WASHINGTON (AP) — Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his seventh goal and added an assist, Alex Ovechkin had three assists in a game for the first time in nearly four years, and the Washington Capitals cruised to a 6-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
Dmitry Orlov, John Carlson and Nic Dowd also had a goal and an assist each as Washington won its seventh out of nine in its return from a four-game West Coast trip.
Michael Sgarbossa scored his first career goal for the Capitals. Tom Wilson completed Ovechkin’s three-assist night when he scored on a one-timer of his feed, bringing Ovechkin’s season assist total to 18.
Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves while winning his seventh game in eight starts, despite seeing his shutout streak snapped at 170 minutes, 13 seconds.
Artturi Lehkonen and Jake Evans each had a goal and an assist for Montreal, which lost its fifth game out of six.
RANGERS 4, ISLANDERS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Kreider and Kevin Rooney each scored twice, and the New York Rangers beat the Islanders.
Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves as the Rangers won for the sixth time in seven games. Ryan Reaves added two assists.
Andy Andreoff scored and Semyon Varlamov stopped 17 of 21 shots, but the short-handed Islanders fell for the seventh straight game as seven players remain in COVID-19 protocol. The Islanders have yet to record a win in three attempts at their new arena next to Belmont Park.
Rooney helped the Rangers restore a two-goal lead 20 seconds after Andreoff pulled the Islanders within one goal early in the third period. Reaves danced around Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey before setting Rooney up for an easy tap in at 4:12.
OILERS 5, COYOTES 3
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid each had two goals and two assists to lead Edmonton past Arizona.
Draisaitl has 10 goals in his last eight games, and McDavid got right back in the scoring column after his season-long, 17-game point streak ended in a 4-1 loss Tuesday at Dallas.
Draisaitl leads the NHL with 20 goals, and his second of the night at 13:08 of the third period made it 4-1. He also tops the league with 40 points. McDavid has 13 goals and ranks second with 35 points.
McDavid’s empty-net goal with 28 seconds remaining clinched it after Travis Boyd and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the Coyotes in the final seven minutes to trim it to 4-3.
Clayton Keller scored early for Arizona, and Scott Wedgewood made 39 saves.
Zack Kassian had a goal and two assists as the McDavid-Draisaitl-Kassian line finished with 11 points. Draisaitl enjoyed his league-high 10th game of at least three points.
Mikko Koskinen stopped 24 shots for the Oilers.
PENGUINS 4, CANUCKS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tristan Jarry stopped 36 shots to win his fourth straight start and Pittsburgh cruised past reeling Vancouver.
Evan Rodrigues, Bryan Rust, Zach Aston-Reese and Brock McGinn scored for Pittsburgh, which has outscored opponents 15-2 during its winning streak. The surge has coincided with the team’s emergence from a COVID-19 outbreak and Jarry’s spectacular play.
Jarry has turned away 116 of the 118 shots he’s faced during the winning streak, which has helped the Penguins climb out of last place in the hyper-competitive Metropolitan Division.
Thatcher Demko made 33 saves for the Canucks. Bo Horvat scored his sixth goal of the season — Vancouver’s first marker in 147:58 of game time — but couldn’t stop the Canucks from falling to 1-6-1 in their last eight games.
PANTHERS 2, FLYERS 1, OT
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aaron Ekblad scored 2:39 into overtime and Florida won its record-tying 11th straight home game to start the season by topping Philadelphia.
After a faceoff win in the 3-on-3 session, Ekblad worked a give-and-go with Jonathan Huberdeau, zipping in the winner from the low slot for his sixth of the season.
Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist, and Anthony Duclair and Ekblad dished out assists for Florida, which won its fourth straight and is 8-2-1 against the Metropolitan Division.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves and became the first Florida goalie to record points in 11 straight starts (9-0-2).
Joel Farabee broke a five-game streak without a goal with his first-period marker, and Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov had assists for the Flyers, who dropped their fourth straight (0-3-1).
AVALANCHE 5, DUCKS 2
DENVER (AP) — Nazem Kadri kept up his scoring tear with a goal and an assist to lift Colorado over Anaheim for its sixth straight victory.
Kadri extended his point streak to 10 games, the longest current run in the NHL. He has six goals and 15 assists during that span.
Cale Makar also scored, his fifth goal in four games, and Jonas Johansson made 19 saves in relief of Darcy Kuemper. The win was the 194th for Jared Bednar, the most by an Avalanche coach. He tied Bob Hartley on Monday night.
