Enroth thrown in deep but produces the goods

Jhonas Enroth made the most of a surprise start as he made 36 saves to help the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.

With the Sabres trading long-standing goalie Ryan Miller and captain Steve Ott to the St Louis Blues, Enroth had the chance to prove his worth, and he duly did; combined with goals from Cody Hodgson, Brian Flynn, Matt Moulson and Tyler Myers, it gave Buffalo fans reason to be positive.

James Sheppard and Patrick Marleau, with his 24th of the season, tallied for the Sharks.

Jonas Hiller produced an 18-save shut-outas the Anaheim Ducks claimed a 1-0 win over the Blues, playing without their new faces, in the Ducks’ first game back since the Olympic break.

Andrew Cogliano scored early for Anaheim and Hiller, who impressed for Switzerland at the Winter Olympics, made it stick.

Elsewhere, the Colorado Avalanche beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-2 as Gabriel Landeskog took centre stage in the final period.

Finally the Minnesota Wild claimed a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks following a shoot-out.

Rookie Justin Fontaine scored the only goal in the tiebreaker, as goaltender Darcy Kuemper stopped all seven shots that came his way.