DENVER (AP) — Marcus Johansson scored the go-ahead goal with 9:14 remaining, Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 shots and the playoff-bound Washington Capitals snapped the Colorado Avalanche’s nine-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory Monday night.
Alex Ovechkin and Garnet Hathaway also added goals for a Washington team that clinched an Eastern Conference playoff spot a night earlier, courtesy of Toronto beating the New York Islanders. The Capitals have qualified for the postseason in eight straight seasons. It’s the second-longest active streak behind Pittsburgh (16).
Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen scored for the Avalanche, who lead the NHL with 116 points. They’re two shy of matching the team mark set by the 2000-01 Colorado squad that won the Stanley Cup. Darcy Kuemper finished with 24 saves.
FLAMES 5, BLACKHAWKS 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau, Dillon Dube and Blake Coleman scored in the first period, and Calgary beat Chicago.
Jacob Markstrom made 22 saves as playoff-bound Calgary won for the seventh time in eight games. Gaudreau and Oliver Kylington tacked on long empty-netters for the Pacific Division leaders in the final 1:32.
Chicago lost for the 10th time in 11 games. Tyler Johnson and Alec Regula scored, and Kevin Lankinen made 30 stops.
KRAKEN 4, SENATORS 2
SEATTLE (AP) — Matty Beniers scored in his second straight game to become the third NHL rookie this season to record a point in his first three contests and Seattle beat Ottawa.
Daniel Sprong, Victor Rask, and Jordan McCann also scored for Seattle. McCann’s empty-netter with 1:11 left sealed Seattle’s second straight victory.
Brady Tkachuk and Nick Holden scored for Ottawa. The goals came two minutes apart early in the second period.
Seattle’s Chris Driedger made 12 saves. Anton Forsberg had 25 saves for the Senators.
HURRICANES 5, COYOTES 3
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Sebastian Aho scored his 36th goal midway through the third period and Carolina snapped a two-game skid with a victory over Arizona.
Nino Niederreiter, Max Domi, Vincent Trocheck and Jesper Fast also scored for the Hurricanes, who weathered an Arizona comeback try and strengthened their hold on first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Nick Ritchie, Loui Eriksson and Alex Galchenyuk scored in the second period for the Coyotes. Arizona trailed 3-0 and 4-1 before closing within 4-3 when Eriksson and Galchenyuk scored in the final four minutes of the period.
Antti Raanti had 23 saves for the Hurricanes and Karel Vejmelka had 46 for the Coyotes.
DEVILS 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nathan Bastian had a goal and an assist, and New Jersey beat Vegas for its 13th win in the last 40 games.
The Golden Knights blew their chance to gain ground on the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division, and their playoff hopes lessened severely with just five games left to play. Vegas is three points back of Los Angeles in the division and four points back of Dallas and Nashville for a wild-card berth.
Andreas Johnsson and Jesper Boqvist also scored for New Jersey. Andrew Hammond made 42 saves.
Keegan Kolesar and Chandler Stephenson scored for Vegas and Robin Lehner stopped 25 shots.
CANUCKS 6, STARS 2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Elias Pettersson had two goals and an assist and Vancouver extended its winning streak to six games with a win over Dallas.
Brock Boeser and Jason Dickinson each had a goal and two assists for the Canucks. Vasily Podkolzin and Conor Garland also scored. Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists.
Roope Hintz had two goals for Dallas, including a short-handed score in the second period.
Thatcher Demko stopped 28 of 30 shots for Vancouver, which swept the three-game season series against Dallas.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 15 of 19 shots before being pulled midway through the second period. Scott Wedgewood had 10 saves in relief.
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