lightning. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Panthers.

Colorado Avalanche 3, Minnesota Wild 2 -- Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar assisted on the game-winning goal for the Avalanche against the Wild at Rogers Place. Rantanen missed the final 12 games of the regular season with a shoulder injury. Makar missed three practices during training camp with an undisclosed injury. Nathan MacKinnon and Joonas Donskoi scored for the Avalanche. Philipp Grubauer started and made 18 saves on 20 shots in 30:20 of ice time. Pavel Francouz made 14 saves and did not allow a goal in 29:30. Eric Staal had a goal and an assist for the Wild, and Matt Dumba scored. Alex Stalock started and made 14 saves on 17 shots playing 30:22. Devan Dubnyk made 12 saves and did not allow a goal in 27:35.

Washington Capitals 3, Carolina Hurricanes 2-- Alex Ovechkin had two goals and an assist for the Capitals against the Hurricanes at Scotiabank Arena. Dmitry Orlov had two assists, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored, and Braden Holtby made 12 saves in two periods for the Capitals. Vitek Vanecek, Washington's new backup goalie because of a season-ending injury to Ilya Samsonov, made 14 saves in the third period. Vincent Trocheck and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes. Petr Mrazek allowed three goals on 16 shots before he was replaced by James Reimer with 7:35 remaining in the second period. Reimer didn't allow a goal on nine shots.

Chicago Blackhawks 4, St. Louis Blues 0 --Corey Crawford made 11 saves before exiting in the second period of a shutout for the Blackhawks against the Blues at Rogers Place. Crawford missed all but the last day of training camp following a positive test for COVID-19. Malcolm Subban made 10 saves after replacing Crawford at 10:06 of the second, and Dominik Kubalik had two goals and an assist for the Blackhawks. Jordan Binnington made 11 saves on 13 shots through the first two periods for St. Louis, and Jake Allen made eight saves in the third period.

New York Islanders 2, New York Rangers 1-- Devon Toews scored with 4:25 left in the third period for the Islanders at Scotiabank Arena. Semyon Varlamov started for the Islanders and made 12 saves in the first period and seven in the second; Thomas Greiss faced eight shots in the third period and made seven saves. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin made six saves before allowing a goal by Anthony Beauvillier at 9:15 of the second period on the last shot he faced. Henrik Lundqvist relieved Shesterkin and made 14 saves, allowing the goal to Toews that gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead. Filip Chytil scored for the Rangers.

Winnipeg Jets 4, Vancouver Canucks 1 -- Connor Hellebuyck made 37 saves for the Jets against the Canucks at Rogers Place. Blake Wheeler had a goal and an assist, and Tucker Poolman, Nikolaj Ehlers and Dmitry Kulikov scored for Winnipeg.
Jacob Markstrom allowed three goals on 33 shots in his first game for Vancouver since having knee surgery Feb. 26. Antoine Roussel scored for the Canucks.

Tuesday

-- Scott Laughton scored for the Flyers on a breakaway with 2:20 left in overtime at Scotiabank Arena in the first NHL game played since the season was paused March 12. Sidney Crosby, who returned to practice for Penguins on Monday in Toronto after being absent since July 18, had no shots on goal in 19:03 of ice time. Carter Hart made 11 saves on 12 shots on goal playing the first two periods for the Flyers. Brian Elliott made 13 saves on 14 shots in the third period and overtime. Conor Sheary and Jason Zucker scored for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray made 10 saves on 12 shots on goal in 29:55 of ice time. He was replaced by Tristan Jarry, who made nine saves on 10 shots on goal.

Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Montreal Canadiens 2-- Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists and Ilya Mikheyev scored 33 seconds into his first game since Dec. 27 for the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. Rielly returned for one game, against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 10, after fracturing his foot Jan. 12 and before the NHL season was paused March 12. Mikheyev played for the first time since having surgery to repair an artery and severed tendons in his wrist Dec. 28. Carey Price made 19 saves, and Tomas Tatar and Paul Byron scored for Montreal.

Edmonton Oilers 4, Calgary Flames 1 -- Connor McDavid scored two goals and Leon Draisaitl had an assist for the Oilers against the Flames at Rogers Place. Kailer Yamamoto also scored for Edmonton. Mikko Koskinen started and saved all 17 shots in 29:41. Mike Smith made 19 saves in relief. Elias Lindholm scored for the Flames, Cam Talbot made 19 saves on 21 shots in 29:40, and David Rittich made seven saves in relief.