sharks 1, devils 0

Nico Sturm scored late in the first period and Mackenzie Blackwood made 44 saves as the San Jose Sharks beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0 on Sunday night.

Sturm scored his third goal of the season when his backhand caromed off New Jersey’s Timo Meier and past Devils netminder Jake Allen with less than four minutes to play in the opening period. Carl Grundstrom and Henry Thrun assisted.

Blackwood, who played five seasons for the Devils before he was traded to the Sharks in June 2023, recorded the 11th shutout of his career in his first game as a visiting netminder at Prudential Center.

The loss ended the Devils’s three-game winning streak.

New Jersey was coming off Saturday’s 4-3 comeback overtime road win against the Islanders.

Allen made 26 saves.

Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini, the top overall pick in last June’s draft, made his debut against an Eastern Conference opponent in his fourth game and first road game this season. The 18-year-old Celebrini has three goals and four points overall. He recently returned after missing 12 games with a hip injury.

ducks 4, blue jackets 2

John Gibson made 38 saves, Brett Leason and Jackson LaCombe each scored their first goals of the season and the Anaheim Ducks ended a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night.

Gibson made his season debut after having an emergency appendectomy in September.

The Ducks got off to a fast start when Leason scored 3:13 into the game off a feed from Cutter Gauthier.

Columbus tied it late in the first period when Yegor Chinakhov scored his fourth goal of the season. Anaheim grabbed a 2-1 lead at 4:22 of the second period when LaCombe converted off a loose puck.

Leo Carlsson scored for the Ducks with 9:40 left in the game, but the Blue Jackets moved back within a goal on a shot from the slot by Kirill Marchenko with 3:03 left.

Isac Lundestrom scored into an empty net to put the game away.

Jack Johnson played in his 1,200th career NHL game, while Zach Werenski became the fourth defenseman to play in 500 career games with Columbus. Werenski assisted Chinakhov’s goal.

The veteran Gibson showed little rust in his season debut, starting off with a win. Gibson is in his 12th season with Anaheim and last had a winning record in the 2018-19 season.