Alex Ovechkin set an NHL record by reaching 30 goals for an 18th season as the visiting Washington Capitals topped the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Dylan Strome reached the 300-point mark by scoring the Capitals’ opening goal. Ovechkin broke the mark previously held by Mike Gartner, who had 17 career 30-goal seasons.
Charlie Lindgren made 42 saves and came up two seconds short of recording his sixth shutout as the Capitals snapped a six-game winless streak (0-4-2). Their last victory also came at the Red Wings’ expense on March 26.
Patrick Kane scored the only goal for Detroit. Alex Lyon stopped 21 shots, but the Red Wings absorbed a damaging loss in their drive for a wild-card berth.
Islanders 4, Rangers 2
Mike Reilly, Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri scored in the first period as the host Islanders maintained their grip on third place in the Metropolitan Division with a win over the Rangers.
Anders Lee added an empty-netter with 5.8 seconds left for the Islanders, who won their fifth straight despite being outshot 23-12 in the final two periods and 13-4 in the third. Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves for the Islanders, who are two points ahead of the Washington Capitals in the Metropolitan and three points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Chris Kreider and Adam Fox scored in the second for the Rangers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Igor Shesterkin recorded 25 saves.
Panthers 2, Senators 0
Backup goalie Anthony Stolarz won his 15th game of the season and picked up his fourth career assist, leading host Florida over Ottawa.
Stolarz, who made 25 saves, improved to 15-7-2, including two shutouts. The Panthers also got one goal each by Anton Lundell and Nick Cousins. Florida passed the 2015-16 team for the second-most points in history (104).
Joonas Korpisalo had 28 saves for the Senators, who finished the season series with an 0-3-1 record, including three shutout losses.
Flames 3, Sharks 2 (OT)
Andrei Kuzmenko capped a two-point game by scoring the overtime winner to give visiting Calgary a comeback victory over San Jose.
Nazem Kadri collected one goal and one assist, while Rasmus Andersson also scored for the Flames, who ended a three-game skid. Dustin Wolf, who is from nearby Gilroy, Calif., made 20 saves. Kuzmenko is on a six-game point streak in which he has collected five goals and six assists.
William Eklund and Jacob MacDonald scored for the Sharks, who have only two wins in their last 15 games and sit at the bottom of the league standings. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 38 shots in a strong performance, but it was not enough to hold the lead.
Hurricanes 4, Bruins 1
Carolina netted two goals in the second period and two more in the third en route to a win over host Boston in a battle of Eastern Conference playoff contenders.
Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist to pace Carolina, which used its third straight win to move into a tie for second in the East with Boston. Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel and Seth Jarvis also scored and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 22 shots.
Charlie McAvoy scored the lone goal and Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves for the Bruins, who lead the Atlantic Division by three points over the Florida Panthers.
Canadiens 9, Flyers 3
Juraj Slafkovsky recorded his first career hat trick and Christian Dvorak and Brendan Gallagher each scored two goals, lifting host Montreal to victory over free-falling Philadelphia.
Josh Anderson and Joel Armia also scored a goal apiece and Sam Montembeault made 33 saves as the Canadiens emphatically snapped their three-game skid.
Erik Johnson had a goal and an assist and Ryan Poehling and Joel Farabee each scored for the Flyers, who saw their faint playoff aspirations take another hit following their eighth straight loss (0-6-2).
Jets 4, Predators 3 (OT)
Nashville lost an overtime decision to Winnipeg yet celebrated anyway by earning a spot in the playoffs.
Nashville only needed a point to land a playoff spot and got it with a two-goal rally in the third period to force a tie in regulation. Spencer Stastney and Ryan O’Reilly each scored key third-period goals for the Predators, while Tommy Novak also scored a goal. Keifer Sherwood and Roman Josi each chipped in two assists. Juuse Saros had 18 saves for the Predators.
Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists for Winnipeg. Gabriel Vilardi, Dylan DeMelo and Kyle Connor also tallied, with Connor scoring the game winner at 1:52 of overtime. Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 45 saves.
Maple Leafs 5, Devils 2
Auston Matthews scored in his sixth consecutive game and Toronto beat New Jersey in Newark, N.J.
Matthews, who has seven goals in his past six games, now has 66 on the season as he attempts to become the first player to score at least 70 markers in a single season since the 1992-93 campaign. Tyler Bertuzzi had two goals and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have won three straight and six of their past seven. Joseph Woll made 18 saves. Matthews added an assist and now has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) during a 12-game point steak.
Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer each had a goal and an assist for the Devils, who have lost five of their past six. Jake Allen made 32 saves.
Lightning 5, Blue Jackets 2
Steven Stamkos delivered his 13th career hat trick in a four-point night and Tampa Bay earned a victory over visiting Columbus.
After Anthony Cirelli’s tiebreaking 20th goal put Tampa Bay up 3-2 at 5:40 of the third period, Stamkos notched his second goal 16 seconds later for the Lightning. He added an empty-net tally for his 39th goal to go along with an earlier assist.
For Columbus, Kirill Marchenko scored twice to set a career-high in goals with 23, while Johnny Gaudreau’s second-period assist gave him 500 for his career. In his sixth outing, goalie Jet Greaves stopped 28 shots.
Stars 3, Sabres 2
Dallas scored twice in the second period to rally for a win against visiting Buffalo.
Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and Joe Pavelski scored for the Stars, who inched closer to clinching the Central Division title. Jake Oettinger made 19 saves.
Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves for the Sabres, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Avalanche 5, Wild 2
Nathan MacKinnon’s seventh career hat trick led Colorado to a victory over visiting Minnesota.
Cale Makar scored a goal and added two assists, and Artturi Lehkonen had the other goal for Colorado, which leapfrogged the Winnipeg Jets into second place in the Central Division. Jonathan Drouin had three assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 20 saves.
Matt Boldy scored a goal and added an assist, and Kirill Kaprizov had the other goal for Minnesota. Mats Zuccarello had two assists and Filip Gustavsson stopped 27 shots for the Wild, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Ducks 3, Kings 1
Lukas Dostal made 36 saves and Ryan Strome had two assists as Anaheim recorded a win over visiting Los Angeles.
The Ducks won for just the third time in their past 17 games (3-12-2). Frank Vatrano, Alex Killorn, and Trevor Zegras scored three unanswered goals after Akil Thomas gave the Kings a first-period lead.
Cam Talbot stopped 24 of 27 shots for the Kings, who had won three in a row entering the matchup and would have clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a win.
Kraken 5, Coyotes 0
Shane Wright scored for the fourth time in as many games since being recalled from the minor leagues and Philipp Grubauer made a season-high 39 saves as Seattle defeated visiting Arizona.
Justin Schultz had a goal and an assist; Andre Burakovsky, Brandon Tanev and Will Borgen also tallied; and Matty Beniers and Oliver Bjorkstrand each had two helpers for the Kraken, who won their second in a row and fifth in seven games.
Karel Vejmelka had 20 saves for the Coyotes, who had a two-game win streak snapped. Clayton Keller’s 11-game point streak (eight goals, 10 assists) came to an end.
–Field Level Media
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