NHL

The hockey world championships were pulled from Belarus on Monday following pressure from opposition groups and a threatened boycott by sponsors.

Keith Yandle got his 100th career goal, Chris Driedger made 23 saves and the Florida Panthers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Sunday night.

Casey DeSmith felt the puck at his feet, looked down to confirm it was indeed the case then exhaled as his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates poured over the bench in the middle of an empty arena to congratulate their backup goaltender, the one hardly playing like a backup.

Robby Fabbri scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:42 left in the third period, Dylan Larkin got his second goal into an empty net and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Saturday night. 

Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin each scored twice and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 23 shots for his fifth career shutout, leading the New York Rangers to a 5-0 win over the Islanders on Saturday night.

Joe Thornton scored his first goal for Toronto, linemates Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner also connected for the first time this season, and the Maple Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Saturday night.

Jeff Petry and Tomas Tatar each scored twice, Carey Price made 34 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 on Saturday night.

The Nashville Predators are showing scoring depth, good goaltending and an ability to finish. 

The Minnesota Wild won only two games last season when trailing after two periods. They have already equaled that total during the first week of the season.

Max Pacioretty scored 7 seconds into overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.