Mikko Rantanen had two goals, Alexandar Georgiev had 31 saves for his third shutout of the season and 11th of his career, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Denver on Monday night.

Nathan MacKinnon also scored for the Avalanche, who have won six in a row and have points in eight straight.

Rantanen has goals in five straight games and MacKinnon recorded at least a point in the eighth consecutive game.

Colorado played its fourth straight game without reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar.

Adin Hill turned away 31 of 33 shots for the Golden Knights, who have dropped two in a row but remain in first place in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of Los Angeles.

Both teams had players in the lineup who were acquired Sunday. Forward Ivan Barbashev came to Vegas in a deal with St. Louis and was on the first line with Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault. New Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson was in the third pairing after coming over from Chicago.

Johnson was part of Colorado’s Stanley Cup-winning team last season before signing with the Blackhawks in the offseason.

The Avalanche scored on their first shot for the third straight game, and they did it just 14 seconds after the opening faceoff.

Hill played the puck behind the net and tried to pass it up the zone. Rantanen batted it out of mid-air and wristed it in the goal before Hill could get back into the net. It was the fastest Colorado goal this year and is tied for the seventh fastest goal in franchise history.

The Avalanche got the first power play of the game at 13:34 of the second period. They didn’t cash in but Rantanen scored on a one-timer from J.T. Compher at 16:20 of the period to expand the lead.

It was his 40th of the season, the first time he has eclipsed the 40-goal mark.

Hill came off for an extra skater with 3:50 left and MacKinnon scored into the empty net 17 seconds later. It was his 22nd of the season.

–Field Level Media

Thatcher Demko returned to the lineup after a three-month injury absence and stopped 34 shots for the win as the visiting Vancouver Canucks edged the Dallas Stars 5-4 in overtime on Monday night.

The California native made his first start since Dec. 1, when he stopped 15 shots against the Florida Panthers before having to leave with a groin injury.

Andrei Kuzmenko scored the winner 48 seconds into the overtime on Monday for the Canucks, who are 3-1-1 in their past five games. The winning tally stood up after a five-minute video review to see if Vancouver was offside on the play.

Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals, Kuzmenko had a goal and two assists and Vasily Podkolzin and Sheldon Dries each scored a goal for the Canucks. Quinn Hughes chipped in three assists.

Jamie Benn contributed a goal and an assist while Evgenii Dadonov, Nils Lundkvist and Roope Hintz also scored for Dallas, which fell to 1-3-3 in its past seven games. Jake Oettinger stopped 16 shots.

The Stars tied it 4-4 early in the third period when defenseman Lundkvist took a wrist shot that deflected off a Canucks defender and sailed into the upper half of the net.

Beauvillier opened the scoring just 3:27 into the first period, shooting from a sharp angle and beating Oettinger for his 14th goal.

The teams traded goals just 23 seconds apart during a Canucks power play halfway through the first period. Benn scored while killing the penalty to tie it 1-1, and the Canucks answered on the man advantage with a Dries tip-in goal at 9:00.

Hughes then set up Podkolzin, who made it 3-1 with his second goal of the season at 15:03 of the first.

Making his Dallas debut after being acquired in a trade on Sunday, Dadonov scored at 4:33 of the second to make it 3-2.

Beauvillier notched his second of the game at 11:28 of the second to restore the Canucks’ two-goal lead.

Hintz fired a snap shot through Demko’s legs on a power play to make it 4-3 with just over two minutes left in the second.

–Field Level Media

Pavel Zacha scored a tiebreaking goal in the final minute of the second period, and the Boston Bruins held on to beat the host Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Monday night.

Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves to improve to 10-1-3 in his past 14 decisions for the Bruins, who have started 3-0-0 on a four-game Western Conference road trip, extending their winning streak to seven games.

Tomas Nosek and Nick Foligno rounded out the Boston offense with first-period goals. Dmitry Orlov had two assists while David Pastrnak added one assist to reach the 80-point plateau for the fourth time in his NHL career.

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid scored twice for the first 50-goal season of his NHL career. It was his 61st game of the season, making him the fastest player to reach the 50-goal milestone since Mario Lemieux (50 games), Jaromir Jagr (59 games) and Alexander Mogilny (60 games) in 1995-96.

Leon Draisaitl assisted on McDavid’s opening goal just 2:17 into the first period, extending his point streak to nine games.

McDavid is on a four-game goal scoring streak, having netted two in each of those contests.

Boston had a 30-24 shots advantage despite going 0-for-5 on the power play. Stuart Skinner made 27 saves as Edmonton lost its second straight game.

Edmonton’s star duo teamed up for the opening goal. Draisaitl sent a stretch pass down the boards to McDavid, whose wrister beat Swayman low from the left circle.

Nosek scored his first goal since Dec. 17 as Boston evened the score a mere 13 seconds later.

Garnet Hathaway and Orlov, who were acquired by Boston from the Washington Capitals last week, recorded their first points with the Bruins. The former touched a feed to the front of the net for Nosek’s chip-in.

Boston took its first lead with 4:54 left in the opening stanza. After a McDavid turnover, Foligno started up on a quick two-on-one rush, got a pass back from Charlie Coyle and slipped a short-side shot past Skinner.

Edmonton knotted the score again 12:20 into the second period. Out of the box, Klim Kostin evaded Boston defender Charlie McAvoy’s check behind the net and slipped a puck to McDavid, who danced in the slot to make it 2-2.

