BUFFALO Ottawa Senators Hats Womens , N.Y. (AP) St. Louis Blues goalie Carter Hutton is expected to sign with the Buffalo Sabres once the NHL’s free-agency period opens Sunday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions.The person tells The Associated Press that the two sides are close to having the framework of a deal in place after Hutton visited Buffalo this week. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Saturday because agreements cannot be announced until the signing period begins.The 32-year-old Hutton has six seasons of NHL experience, including the past two with the Blues, where he split starting duties with Jake Allen. He finished with a 17-7-3 record and a 2.09 goals-against average in 32 games last year.The Sabres have needs at goalie after electing not to re-sign third-year starter Robin Lehner and veteran backup Chad Johnson.Hutton would form a tandem with Linus Ullmark, who is pegged to make the jump to the NHL level on a full-time basis after spending the past three years developing in the minors.— VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Jacob Markstrom turned in another solid start Thursday night, and then moved on.“There’s another game in two days Custom Ottawa Senators Jerseys , that’s what I’m focusing about,” he said.Markstrom made 29 saves to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver (17-17-4), which has won three of four. Adam Gaudette, Josh Leivo and Loui Eriksson also scored.“Any line can score out there,” Horvat said. “Every line played pretty well, especially after the first period. The first was a little shaky, but after that www.flyersshoponline.com , everyone was doing the little things to win.”Vladimir Tarasenko put up the lone goal for St. Louis (13-16-4). Jake Allen stopped 24 shots.“We’ve got to start scoring, myself included,” forward Tyler Bozak said. “Every goalie in this league is a good goalie, we’ve got to find ways to get it by him. We can’t just always say their goalies had a good game tonight.”The Blues had 15 shots in the first period, but Markstrom stepped up for the Canucks.The crowd at Rogers Arena broke into cheers of “Marky! Marky!” after the goaltender stopped a hard shot by Bozak during a Blues power play 17 minutes into the game.“It definitely wasn’t the prettiest first from us by any means. But Marky came up huge for us and made some unbelievable saves,” Horvat said.“It’s great that we came back out and got ready to play in the second period there. And I think that’s when our game changed.”Markstrom improved to 6-0 in six December starts. He has a .942 save percentage over that stretch.“It’s nice to get a win but you know, we lost consecutive games before this. So we owe it to the team Philadelphia Flyers T-Shirts Womens ,” he said.Vancouver jumped in front midway through the second after Blues forward David Perron was called for tripping.Elias Pettersson sliced a beautiful pass to Horvat in front of the St. Louis net. He got a snap shot off for the power-play goal before Allen could get all the way across the crease.Just 28 seconds later, some hard work by Gaudette paid off. The center crashed the net, collected his own rebound and poked it in.“That’s just the type of game I play,” the 22-year-old Gaudette said. “I’m pretty big on second and third efforts. The puck squirted loose and I thought I could get a stick on it so I just kept hacking at it.”St. Louis challenged the play for goaltender interference, but Gaudette’s second career goal remained in place after a video review.The Blues knew the Canucks would be fired up coming into the second period, said St. Louis coach Craig Berube.“We just kind of dug ourselves a hole,” he said.“Couldn’t find the back of the net enough. Their goalie kept them in the first period Philadelphia Flyers Hoodies Womens , made some big saves for them, and it was a different game if we get a goal.”Vancouver outshot St. Louis 14-3 in the second period and carried the momentum into the third.Just over two minutes in, Leivo took a shot from behind the Blues’ goal-line. The puck hit Allen’s left shoulder and ricocheted into the net, putting the Canucks up 3-0.Tarasenko answered for St. Louis, holding several Vancouver players off and shoveling a shot past Markstrom.Virtanen added some insurance for the Canucks with 8:36 left, using a series of screens by his teammates to keep Allen from getting a full view of his heavy shot.NOTES: Virtanen now has a career-high 11 goals this season. He also got an assist when Eriksson scored into an empty net after Allen was pulled with five minutes left.UP NEXTBlues: Visit Calgary on Saturday.Canucks : Wrap up a five-game homestand when they host Winnipeg on Saturday night.