Around the League notebook for Wednesday, Dec. 3

WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

MINNESOTA 2, Montreal 1

CHICAGO 4, St. Louis 1

WINNIPEG 3, Edmonton 2 (OT)

ANAHEIM 5, Philadelphia 4 (SO)

NHL COMMUNITY REACTS TO BÉLIVEAU'S PASSING

* Many NHL players shared memories and stories of Jean Beliveau via social media, including Pointe-Claire, Quebec, native Anthony Duclair (New York Rangers) and Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban.

* In accordance with the wishes of the Beliveau family, the Canadiens announced the details of events in the days leading up to Mr. Beliveau's funeral.

Click here to leave a personal message on the online tribute page.

* Players and fans observed a moment of silence in honor of Beliveau before puck drop in the Canadiens/Wild and Oilers/Jets games. In addition, the Canadiens wore special No. 4 decals on their helmets to honor their legendary captain.

DUCKS EDGE FLYERS IN BACK-AND-FORTH BATTLE

After combining for six goals in the second period, the Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers traded scores in the final 5:02 of regulation – including Wayne Simmonds' tying goal with 1.8 seconds left on the clock – before Anaheim emerged with a 5-4 shootout victory.

* Simmonds (2-0—2) scored the latest tying-goal this season and the seventh equalizer in the final minute of regulation this season. The others: Niklas Kronwall of the Detroit Red Wings (19:21, Oct. 23 vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins) and Tomas Tatar (19:52, Nov. 5 at the New York Rangers), Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks (19:26, Nov. 20 vs. the Florida Panthers), Florida's Nick Bjugstad (19:29, Nov. 22 at the Nashville Predators), Curtis Glencross of the Calgary Flames (19:55, Nov. 22 vs. the New Jersey Devils) and Alex Chiasson of the Ottawa Senators (19:19, Nov. 25 at the St. Louis Blues). Of those seven players, three saw their team go on to win the game in extra time (Kronwall, Glencross, Chiasson).

* With the victory, the Ducks (16-6-5, 37 points) took sole possession of the top spot in the Western Conference and kept pace with the Lightning (17-6-3, 37 points) for first place in the NHL. Tampa Bay, however, has a game in hand.

* Corey Perry registered two assists in regulation and scored the deciding goal in the shootout, his second such tally this season (also Nov. 20 at the Vancouver Canucks). Overall Perry improved to 27-for-73 (37.0%) in career shootout attempts, including 12 game-deciding goals.

* Jakob Silfverberg (0-1—1) also scored in the tiebreaker to boost his career shootout numbers to 10-for-17 (58.8%).

* Frederik Andersen stopped 31 shots – including 20 in the third period and overtime – and denied two of three shootout attempts to win in his career-high 13th consecutive start. Andersen is 12-4-4 with a 2.43 goals-against average and .915 save percentage in 21 games this season.

* Patrick Maroon (1-1—2) and Ryan Getzlaf (1-1—2) also posted multi-point performances for the Ducks, who overcame deficits of 1-0 and 3-1 in the second period en route to the victory.

* Sami Vatanen found the back of the net for the seventh time this season, marking a new career-high. With 21 points in 27 games this season, Vatanen has matched his best single-season output (6-15—21 in 48 GP) and shares second in scoring among all defensemen (tied with Calgary's TJ Brodie).

STRONG THIRD PERIOD POWERS BLACKHAWKS

With the game tied 1-1 after 40 minutes, the Chicago Blackhawks scored three times in the opening 5:19 of the third period – including two tallies by Patrick Kane – en route to a 4-1 win against the Blues.

* The Blackhawks (16-8-1, 33 points) have won four straight games and 10 of their past 13 to move within one point of the Predators (16-6-2, 34 points) and Blues (16-7-2, 34 points) for the top spot in the Central Division.

* Antti Raanta stopped 40 of the 41 shots he faced (both career-highs) to pick up his second win of the season (the other was a 32-save shutout vs. the Flyers on Oct. 21). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Raanta is the first Blackhawks goaltender with at least 40 saves and no more than one goal against in a victory since Feb. 3, 2004, when Craig Anderson stopped 43 shots in a 4-1 road win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

* Kane had his third two-goal game of the season and leads the Blackhawks in goals (12) and points (25). He has 15-25—40 in 42 career games against the Blues, matching his highest point total against one opponent (also 15-25—40 in 28 GP vs. the Dallas Stars).

