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Former Boston Bruins goalie Malcolm Subban, shown making a save for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019, is joining his fourth NHL team after being traded by the Chicago Blackhawks to the Buffalo Sabres. Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres addressed their suddenly thin depth in goal by acquiring Malcolm Subban in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

The move became necessary when goaltender Dustin Tokarski was placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League to join the Sabres for their game Thursday night at Florida.

The Blackhawks acquired future considerations for Subban, who had a 2-2-1 record and 3.38 goals-against average in five games this season with Rockford, Chicago’s AHL affiliate.

The struggling Sabres were already without starter Craig Anderson, who has missed 12 games because of an upper-body injury. Tokarski is 3-4-2 since Anderson got hurt, while Aaron Dell is 0-4 and has allowed 15 goals in five appearances since being called up from the minors.

Buffalo also activated top-line center Casey Mittelstadt off injured reserve. Mittelstadt missed 21 games because of an upper-body injury.

Subban is the younger brother of New Jersey Devils defenseman PK Subban. He was selected by Boston in the first round of the 2012 draft. He joins his fourth team after being traded to Chicago by Vegas in February 2020.

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Subban, who turns 28 on Dec. 21, has a 36-31-8 record in 82 career NHL games with a 3.02 goals-against average and .899 save percentage.

BLUES: Goaltender Jordan Binnington entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol, putting the team in a difficult situation because of salary-cap constraints.

General Manager Doug Armstrong said Binnington tested positive for the coronavirus. It was not clear if Binnington had any symptoms.

Binnington joins forward Tyler Bozak as Blues players in league virus protocol. They are also without injured forwards David Perron, James Neal and Klim Kostin.

St. Louis plans to recall goalie Charlie Lindgren on Friday, but could not do so in time for its game Thursday night at the Tampa Bay Lightning. League rules stipulate that because the Blues don’t have the cap room to add another player to the roster, they have to get through one game with an emergency backup.

Ville Husso was set to start at Tampa Bay with 23-year-old mask painter Kyle Konin backing up. Konin most recently played club hockey at Grand Valley State University.

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THURSDAY’S GAMES

LIGHTNING 4, BLUES 2: Victor Hedman had two goals and an assist, and Tampa Bay beat visiting St. Louis.

Tampa Bay also got goals from Ondrej Palat and Anthony Cirelli, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves.

Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich scored for the Blues. Ville Husso stopped 31 shots.

SENATORS 3, HURRICANES 2: Alex Formenton scored twice and Josh Norris broke a tie 19 seconds after Ottawa lost its lead in a win at Carolina.

Norris pushed in a rebound with 5:54 left and the Senators hung on for their league-low fifth victory of the season.

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Anton Forsberg made 47 saves for Ottawa in his seventh game with the Senators and 63rd of his career. He previously played for Columbus, Chicago and Carolina.

CAPITALS 4, BLACKHAWKS 3: Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Alex Ovechkin in the shootout after Seth Jones tied it midway through the third period, and Chicago rallied for a win at Washington.

Patrick Kane scored the shootout winner, and Fleury got some assistance from his goalposts to help Chicago win for the third time in five games.

The Blackhawks have won seven of 10 games since Derek King took over as interim coach when Jeremy Colliton was fired.

The Capitals lost by blowing a lead for the second time in two games. They coughed up a 4-1 lead and fell in regulation at Florida on Tuesday.

PANTHERS 7, SABRES 4: Anton Lundell scored twice, including the go-ahead goal, and Florida came back from three down for the second straight game to beat visiting Buffalo.

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Aaron Ekblad had two goals and an assist, Lucas Carlsson scored his first NHL goal and added an assist, and Sam Reinhart scored and had three assists for the Panthers. Jonathan Huberdeau also had a goal and three assists.

SHARKS 2, ISLANDERS 1: Erik Karlsson scored 39 seconds into overtime and visiting San Jose handed New York its ninth straight loss.

Nick Bonino also scored and Timo Meier had two assists for the Sharks, who have won three straight and five of six. Adin Hill made 24 saves.

AVALANCHE 4, CANADIENS 1: Cale Makar scored to put Colorado ahead to stay late in the second period, Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist, and the Avalanche won in Montreal.

Andre Borkovsky and Gabriel Landeskog also scored for the Avalanche, who bounced back from an ugly 8-3 loss at Toronto a night earlier.

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