Colorado won despite losing Kuemper for a while to a broken skate blade. Valeri Nichushkin, Alex Newhook and Nicolas Aube-Kubel also scored for the Avalanche.
Sonny Milano had two goals and Josh Gibson stopped 32 shots for the Ducks, who have dropped three in a row after winning eight straight.
RED WINGS 4, BLUES 2
DETROIT (AP) — Adam Erne scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, streaking rookie Lucas Raymond got his eighth of the season and Detroit beat St. Louis.
Dylan Larkin and Robby Fabbri also scored for the Red Wings. Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 35 saves as Detroit snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 5-2-2 at home.
Making his second straight start, Nedeljkovic turned in several highlight-reel stops — including a sprawling glove save with 13:05 left to preserve a one-goal lead.
Pavel Buchnevich and David Perron scored for the Blues, who were playing with a full and healthy roster for the first time this season. Perron’s goal snapped a 13-game scoreless drought.
WILD 3, DEVILS 2, SO
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Kevin Fiala scored the lone goal in a shootout, Cam Talbot made 42 saves and Minnesota beat New Jersey after arriving late to the arena because of traffic.
The game was delayed 24 minutes after the Wild got stuck in a holiday traffic jam in Manhattan with the Holland Tunnel closed. The team bus did not arrive until 6:26 p.m. and the start was pushed back to 7:33 p.m.
Minnesota scored two first-period goals before the Devils overcame the 2-0 deficit in the third to send the game to overtime.
BRUINS 5, SABRES 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle each had a goal and an assist to lead Boston over Buffalo.
Mike Reilly and Taylor Hall also scored, Nick Foligno had two assists and rookie Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves as Boston bounced back from a 4-0 loss to Calgary on Sunday for its fourth win in five games and third straight on the road.
The Bruins chased Sabres goalie Aaron Dell with four first-period goals on the 22 shots he faced. Dustin Tokarski stopped 24 of 25 shots.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, PREDATORS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone each had a goal and an assist, and Vegas beat Nashville.
Jonas Rondbjerg, Adam Brooks and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for Vegas, and Robin Lehner stopped 26 shots.
Filip Forsberg scored two late goals for Nashville, and Juuse Saros made 30 saves.
BLUE JACKETS 3, JETS 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Elvis Merzlikins made 36 saves for his seventh career shutout and Columbus blanked to hand the Jets their fourth consecutive defeat.
Gregory Hofmann, Zach Werenski and Andrew Peeke scored for Columbus, which won for the fourth time in five games.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 29 shots in his first loss in five starts against the Blue Jackets.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, KINGS 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Tavares and Pierre Engvall had a goal and an assist apiece while Toronto scored four consecutive times in the second period, and the Maple Leafs rolled to a win over Los Angeles.
Alexander Kerfoot, Auston Matthews, Jason Spezza and Michael Bunting also scored as the Leafs avenged their 5-1 loss to the Kings in Toronto on Nov. 8 with their own blowout victory. Toronto scored four goals in a 12 1/2-minute span of the second, and Bunting added a fifth straight goal in the third.
Engvall, who had two points in his previous 15 games, started the second-period flurry with his first goal since the season opener. He ended up with the first multipoint performance of his 111-game NHL career.
Sean Durzi had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut for the Kings, who acquired the 23-year-old defenseman from his hometown Maple Leafs nearly three years ago.
Jonathan Quick stopped 32 shots for the Kings, who have lost five straight since a seven-game winning streak — which was preceded by a six-game slide.
KRAKEN 2, HURRICANES 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Marcus Johansson beat Frederik Andersen on a wrist shot with 3:08 remaining, Philipp Grubauer made 35 saves and Seattle edged Carolina.
Seattle won its second straight to close out a six-game homestand and handed the red-hot Hurricanes just their third regulation loss of the season. It was the second consecutive setback for Carolina after losing to San Jose in overtime Monday night.
Jared McCann scored on a power play for the Kraken at 4:16 of the second period and Johansson provided the winner in the closing minutes. Johansson’s second goal of the season gave expansion Seattle its first win when trailing after the first period.
Brendan Smith gave Carolina the lead at 18:32 of the first period.
SHARKS 6, SENATORS 3
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Timo Meier scored the go-ahead goal with 8:42 remaining and added two assists as San Jose handed Ottawa its third straight loss.
Matt Nieto, Tomas Hertl, Nick Bonino, Logan Couture and Jacob Middleton also scored for the Sharks, who won their second consecutive game. James Reimer made 26 saves to earn his sixth win.
Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist for the Senators, who also got goals from Josh Norris and Connor Brown. Matt Murray made 23 saves.
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