WASHINGTON (AP) – Alex Ovechkin recorded his 30th goal of the season and Daniel Winnik scored two goals, including the game-winner late in the third period, as the Washington Capitals overcame listless stretches to beat the lowly Arizona Coyotes 4-1 on Saturday night.
Ovechkin became the third player in league history to score 30-plus goals in each of his first 12 seasons, joining Mike Gartner (15) and Wayne Gretzky (13).
Winnik scored with 4:39 remaining, Justin Williams added another goal not long and Winnik sealed the Capitals’ fourth consecutive victory with an empty-netter.
Braden Holtby made 28 saves for Washington, which has won five of six to reach an NHL-leading 106 points and keep pace atop the competitive Metropolitan Division. The Capitals are three points up on the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Mike Smith stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced and Peter Holland scored the lone goal for Arizona.
BRUINS 2, ISLANDERS 1
NEW YORK (AP) – Riley Nash scored twice and backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 18 saves as the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders, snapping a four-game losing streak.
Nash broke a 1-1 tie with his second goal of the contest at 4:12 of the third period, beating Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss from the slot for his seventh goal of the season. Dominic Moore assisted on the decisive goal, which lifted Boston two points ahead of the Islanders for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
John Tavares scored for New York and Greiss finished with 16 saves.
Tavares had a golden chance to knot the score with just over six minutes left in the third period, but rang the puck off the crossbar with the Islanders on their sixth power play of the game.
CANADIENS 3, SENATORS 1
MONTREAL (AP) – Andrei Markov scored two goals and set up another and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators to retain first place in the Atlantic Division.
Shea Weber also scored for Montreal, which leads Ottawa by three points, although the Senators have a game in hand.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for Ottawa, which had won two straight. Montreal swept three games in an eight-day span from the Senators and is 3-1-1 against its closest rival this season.
Carey Price stopped 31 shots for Montreal, and Craig Anderson had 21 saves for Ottawa.
PANTHERS 7, BLACKHAWKS 0
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Jonathan Marchessault scored his first career hat trick, James Reimer stopped 25 shots for his first shutout of the season and the Florida Panthers routed the Chicago Blackhawks.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and three assists, and Aleksander Barkov added a goal and two assists for Florida. Reilly Smith and Nick Bjugstad also scored to give the Panthers their largest margin of victory since an 8-0 win over Toronto on Feb. 5, 2008.
Marchessault had two goals in a 3-1 win over Arizona on Thursday. He has nine goals over his last nine games and leads the Panthers with 28.
Corey Crawford stopped 21 shots for the Blackhawks before being lifted at 4:59 of the third for Scott Darling, who allowed three goals on six shots.
SABRES 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Jack Eichel scored twice and set up another goal in the Buffalo Sabres’ win that slowed the youth-laden Toronto Maple Leafs’ late-season surge to clinch a playoff berth.
Ryan O’Reilly and Dmitry Kulikov each had a goal and assist, and Evander Kane also scored in a game the Sabres took control of by scoring three straight times in the second period. Robin Lehner stopped 32 shots, and the Sabres continued their home dominance over their cross-border rivals by improving to 18-2-1 against Toronto in their last 21 games at Buffalo.
Auston Matthews scored his 34th to tie Toronto’s single-season rookie record set by Wendel Clark in 1985-86. Connor Brown also scored for Toronto.
BLUE JACKETS 1, FLYERS 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves in his seventh shutout of the season, helping the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Philadelphia Flyers.
Bobrovsky was terrific in his NHL-leading 40th win, and Alexander Wennberg tipped in the game’s only goal in the second period. The gritty victory in front of a sellout crowd broke a two-game losing streak for the playoff-bound Blue Jackets.
The Flyers (34-32-8), trying to muscle their way back into wild-card race, created more opportunities and outshot Columbus 36-21. Michal Neuvirth made 20 stops.
HURRICANES 3, DEVILS 1
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Jeff Skinner scored the go-ahead goal on a breakaway with 10:26 left and the surging Carolina Hurricanes stretched their point streak to 10 games with a victory that eliminated the New Jersey Devils from playoff contention for the fifth straight year.
Sebastian Aho scored twice and Eddie Lack made 26 saves for the Hurricanes, who are 7-0-3 in their last 10. They remained five points out of a playoff spot with nine games to go in the regular season.
Travis Zajac scored for the Devils, who have not made the postseason since going to the Stanley Cup final in the 2011-12 season. Cory Schneider stopped 25 shots for New Jersey, which is 2-12-2 in its last 16 games.
FLAMES 3, BLUES 2, OT
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Sean Monahan scored with 3 seconds left in overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames past the St. Louis Blues.
Troy Brouwer and Matt Bartkowski also scored for the Flames, who improved to 13-4 in overtime this season. Brian Elliott made 29 saves.
Ivan Barbashev and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Blues, and Jake Allen made 28 saves.
Monahan’s winning goal deflected off of Blues forward Kyle Brodziak. It was his third goal in his last four games.
CANUCKS 4, WILD 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Reid Boucher scored twice in Vancouver’s four-goal second period and the Canucks defeated the slumping Minnesota Wild.
Brock Boeser and Jack Skille also scored for Vancouver, while Richard Bachman stopped 25 shots in just his third start of the season.
Ryan Suter and Eric Staal scored for Minnesota late in the third period and Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves in his first start since March 12. The Wild have lost seven of their last eight and are now 3-10-0 in March.
PREDATORS 7, SHARKS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Colton Sissons and James Neal both scored twice to lead the Nashville Predators over the staggering San Jose Sharks.
Cody McLeod, P.K. Subban and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for Nashville, which has won three straight and six of seven. Craig Smith and Colin Wilson had three assists apiece to help the Predators move a point ahead of St. Louis for third place in the Central Division.
Patrick Marleau and Justin Braun scored for the Sharks, losers of six straight. They’re tied with Anaheim and Edmonton atop the Pacific Division.
San Jose allowed six goals against in Friday night’s loss at Dallas.
OILERS 4, AVALANCHE 1
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Drake Caggiula each had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers moved into a three-way tie atop the Pacific Division.
Benoit Pouliot and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers, who have won six of their last seven games and are now tied with San Jose and Anaheim at 91 points.
Sven Andrighetto scored for the Avalanche, who have dropped five games in a row.
RANGERS 3, KINGS 0
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Derek Stepan scored late in the second period, Antii Raanta made 30 saves for his eighth career shutout and the New York Rangers defeated the Los Angeles Kings.
Ryan McDonagh added a power-play goal and Rick Nash scored an empty-netter for the Rangers, who have won eight of their last 10 road games.
Jonathan Quick made 17 saves for the Kings, who dropped nine points behind St. Louis for the second wild card in the Western Conference with eight games to play.
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