Alex Ovechkin scored his milestone 750th National Hockey League goal as the Washington Capitals defeated the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 Saturday night.
Aliaksei Protas and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who improved to 4-1-1 in their past six games. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 17 saves.
Eric Robinson scored for Columbus, which lost all four games on its road trip and was outscored 18-6. Goalie Daniil Tarasov, making his second career start with Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo ailing, stopped 29 of 31 shots.
Ovechkin’s milestone came at 3:12 of the second period on a three-on-two rush. The 36-year-old Russian took a pass from defenseman John Carlson in the neutral zone, skated over the blue line on the right wing, and put a wrist shot from just outside the faceoff dot past countryman Tarasov and inside the far post, giving the Capitals a 2-0 lead.
Rangers 3, Blackhawks 2
Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome both collected one goal and two assists to lead host New York past Chicago, extending its winning streak to six games.
Adam Fox notched one goal and one assist, while goaltender Alexandar Georgiev made 25 saves for the Rangers, who have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Patrick Kane, in a two-point game, and Alex DeBrincat replied for the Blackhawks. Goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped 28 shots.
Penguins 4, Canucks 1
Jake Guentzel collected his fourth career hat trick and ran his career-best point streak to 12 games to lead visiting Pittsburgh to a decisive victory over Vancouver.
Guentzel has collected 10 goals and 16 points during his eye-popping roll, the league’s longest active run. Sidney Crosby totaled one goal and two assists, Kris Letang earned three assists and goaltender Tristan Jarry made 22 saves as the Penguins snapped a three-game losing skid. Guentzel also added a helper.
Vasily Podkolzin replied for the Canucks, who saw their modest two-game winning streak snapped and sit last in the Pacific Division. Goalie Thatcher Demko stopped 40 shots before his team was jeered off the ice.
Red Wings 4, Islanders 3 (OT)
Moritz Seider scored with 1:27 left in overtime as host Detroit edged New York for its fifth straight win.
Seider’s shot from the left faceoff circle caromed off the far post and bounced back toward the faceoff circle. It marked the 10th straight loss for the Islanders, who have gone 0-8-2 while being ravaged by injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak.
Filip Hronek, Sam Gagner and Givani Smith also scored for the Red Wings. Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 20 saves. Cal Clutterbuck scored a short-handed goal and Oliver Wahlstrom collected a pair of power play goals for the Islanders, who entered Saturday with the worst power-play percentage (10.2 percent) in the NHL.
Panthers 4, Blues 3 (SO)
Seldom-used forward Maxim Mamin scored twice, including the tying goal late in the third period as Florida rallied to a shootout win over St. Louis in Sunrise, Fla.
Anton Lundell and Sam Rinehart scored for Florida in the shootout. St. Louis’ Ryan O’Neil tried to tie the shootout 2-2, but his forehand shot was blocked by Sergei Bobrovsky’s right pad, ending the game.
The Panthers, who have the NHL’s best home record at 14-1-0, never led in the game, yet won their third straight contest. The Panthers trailed 3-2 until they pulled Bobrovsky with 2:36 left in the third period. Two seconds later, the puck was in the back of the St. Louis net, courtesy of a faceoff win by Lundell leading to Mamin’s second goal of the game.
Lightning 3, Bruins 2 (OT)
Steven Stamkos’ slap shot from the right circle for his team-leading 12th goal of the season at 1:31 of overtime lifted Tampa Bay over host Boston.
Stamkos entered the Bruins’ zone with a 2-on-1 advantage, but kept the puck himself before winding up and sending it past goalie Jeremy Swayman high to his glove side.
Taylor Raddysh and Ondrej Palat also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded 37 saves for the Lightning, who have won five of their last seven games (5-1-1). Charlie Coyle and Curtis Lazar each lit the lamp for Boston. Swayman stopped 22 of 25 shots for the Bruins, who have dropped four of seven (3-3-1).
Predators 4, Canadiens 3 (OT)
Filip Forsberg scored with 12 seconds left in overtime as Nashville topped visiting Montreal.
Forsberg had his stick knocked out of his hands by defenseman Ben Chiarot, and then the play — led by Mikael Granlund — went behind the Montreal net. After retrieving his stick and being the only player on the left side of the ice, Forsberg took a cross-ice feed from Granlund and roofed his 11th goal for the win.
Luke Kunin crafted a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an assist and a 5-minute fighting major — and Tanner Jeannot broke a 10-game goalless streak. Eeli Tolvanen also tallied for the Predators. Mattias Ekholm posted two assists, and Colton Sissons skated in his 400th NHL game. Juuse Saros made 20 saves.
Wild 4, Maple Leafs 3 (SO)
Kirill Kaprizov scored the decisive goal in a shootout and Minnesota defeated Toronto in Saint Paul, Minn., to extend its winning streak to six games.
The Maple Leafs, who overcame a 3-0 deficit to tie the game in the second period, saw their seven-game road winning streak, which matched a club record, come to an end. They also had an overall five-game winning streak snapped. Toronto had a power play for the final 59 seconds of overtime when Jonas Brodin was called for slashing.
Jordan Greenway, Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno scored for Minnesota. Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists.
Senators 6, Avalanche 5 (OT)
Brady Tkachuk scored a breakaway goal 51 seconds into overtime as host Ottawa beat Colorado.
Tkachuk finished with two goals and an assist, Tim Stutzle also had two goals and an assist, Josh Norris had a goal and an assist and Austin Watson also scored for Ottawa. Anton Forsberg had 26 saves for the Senators.
Gabriel Landeskog, Devon Toews and Alex Newhook had a goal and an assist each, Tyson Jost and Darren Helm also scored and Nathan MacKinnon had three assists for the Avalanche.
Hurricanes 6, Sabres 2
Teuvo Teravainen scored twice and Sebastian Aho had three assists as host Carolina emphatically ended a three-game losing streak by defeating Buffalo.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and two assists, and Nino Niederreiter had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes. Martin Necas and Ian Cole added goals, and Antti Raanta stopped 32 shots.
Henri Jokiharju and Zemgus Girgensons scored for the Sabres, who are 1-7-1 in their past nine games and have allowed 20 goals in their past three games. Malcolm Subban made 19 saves on 25 shots in his Sabres debut before leaving midway through the third period with an apparent injury. Aaron Dell stopped all four shots he faced in relief.
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