Boston grabbed the lead back on Zacha’s great effort goal with 29.9 seconds left in the middle frame. Following a Pastrnak shot into traffic, his Czech linemate dove for a loose puck outside the left crease and deflected it over Skinner.

The hosts pushed for much of the final frame, but it was to no avail. Kostin took a double minor for catching Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron with a high stick with 4:30 left.

Boston’s advantage became a five-on-three for 1:56 after a slash by Vincent Desharnais, who blocked multiple Pastrnak shots during the preceding sequence.

–Field Level Media

Claude Giroux had a goal and three assists, and the host Ottawa Senators defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 on Monday night.

Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle also scored for the Senators. Cam Talbot made 22 saves.

Tyler Bertuzzi and David Perron scored for the Red Wings, while Magnus Hellberg made a career-high 36 saves. Jake Walman blocked a career-best seven shots.

The teams will face each other again in Ottawa on Tuesday night. A postponement in December led to the back-to-back set.

Bertuzzi provided the only scoring in the opening period, even though the Red Wings were outshot 15-9. He got behind the defense after Pius Suter passed the puck from his own blue line. Bertuzzi patiently skated around Talbot and tucked the puck inside the goalpost for his fourth goal of the season. Oskar Sundqvist picked up the second assist.

Ottawa grabbed a 4-2 lead in the second period.

With Filip Hronek in the penalty box for interference, Sanderson scored his fourth goal on a slap shot from the point past a screened Hellberg. Giroux and Derick Brassard were credited with the assists.

The Red Wings answered with a power-play goal at 5:11 after Chabot was penalized for holding. Perron scored his 15th goal from the left circle, beating Talbot on the short side. Hronek picked up an assist.

With Perron in the box for interference, Batherson scored his 19th goal. He skated into the right circle and beat Hellberg on the stick side. Chabot and Alex DeBrincat had the assists.

Giroux scored his 24th goal on a breakaway to give Ottawa the lead. Dylan Gambrell and Chabot had the assists.

Detroit got caught in a line change as Tkachuk beat Hellberg from the left side at 17:41 for his 25th goal.

Chabot scored on a four-on-four situation in the first minute of the third to make it 5-2. Stutzle scored an unassisted goal with five minutes left for the final margin.

The Senators lead the season series 2-1.

–Field Level Media

The Montreal Canadiens and San Jose Sharks might not be going anywhere when it comes to the playoffs, but they certainly have some important players on the move.

The Canadiens are scheduled to visit the Sharks on Tuesday night, two days after both made significant trades.

Montreal dealt four-time 20-goal scorer Evgenii Dadonov to the Dallas Stars on Sunday in exchange for fourth-line forward Denis Gurianov.

The Sharks made even bigger waves across the NHL later in the day when they sent leading goal scorer Timo Meier to the New Jersey Devils in a huge trade that saw nine players change teams.

Meier, 26, has 31 goals this season, setting him on course to surpass his NHL career high of 35 goals last season.

In all, the Sharks sent Meier, defensemen Scott Harrington and Santeri Hatakka, forward Timur Ibragimov, goaltender Zachary Emond and a 2024 fifth-round pick (originally from the Colorado Avalanche) to the Devils. In return, San Jose received forwards Andreas Johnsson and Fabian Zetterlund, defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Nikita Okhotiuk, a conditional 2023 first-round pick, a conditional 2024 second-rounder and a 2024 seventh-rounder

San Jose general manager Mike Grier said the move wasn’t part of a “full-on rebuild,” but rather a financial decision.

Meier is in the final year of a four-year, $24-million contract. He was looking to sign an eight-year extension and the Sharks weren’t in position to make that happen.

“It wasn’t something we would have been able to do and make work over the eight years or so,” Grier said. “It didn’t make sense.”

Grier was pleased with what the Sharks received in return for Meier.

Zetterlund was a third-round pick of the Devils in the 2017 NHL Draft. He had six goals and 14 assists in 45 games with New Jersey this season.

Johnsson has played in 248 NHL games over six seasons with the Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs. His best season came in 2018-19, when he scored 20 goals and totaled 43 points in 73 games with the Maple Leafs, but has played in only two games with the Devils this season.

Okhotiuk, has appeared in 15 games over the past two seasons with New Jersey, combining for two goals and an assist, while Mukhamadullin has yet to appear in an NHL game.

Zetterlund and Johnsson will play for the Sharks immediately, Grier said, while he envisions Mukhamadullin being a top-four defenseman eventually.

The good news for San Jose fans is they appear to be done trading their top players.

There had been speculation that the Sharks would unload defenseman Erik Karlsson, who is also having the best season of his 14-year career, but Grier wasn’t leaning that direction on Sunday.

“At this time, I’m anticipating he’s here for the rest of the season,” he said.

As for the Canadiens, Gurianov had two goals and seven assists in 43 games with the Stars this season (though did register 20 goals in 64 regular-season games and nine more in a Stanley Cup Playoff run that ended with the Stars losing to Tampa Bay in the Final.

Gurianov joins a team that’s already seething after losing the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Saturday, Montreal’s fourth loss in as many games against the Senators this season.

“That’s frustrating,” Montreal forward Michael Pezzetta said. “Obviously, not happy right now, and not a good feeling.”

–Field Level Media