ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) T.J. Oshie scored his second goal of the game 1:42 into overtime to bookend Alex Ovechkin’s hat trick, Braden Holtby earned his 40th win and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals beat the Minnesota Wild 5-4 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight victory.
After Eric Staal’s goal for the Wild tied the game with 26.6 seconds left in regulation, Oshie took a pass in the left circle from Marcus Johansson and beat struggling Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk with a wrist shot. Johansson had four assists.
Martin Hanzal and Jason Pominville had a goal and an assist apiece, but the Wild lost for the eighth time in nine games and fell to 3-11-1 in March after forward Zach Parise exited early with an injury .
Oshie started Washington’s longest road trip in six years, five games over an eight-day span, with a first-period goal set up by Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Holtby made 26 saves, brushing off goals by Jared Spurgeon and Staal in the final five minutes to reach 40 victories for the third consecutive season. Martin Brodeur (2005-08, New Jersey) and Evgeni Nabokov (2007-10, San Jose) are the only other goalies in NHL history to do so.
Dubnyk, who stopped 15 shots, has given up 26 goals over his last eight games.
Ovechkin gave him even more trouble, guiding the Capitals one step closer to the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. His 17th career three-goal game came all on power plays.
Ovechkin has a whopping 11 goals and six assists in six career games against Dubnyk, four of those with Minnesota.
OILERS 2, KINGS 1
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Cam Talbot made 34 saves and Edmonton earned a playoff spot for the first time in 11 years by beating Los Angeles.
Connor McDavid and Eric Gryba scored for the Oilers, who have won seven of eight. Edmonton last made the postseason in 2006.
Jarome Iginla scored and Jonathan Quick finished with 27 saves for the Kings, who have lost four of five with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread.
Anaheim and San Jose also clinched Western Conference playoff spots with Edmonton’s win.
SHARKS 5, RANGERS 4, OT
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Brent Burns scored a power-play goal 3:10 into overtime and San Jose snapped a six-game losing streak, rallying past New York on a night when both teams clinched a playoff berth.
Chris Tierney tied the game with his second goal with 2:15 to play in regulation after San Jose had blown a 3-1 lead. Jannik Hansen added his first goal since joining the Sharks, and Melker Karlsson scored short-handed.
San Jose’s postseason spot was secured midway through the game when Los Angeles lost at Edmonton.
The scuffling Rangers also wrapped up a playoff trip, their seventh in a row, by earning one point. New York lost for the fourth time in five games.
Burns’ drive from the circle in overtime ended his 16-game goal drought.
J.T. Miller scored his second goal early in the third period to put New York up 4-3. Derek Stepan and Jesper Fast also scored for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves but lost his second straight start after missing seven games with a hip injury.
Martin Jones stopped 24 shots for San Jose.
The Sharks remained tied for second place in the Pacific Division with the Oilers, two points behind Anaheim with six games to play.
DUCKS 4, CANUCKS 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Corey Perry and Patrick Eaves scored 74 seconds apart early in the first period, and Anaheim cruised past Vancouver to extend its season-high winning streak to five games.
Nick Ritchie, with a goal and an assist, and Brandon Montour also scored for Anaheim, which clinched a playoff spot earlier in the night when the Oilers defeated the Kings.
Jonathan Bernier made 34 saves and Antoine Vermette added two assists as the Pacific Division leaders improved to 9-1-1 over their last 11 games. Bernier is 9-0-1 over his last 10 starts, including eight wins in a row.
Highly touted rookie forward Brock Boeser scored in his home debut for Vancouver, and Ryan Miller stopped 35 shots in the loss. The Canucks, already eliminated from playoff contention, are 2-7-2 over their last 11 games.
BRUINS 4, PREDATORS 1
BOSTON (AP) – Tuukka Rask made 24 saves in his return from a one-game absence and Boston beat Nashville to boost its playoff chances.
Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Noel Acciari and David Backes scored for the Bruins, who moved three points ahead of idle Tampa Bay for the second Eastern Conference wild card with six games remaining. Boston remained a point behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Rask was sidelined with a lower-body injury for Boston’s 2-1 road win against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Acciari scored his first career goal in 43 NHL games, and Zdeno Chara earned his 600th point with an assist on Boston’s first goal.
