WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 767th goal to pass Jaromir Jagr for third on the NHL career list in the Washington Capitals’ 4-3 shootout victory against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin’s goal with 4:58 left in the third period gave the Capitals the lead and made him the top European goal-scorer in league history. The longtime Russian captain was surrounded by teammates while he was given a standing ovation by the crowd in the U.S capital that has cheered Ovechkin for almost two decades.
The chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” continued before Islanders captain Anders Lee tied it with a 6-on-5 goal with 1:59 remaining in the third. But fans left happy after Anthony Mantha scored the shootout winner to boost the Capitals to 5-0-1 in their past six games.
Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe are the only players with more goals in the NHL than Ovechkin. He needs 35 to pass Howe and 128 to break Gretzky’s record — long thought to be unapproachable in modern hockey.
PREDATORS 4, PENGUINS 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Juuse Saros made 35 saves to lead Nashville over Pittsburgh.
Mattias Ekholm, Tanner Jeannot, Eeli Tolvanen and Yakov Trenin scored for the Predators, who have won five of six. Roman Josi had three assists and Colton Sissons added two.
Jake Guentzel had the lone goal and Casey DeSmith stopped 21 shots for Pittsburgh, which won its previous two games.
RANGERS 4, DUCKS 3, OT
NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Fox scored 55 seconds into overtime and New York beat Anaheim.
Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Jonny Brodzinski also scored for the Rangers, who have won five of seven. Artemi Panarin had three assists and Fox added two to help New York improve to 12-2-1 in its last 15 home games. Alexandar Georgiev made 20 saves.
Max Comtois, Cam Fowler and Derek Grant scored for Anaheim, which lost its fifth straight (0-3-2) — all on the road. Adam Henrique had two assists and John Gibson finished with 34 saves.
BRUINS 2, BLACKHAWKS 1, OT
CHICAGO (AP) — Matt Grzelcyk scored at 1:40 of overtime and the surging Boston Bruins beat Chicago.
After taking a cross-ice feed from Taylor Hall, Grzelcyk whipped a shot past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to end it on Boston’s 48th shot. Hall had two assists as Boston won its third straight to start a four-game trip and improved to 10-1-1 in its last 12 overall.
Fleury sparkled in net, making 46 saves as the Bruins dominated and outshot the Blackhawks 48-20.
Fleury wasn’t beaten until Patrice Bergeron snapped a scoreless tie early in the third on Boston’s 40th shot. Brandon Hagel scored midway through the period to tie it.
Linus Ullmark stopped 19 shots for the Bruins.
AVALANCHE 3, KINGS 0
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves for his second consecutive shutout in Colorado’s win over Los Angeles.
Valeri Nichushkin and J.T. Compher scored on the power play. Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and the Avalanche continued their push for a second straight Presidents’ Trophy by becoming the first team this season to pass the 90-point mark.
Kuemper followed up his 46-save showing in a 3-0 win over Calgary on Sunday by getting his fifth shutout of the season.
Jonathan Quick allowed three goals on 27 shots for the Kings, who are 1-2-1 in their past four games.
PANTHERS 3, SHARKS 2, OT
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Frank Vatrano tied the game early in the third period and scored the winner 1:11 into overtime to lead Florida past San Jose for its sixth victory in seven games.
Vatrano beat goalie James Reimer with a slapshot from the high slot to give the Panthers their seventh win this season when trailing trailing after two periods. They also did it in January in an overtime win at home against the Sharks. Those are San Jose’s only losses this season when leading after two.
Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for Florida, and Spencer Knight stopped 24 shots to help make former Sharks great Joe Thornton a winner in his return to San Jose.
Logan Couture and Nicholas Meloche scored for the Sharks, who were seeking their first three-game winning streak since Jan. 6-11.
Reimer returned from a lower-body injury that sidelined him the past two weeks to make 31 saves in a losing cause on his 34th birthday.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, STARS 0
TORONTO (AP) — Erik Kallgren made 35 saves to earn a shutout in his first NHL start as Toronto blanked Dallas.
John Tavares had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (38-17-5). Rasmus Sandin and Ondrej Kase also scored, and Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly had two assists apiece. Ilya Mikheyev added an empty-net goal.
Jake Oettinger stopped 36 shots for Dallas (32-23-3).
JETS 7, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Kyle Connor extended his goal streak to five games and Winnipeg downed Vegas.
Connor added two assists to go with his 38th goal of the season. Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Logan Stanley and Josh Morrissey each had a goal and an assist, and Nikolaj Ehlers and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets.
Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves for Winnipeg, which is 6-2-1 in its last nine games.
The Jets entered four points behind Vegas for the final wild card in the Western Conference, with the Golden Knights holding a game in hand.
Nicolas Roy, Alex Pietrangelo and Michael Amadio scored for Vegas, which ended a five-game road trip without any points.
Former Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit was replaced by Logan Thompson midway through the second period after allowing four goals on 13 shots.
COYOTES 6, CANADIENS 3
MONTREAL (AP) — Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse each had a goal and an assist as Arizona beat Montreal to finish a five-game road trip with four wins.
Barrett Hayton, Anton Stralman, Nick Ritchie and Nick Schmaltz also scored for the Coyotes. Karel Vejmelka made 36 saves.
Laurent Dauphin scored and Cole Caufield made things interesting with two goals in eight seconds, but Montreal lost the matchup of the NHL’s bottom-dwellers.
The Canadiens pulled their goalie for a league-leading 11th time this season after Samuel Montembeault allowed four goals on seven shots in the first period.
OILERS 7, RED WINGS 5
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Evander Kane had two goals to lead Edmonton past skidding Detroit.
Devin Shore, Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Kailer Yamamoto and Warren Foegele also scored for the Oilers, who have won three straight as they try to solidify their playoff position.
Marc Staal had a pair of goals and Sam Gagner, Filip Zadina and Lucas Raymond also scored for the Red Wings, who have lost six straight.
CANUCKS 6, DEVILS 3
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Bo Horvat had two goals and an assist to lead Vancouver past New Jersey.
Tanner Pearson added a goal and an assist for the Canucks (30-24-7). Brad Hunt, Nils Hoglander and Juho Lahmmikko also scored, and J.T. Miller had three assists to extend his point streak to 13 games.
Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist for the Devils (22-33-5). Ryan Graves and Nathan Bastian also scored, and Yegor Sharangovich added two assists.
Thatcher Demko made 32 saves to help snap Vancouver’s two-game skid.
Nico Daws stopped 17 of 21 shots for the Devils before being pulled midway through the second period.
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