WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 20th goal of the season and the 750th of his NHL career to help the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 Saturday night and snap a two-game skid.
Ovechkin became the second-fastest player to reach the 750-goal mark, doing so in his 1,222nd regular-season game. Wayne Gretzky, whose record of 894 Ovechkin is chasing, got to 750 in 1,001 games.
Ovechkin joined Marcel Dionne, Jaromir Jagr and Mats Sundin as the only players to score 20 or more goals in each of his first 17 seasons in the NHL.
After ending a two-game goal drought, Ovechkin now trails Jagr by 16 goals for third on the career list.
Rookie Aliaksei Protas scored his second career goal by following his own rebound in the first. Garnet Hathaway sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:27 remaining in regulation.
Eric Robinson scored the only goal of the night for the the Blue Jackets, who lost their fourth in a row in regulation. They have been outscored 18-6 during this losing streak.
LIGHTNING 3, BRUINS 2, OT
BOSTON (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored at 1:31 of overtime, and Tampa Bay bounced back after blowing a two-goal lead.
Taylor Raddysh had his first career goal, a short-handed score in the first period, and Ondrej Palat also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots, and Stamkos recorded a point for the sixth straight game.
Charlie Coyle and Curtis Lazar scored after the Bruins fell behind 2-0 early in the second period. Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves for the Bruins, who outshot the Lightning 39-25.
RED WINGS 4, ISLANDERS 3, OT
DETROIT (AP) — Moritz Seider scored 3:33 into overtime and Detroit handed New York its 10th straight loss.
Filip Hronek, Sam Gagner and Givani Smith also scored for the Red Wings, who won their season-high fifth straight. Alex Nedeljkovic had 20 saves.
Oliver Wahlstrom had two power-play goals, Cal Clutterbuck scored short-handed, and Mathew Barzal had two assists as the Islanders earned a point for the second straight game and fell to 0-8-2 during their skid. Ilya Sorokin finished with 26 saves.
In the extra period, Seider scored on a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Pius Suter.
RANGERS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome each had a goal and two assists, and New York beat Chicago for its sixth straight win.
Adam Fox added a goal and an assist and Alexandar Georgiev made 25 saves for New York, which has won 10 of its last 11.
Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Blackhawks, and Kevin Lankinen finished with 28 saves. Chicago has lost four of its last 11.
PENGUINS 4, CANUCKS 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored three goals in the second period and added an assist as Pittsburgh beat Vancouver.
Guentzel scored two power-play goals after the Canucks had three players sent to the penalty box in quick succession.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and a pair of assists, and Kris Letang added three assists for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry, from Surrey, British Columbia, had 22 saves in his first start in Vancouver.
Rookie Vasily Podkolzin scored for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko stopped 40 of 44 shots.
PREDATORS 4, CANADIENS 3, OT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored with 11.1 seconds remaining in overtime, giving Nashville a victory over Montreal.
Eeli Tolvanen, Tanner Jeannot and Luke Kunin also scored, and Juuse Saros made 20 saves for Nashville, which has won two of its last three games.
Jake Allen made 40 saves and Nick Suzuki, Christian Dvorak and Brett Kulak scored for Montreal. Cole Caufield had a pair of assists for the Canadiens, who have lost five of six.
On the winner, Forsberg took a cross-ice pass from Mikael Granlund and sent it past Allen.
WILD 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3, SO
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov scored in the third round of a shootout and Minnesota beat Toronto for its sixth straight win.
Jordan Greenway, Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno had goals in regulation for Central Division-leading Minnesota, which has outscored its opponents 28-12 during the win streak.
Cam Talbot made 39 saves to tie Toronto’s Jack Campbell and the New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin for the league lead with 13 wins.
Jason Spezza scored twice and Auston Matthews once for Toronto, which lost for the first time in six games and is now 15-2-1 in its past 18 outings. Campbell had 37 saves.
SENATORS 6, AVALANCHE 5, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Brady Tkachuk scored his second goal 51 seconds into overtime, giving Ottawa a win over Colorado.
Tkachuk added an assist. Tim Stutzle also added two goals and an assist. Josh Norris and Austin Watson also scored for the Senators, who won consecutive games for the first time this season.
Thomas Chabot had two assists and Anton Forsberg had 26 saves.
Alex Newhook, Devon Toews and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche. Darren Helm and Tyson Jost also scored. Nathan MacKinnon had three assists.
Jonas Johansson started the game for Colorado and allowed four goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Justus Annunen, who made his NHL debut and allowed two goals on 19 shots.
HURRICANES 6, SABRES 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Teuvo Teravainen scored two goals and Carolina rode an early burst of offense to a win over Buffalo.
Martin Necas, Ian Cole, Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Hurricanes, who snapped a season-worst three-game losing streak for their second win in the last seven games.
Sebastian Aho recorded three assists and Trocheck had two assists. Hurricanes goalie Antti Raanta, playing in consecutive games for the first time this season, made 32 saves.
Henri Jokiharju scored his first goal of the season and Zemgus Girgensons also scored for the Sabres, who have lost four in a row and eight of nine. Goalie Malcolm Subban, making his Sabres debut after a trade Thursday with Chicago, played his first NHL game of the season and stopped 19 shots before departing midway through the third period with an injury.
PANTHERS 4, BLUES 3, SO
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell scored in the shootout, and Florida rallied from three one-goal deficits to beat St. Louis.
Maxim Mamin scored two goals and Reinhart added a goal for Florida. Lucas Carlsson and Anton Lundell each had two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves for the Panthers — plus stopped Ryan O’Reilly to end the shootout.
Ville Husso made a career-best 48 saves for the Blues, who got goals from Brandon Saad, Logan Brown and Jake Walman. O’Reilly had two assists for St. Louis.
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