Craig Smith scored his 10th goal for the Predators, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Pekka Rinne made 27 saves but took his first loss in six starts. Nashville remained one point ahead of idle St. Louis for third in the Central Division.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, PANTHERS 2
TORONTO (AP) – Auston Matthews broke Wendel Clark’s 31-year-old franchise rookie record with his 35th goal of the season in Toronto’s victory over Florida.
Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs. Leo Komarov and Zach Hyman also scored for Toronto.
James Reimer allowed two goals on 14 shots for Florida before he was knocked out of the game with an injury and replaced by Reto Berra, who finished with 10 saves. Reilly Smith and Jaromir Jagr scored for the Panthers.
BLUE JACKETS 3, SABRES 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Cam Atkinson scored his team-leading 34th goal and Sergei Bobrovsky made 41 saves to power Columbus past Buffalo.
Kyle Quincey also scored for Columbus, his first goal since being acquired from New Jersey on March 1. Brandon Saad added an empty-netter.
The win put the Blue Jackets two points ahead of idle Pittsburgh in second place in the Metropolitan Division as they battle for home-ice advantage in the playoffs. Columbus won its second straight to improve to 7-2-1 in its last 10.
Bobrovsky got his league-leading 41st win.
Evan Rodrigues scored for the Sabres, and Anders Nilsson stopped 26 shots.
HURRICANES 4, RED WINGS 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Lee Stempniak and Joakim Nordstrom scored about five minutes apart in the first period, and Carolina beat Detroit in the second meeting between the teams in two nights.
Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm also scored for Carolina, and Cam Ward stopped 21 shots. The Hurricanes have earned a point in 12 straight games (8-0-4) to move within four points of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot.
The Red Wings beat the Hurricanes on Monday in a makeup game rescheduled from Dec. 19 when a Freon leak at PNC Arena made for unplayable ice. Tuesday’s contest was regularly scheduled.
The postponement resulted in the Red Wings playing three games in three days. They won the first two but visibly struggled with their energy in the finale, ending a four-game point streak.
Tomas Nosek scored his first NHL goal and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for Detroit.
FLYERS 3, SENATORS 2, SO
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Jordan Weal scored the only shootout goal after tying the game late in the third period to lift Philadelphia over Ottawa.
Brayden Schenn also scored for the Flyers, a long shot to make the playoffs with six games remaining. Philadelphia began the day six points out of a postseason spot but needing to jump four teams.
The Senators, making their second stop on a five-game road trip, fell four points behind first-place Montreal in the Atlantic Division.
Kyle Turris had a goal and an assist, and Erik Karlsson also scored for Ottawa.
Flyers goalie Steve Mason clinched the win when he stopped Tom Pyatt on Ottawa’s final shootout attempt. Turris and Bobby Ryan also failed to beat Mason in the tiebreaker.
CANADIENS 4, STARS 1
MONTREAL (AP) – Brendan Gallagher put Montreal ahead early in the third period against Dallas.
Max Pacioretty, Artturi Lehkonen and Alexander Radulov also scored for the Canadiens, who won their second straight. Carey Price finished with 27 saves.
Curtis McKenzie scored for Dallas, which ended a four-game point streak. The Stars were playing for the first time since learning they had been eliminated from playoff contention. Kari Lehtonen stopped 32 shots.
JETS 4, DEVILS 3, SO
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Patrik Laine scored in the shootout and Winnipeg rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat New Jersey in the makeup of a game postponed by a snowstorm this month.
Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves and stopped all three Devils shootout attempts as the Jets climbed out of a 3-1 hole to sweep the season series. Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler and Joel Armia scored in regulation for Winnipeg.
Beau Bennett, Taylor Hall and Stefan Noesen had the goals for New Jersey, which has lost four straight and won only twice (2-12-4) in 18 games. Cory Schneider made 33 saves but was beaten between the pads by Laine, who missed Winnipeg’s previous game with an illness, on the Jets’ second shootout attempt.
John Quenneville, Hall and Pavel Zacha were stopped by Hellebuyck.
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