WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored the 877th goal of his career to move 18 away from breaking the NHL record, but the Washington Capitals lost 5-4 in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night in a showdown of the NHL's top two teams that lived up to the billing.
Ovechkin tied the game 4-4 with 7:39 left in the third, setting off “Ovi! Ovi!†chants from a sellout crowd. His 24th goal of the season keeps him on pace to challenge Wayne Gretzky’s mark of 894 this season.
Josh Morrissey scored his second goal of the game 1:57 into overtime to extend the Jets’ winning streak to six games.
Cole Perfetti, Dylan Samberg and Alex Iafallo also scored in regulation for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 of the 29 shots he faced to pick up his 33rd win and stay on pace to break the single-season record of 48 shared by Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur and Capitals Stanley Cup champion Braden Holtby.
Washington lost back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 16 and 17, despite the goals from Ovechkin, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Taylor Raddysh and Tom Wilson. Logan Thompson made 25 saves.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:
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PANTHERS 5 BLACKHAWKS 1
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Reinhart got his 30th goal of the season and added two assists, Matthew Tkachuk scored for the third time in the last four games and Florida beat Chicago 5-1.
Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues and Jonah Gadjovich also scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots. Aleksander Barkov had two assists for the Panthers, who ensured they would remain atop the Atlantic Division.
The win was the 900th regular-season victory as a coach for Florida’s Paul Maurice, who is the fourth to hit that milestone. The others: Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969) and Barry Trotz (914).
for a quick 1-0 lead, with Landon Slaggert scoring just seven seconds into the contest. Petr Mrazek stopped 39 shots for the Blackhawks, who are 2-6-3 in their last 11 games.
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BRUINS 6 RANGERS 3
BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak scored three goals and added an assist to lead Boston to a 6-3 victory over New York, spoiling J.T. Miller’s return.
Charlie McAvoy, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha also scored for Boston, which snapped a two-game skid. Jeremy Swayman finished with 22 saves.
Miller scored twice in his first game with the Rangers one day after in a multiplayer deal that sent Filip Chytil to the Canucks. Jonny Brodzinski also scored and Igor Shesterkin had 19 saves as New York lost its third straight in regulation after a 7-0-3 stretch.
After Miller’s rising one-timer from the slot made it 1-1 at 10:55 of the first period, Pastrnak put Boston ahead for good when he slipped a shot past Shesterkin with 2:51 left.
Coyle tipped Andrew Peeke’s shot from the right point over Shesterkin’s glove to make it 3-1 at 3:39 of the second.
Pastrnak got his second early in the third and completed his 18th career hat trick with an empty-netter for his team-leading 27th goal.
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PENGUINS 3 PREDATORS 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored in his fourth straight game, Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves for his first shutout of the season and Pittsburgh beat Nashville 3-0.
Crosby, the captain of Canada in the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, added an assist for his 484th multi-point game. Only six players in NHL history have more multi-point games.
Nedeljkovic had his ninth NHL shutout. Bryan Rust scored an empty-net goal for his sixth 20-goal season, and Philip Tomasino scored against his former team. Pittsburgh acquired Tomasino in a trade with Nashville on Nov. 25.
Erik Karlsson, an alternate captain for Sweden, had two assists. He reached 30 assists for the 12th time in his career, most among active defencemen.
Juuse Saros, who sat out Friday night in Buffalo because of illness, stopped 33 shots for Nashville.
Forward Danton Heinen and defenceman Vincent Desharnais played for Pittsburgh after they were acquired in a trade with Vancouver on Friday. Pittsburgh also acquired a first-round draft pick and prospect Melvin Fernstrom for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor.
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KINGS 4 HURRICANES 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Fiala scored twice, Phillip Danault had a goal and an assist, and Los Angeles beat Carolina 4-2 to snap a four-game skid.
Trevor Moore also scored. Quinton Byfield had two assists, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots as the Kings got their first win since Jan. 22.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Eric Robinson scored for the Hurricanes, and Frederik Andersen finished with 22 saves. Carolina lost in regulation for the first time since Jan. 15 against Buffalo, going 6-0-1 since.
Carolina took a 1-0 lead with 4:38 left in the first period when Kotkaniemi scored by redirecting a shot by Sean Walker.
Danault tied it with 2:03 left in the opening period as he intercept a clearing attempt by Hurricanes defenceman Dmitry Orlov and beat Andersen.
Moore put the Kings ahead 1:03 into the second, and Fiala made it 3-1 with 2:03 left in the middle period.
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ISLANDERS 3 LIGHTNING 2 (OT)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tony DeAngelo converted on a breakaway 33 seconds into overtime to lift New York to their seventh straight win by beating Tampa Bay.
Kyle Palmieri and Adam Boqvist, in his Islanders’ debut, also scored for New York while Ilya Sorokin finished with 28 saves.
Nikita Kucherov tied the game with 46.1 seconds left in regulation while Jake Guentzel also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning opened the scoring when Guentzel tipped a shot by Erik Cernak at 5:39 of the second period.
But Boqvist, in his first game since being claimed off waivers from Florida on Friday, followed up Mat Barzal’s breakaway chance that was stopped by Vasilevskiy at 18:16 of the second.
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MAPLE LEAFS 4 OILERS 3
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Joseph Woll stopped 45 shots, Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner each had a goal and an assist and Toronto survived a wild finish to beat Edmonton 4-3.
William Nylander and Bobby McMann also scored and Auston Matthews had two assists to help the Maple Leafs snap a three-game losing streak during which they had only scored three goals. Nylander reached 30 goals for the fourth straight season.
Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman and Corey Perry scored for Edmonton in its second straight loss. Stuart Skinner made 24 saves.
Toronto led 3-0 after the first period and 4-1 early in the third.
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SENATORS 6 WILD 0
OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Leevi Merilainen stopped 16 shots for his third shutout of the season as Ottawa beat Minnesota 6-0.
Jake Sanderson had a goal and three assists, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson each had a goal and two assists, Brady Thachuk had a goal and an assist, and Josh Norris and Michael Amadio also scored for the Senators. Ottawa finished 4-0-0 on a four-game homestand.
Filip Gustavsson had 46 saves for the Wild, who had won three straight games while allowing a total of three goals.
Norris’ short-handed backhand shot put the Senators up 1-0 with 1:59 remaining in the first period.
Stutzle and Amadio scored 1:07 apart to make it 3-0 midway through the second, and Sanderson, Tkachuk and Batherson scored power-play goals in 2:14 span early in the third.
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RED WINGS 3 FLAMES 1
CALGARY, Alta. (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored his 23rd goal, Cam Talbot made 33 saves against his former team and Detroit beat Calgary for their fifth consecutive victory.
Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp also scored for Detroit, which moved within one point of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Todd McLellan improved to 13-4-1 since taking over as Red Wings coach on Dec. 26.
Nazem Kadri scored a power-play goal for the Flames, who are one point ahead of Vancouver for the second Western Conference wild card.
Talbot has won three straight decisions and nine of his last 10. He is 15-10-2 this season.
Starting for the 11th time in 13 games, rookie Dustin Wolf stopped 22 shots for Calgary but fell to 19-9-2.
Larkin and Edvinsson scored in the first period. Kadri cut it to 2-1 at 8:34 of the third before Copp sealed it with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