* Kris Versteeg (1-2—3) factored on all three third-period goals for his second three-point game of the season (Nov. 16 vs. Dallas) and 11th of his career. Overall he has three straight multi-point games for the first time in his career (1-6—7) and ranks second on the club with 8-13—21.

* The Blackhawks improved to 11-0-2 in their past 13 regular-season games against the Blues at United Center dating to a 6-5 win on April 7, 2010.

* Brad Richards notched an assist to push his point streak to three games (3-2—5). He has 3-21—24 in 22 career games against the Blues.

JETS STAGE LATE RALLY, WIN IN OT

After falling behind 2-1 early in the third period, Dustin Byfuglien tied the game with 3:06 remaining and Mathieu Perreault tallied the overtime winner just 17 seconds into the extra frame to rally the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers.

* Per Elias, Wednesday marked the first time the Jets have tied a game in the final 3:30 and won in overtime since they relocated to Winnipeg in 2011-12. The last such victory for the franchise was on March 12, 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers rallied for a 5-4 win at Philadelphia on the strength of Andrew Ladd's tying goal at 19:15 of the third period and Ron Hainsey's overtime winner.

* Perreault (1-1—2) posted his first game-winning goal since Oct. 3, 2013, when he scored his first career overtime goal vs. Minnesota while with Anaheim. Perreault has nine game-winners.

* Jacob Trouba (1-2—3) matched a career-high with two assists and set a new personal-best with three points. He now has 4-3—7 in four career games against the Oilers.

* Per Elias, Trouba (20 years, 280 days) is the youngest player to post three points for the Jets since the team moved to Winnipeg. Overall he is the fifth-youngest player in franchise history at the time of his first three-point game, behind Evander Kane (18 years, 103 days; Nov. 13, 2009), Zach Bogosian (18 years, 216 days; Feb. 16, 2009), Ilya Kovalchuk (18 years, 223 days; Nov. 24, 2001) and Patrik Stefan (19 years, 23 days; Oct. 9, 1999).

* Byfuglien (1-1—2) posted his first multi-point game since Mar. 16 when he tallied 2-1—3 vs. Dallas.

POMINVILLE'S GOAL LIFTS WILD TO VICTORY

Jason Zucker scored from a crazy angle 19 seconds after the opening faceoff and Jason Pominville's goal midway through the second period stood as the game-winner in the Minnesota Wild's 2-1 home victory against Montreal.

* Zucker has 2-1—3 in his past three games and ranks second on the club with 10 goals this season (10-3—13).

* Zach Parise assisted on the game-winner to push his point streak to three games (1-4—5). He leads the club with 9-10—19 in 19 games.

* Pominville scored his second game-winning goal of the season (28th of his career) and ranks second on the club with 16 points (5-11—16) in 24 games.

* Darcy Kuemper stopped 18 shots but had his shutout bid thwarted with 58 seconds remaining when Alex Galchenyuk found the back of the net. Kuemper improved to 11-7-3 with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage this season.

* The Wild has a 8-2-1 record at Xcel Energy Center this season, with Kuemper in net for seven of those victories (7-2-0). Overall Kuemper is 18-5-2 with a 1.89 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage all-time in Minnesota (regular season and playoffs).

LOOSE PUCKS

Flyers forward Jakub Voracek recorded one assist to tie Penguins center Sidney Crosby for the League lead in assists (24) and points (33). . . . Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban had an assist and has 5-6—11 in six career games against the Wild. . . . Wild defenseman Christian Folin recorded his second career assist/point and first since his NHL debut on Apr. 10 vs. St. Louis. . . Oilers forward Jordan Eberle (300) and Jets forward Mark Scheifele (100) played in milestone games. . . . The Los Angeles Kings re-signed defenseman Alec Martinez to a six-year contract extension. . . . The Ducks announced that goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has agreed to a professional tryout contract. Bryzgalov was selected 44th overall by the Ducks in the 2000 NHL Draft and played in 69 games with the Ducks from 2001-07, serving as the backup to Jean-Sebastien Giguere on Anaheim's Stanley Cup championship team in 2007. . . . The Department of Player Safety announced that Penguins defenseman Robert Bortuzzo has been suspended for two games for interference against Devils forward Jaromir Jagr. . . . Blues coach Ken Hitchcock announced after Wednesday's game that Martin Brodeur will make his first start when St. Louis visits Nashville on Thursday. . . . Brian Rafalski, Karyn Bye Dietz, Jeff Sauer and Lou Vairo dropped the ceremonial puck ahead of their induction into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame on Thursday. Dave Ogrean, Executive Director of USA Hockey, then led the Wild's traditional "Let's Play Hockey" chant.