Goal against cham­pions St. Louis

Michael Raffl’s fifth goal of the season! The Carinthian scored to put his Philadelphia Flyers 2:1 ahead in the 36th minute of their 4:3 overtime win over the St. Louis Blues. Justin Faulk (15th) put the Stanley Cup champions ahead, while Tyler Pitlick (33rd) equalised for the Flyers.

After Raffl’s goal, Travis Konecny (41st) extended the lead, but Ryan O'Reilly (51st) and Alexander Steen (54th) sent the home side into overtime. In overtime, Jakub Voracek fired Philadelphia to victory, handing St. Louis their first home defeat after nine consecutive home wins. Philadelphia have 56 points from 47 games (25-16-6) and currently sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division. St. Louis (30-10-8) remain the NHL’s highest-scoring team with 68 points.

In the second game on Wednesday night, the Chicago Blackhawks won 4:1 at the Montreal Canadiens. Zack Smith scored twice.

Stanley Cup Final in their first season, the play-offs in their second, and currently just three points behind the Pacific Division leaders: not enough for the Vegas Golden Knights. The young NHL franchise have made the first coaching change in their history, dismissing Gerard Gallant and his assistant Mike Kelly.

Peter DeBoer, who was dismissed by the San Jose Sharks in mid-December after four and a half years, becomes the new head coach. "We felt this change was necessary for our team to reach its full potential. It is capable of more than we have shown so far this season," said General Manager Kelly McCrimmon, despite a 24-19-6 record. The irony is that the coach set to lead the Pacific Division at the All-Star event has lost his job.