The Anaheim Ducks Florida Panthers Hats Authentic , at the start of the NHL season, had another promising development heading into Saturday’s game at the Vegas Golden Knights with the resolution of a contract dispute with young left wing standout Nick Ritchie.The signing of Ritchie to a three-year, $4.6 million deal comes at an opportune time when Anaheim (5-1-1) has suffered a series of injuries.Forwards Ryan Getzlaf (groin), Ondrej Kase (concussion), Carter Rowney (upper body) and Jakob Silfverberg (finger) were unable to play in the Ducks’ 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday at Honda Center.Article continues below ...Ritchie, who started practicing with the Ducks on Thursday, will likely not play Saturday against Vegas or Sunday when Anaheim hosts the Buffalo Sabres. The 22-year-old Ritchie is in the process of completing his immigration paperwork before he can play, and he is rusty from sitting out all of training camp and the first seven games of the season during the holdout.“My view on Ritchie is he’s got a ways to go, that’s for sure,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle told the Orange County Register. “He’s got some catching up to do. He looks very fit.”Vegas (3-4-0) and Anaheim enter Saturday’s game coming off impressive wins.Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for his 407th NHL victory in the Golden Knights’ 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.Fleury tied Glenn Hall for 10th place on the career wins list, and is 16 from tying Tony Esposito for ninth place (423).William Karlsson scored his first goal of the season and had two assists Custom Florida Panthers Jerseys , and Cody Eakin scored for the Golden Knights, who won consecutive games for the first time this season.Vegas, playing its second game of a five-game homestand, has allowed one goal in its past two games after giving up 19 in the first five.“We played a lot better defensively,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “I thought the guys competed defensively. Everyone was important for our team tonight.”Fleury said he saw flashbacks to Vegas’ defensive performance last year, which helped the new franchise to break expansion-team records and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. “Our speed and transition game, and the way our guys played defensively in our zone, preventing those passes in the crease or the backdoor (passes), and I think we’ve been better in the last few games with that,” Fleury said.Ryan Kesler scored twice to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead heading into the third period against the visiting New York Islanders, his first multi-goal game since a hat trick on Jan. 1 www.officialkings.com , 2017, against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Ducks won 4-1 to start 2-0-1 at the Honda Center this season. They are 3-1-0 on the road.Kesler sat out the first three games of the season while completing a lengthy offseason rehabilitation process after major hip surgery in the summer of 2017. The injury limited him to 44 games last season. His goals against the Islanders gave him three goals and four points to start this season. “I’ve got a little to improve on and it’s a long year, but it’s a good start,” Kesler said. Goaltender John Gibson stopped 34 of 35 shots against the Islanders. He was 35 seconds from his second shutout of the season when New York’s Casey Cizikas scored. The Ducks are off to their best start since opening the 2014-15 season 6-1-0 en route to an appearance in the Western Conference finals. Carlyle joked that reason for the hot start is “just purely coaching, 100 percent,” but he knows his players have made things click by coming together to overcome the rash of early-season injuries.“It’s obviously the players,” he said. “We have some young guys who have provided energy. We have some veteran people. We’ve been able to formulate a group that’s still a work in progress. We know there’s lots of work ahead of us.” NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville Predators know they might well end up seeing Dallas in the first round of the playoffs, and that made protecting home ice even more crucial after a loss here to the Stars only six days ago.Ryan Johansen scored 43 seconds into overtime and the Predators beat the Stars 3-2 on Thursday night for their second straight win and a little cushion in the Central Division.“They’ve been playing some very good hockey lately, and we’re not going to let that happen anymore, especially in our building Los Angeles Kings T-Shirts Authentic ,” Johansen said.Juuse Saros made 27 saves to improve to 14-6-1, with wins in six of his last seven starts.Viktor Arvidsson had a goal and an assist, and Craig Smith also scored for Nashville, which evened the season series at 2-2-0 and pushed the second-place Predators’ lead to nine points over the Stars in the division.Taylor Fedun and Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas, which ended its season-high five-game winning streak.Saros made a pad save on Alexander Radulov with 1:38 left in regulation, and Nashville had a chance late with Johansen’s shot from the slot wide.Johansen made up for that with his winner with a wrister from the inside edge of the right circle set up by a pass from Arvidsson.“Great individual play there,” Johansen said of his linemate. “We were kind of looping and swooping waiting for some space. Even when he got it down in the corner, it was bobbling and he had to make a good play and he put it right in my wheelhouse. It’s good to finish it off.”Nashville had a lot on the line, wanting revenge after a 3-1 loss to the Stars last weekend.“It’s good to get a win just because they’ve beaten us the last two times,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said of the Stars. “They’re playing well right now.”The Predators also debuted forwards Brian Boyle and Cody McLeod after a pair of trades Wednesday , and center Kyle Turris returned after missing the last 17 games because of an injury. The 6-foot-6 Boyle immediately joined the top power-play unit Los Angeles Kings Hoodies Authentic , planting himself in front of the net, and McLeod just missed on a scoring chance in the second.Khudobin came in having allowed only one goal in Dallas’ last two wins over Nashville, and he robbed Kevin Fiala on a 2-on-1 with a great glove save in the first period. But the Predators finally beat the goalie by literally scoring off him. Fiala’s shot deflected off Smith’s back over the net and bounced off Khudobin’s back and in at 17:48 of the period.“That was the easiest goal I’ve scored,” Smith said. “We’re doing a lot of the right things. I thought we made some good plays. You’re going to have to make enough good plays to get good looks. I thought we did that. We got rewarded with an easy one.”The Stars tied it up twice in the third to set up the final game of the season series Feb. 19 in Dallas. Heiskanen tied it up at 3:05, and Fedun tied it at quicklyafter Arvidsson’s goal put Nashville up 2-1. In between, defenseman Roman Polak swept the puck away from the goal line after Colton Sissons‘ slap shot went off Khudobin’s stick.“We’re coming out and believing that we can win games, and we put ourselves in a really good situation tonight,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. “We got a point and we got five out of six points in this rink against a really good hockey team.”NOTES: Nashville improved to 24-3-1 when scoring first. … Buffalo Beauts goalie Shannon Szabados was at the game ahead of the NWHL All-Star Game here Sunday. … Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer and football coach Jeremy Pruitt were at the game.UP NEXTStars: Visit Arizona on Saturday.Predators: Visit St. Louis on Saturday afternoon.