Alex Ovechkin scored three consecutive third-period goals in less than five minutes as the Washington Capitals rallied for a 4-2 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.
Feb 4, 2020; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) talks with Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom (19) during a stoppage in play against the Los Angeles Kings in the third period at Capital One Arena. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Kings held a 2-1 lead before Ovechkin pulled off his quick hat trick, with the last goal being a long empty-netter. Ovechkin has 14 goals in his past seven games, 40 this season and 698 in his career.
Braden Holtby started in goal for the Capitals after sitting the past two games in favor of rookie Ilya Samsonov, who won 11 straight decisions before losing Sunday. Holtby made 29 saves.
Jeff Carter scored the Kings’ two goals, and Jonathan Quick stopped 20 of 23 shots. Los Angeles has lost seven of its past eight games.
Blue Jackets 1, Panthers 0 (OT)
Zach Werenski scored 1:54 into overtime as Columbus extended its point streak to nine games with a home victory over Florida.
Werenski, who recorded a hat trick in a 4-1 home win over Florida on Dec. 31, took the puck on the far boards, skated in and beat ex-Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for the game’s lone goal.
Rookie Elvis Merzlikins made 32 saves for his fourth shutout of the season for Columbus, 8-0-1 in its last nine games and 18-2-5 since Dec. 9.
Predators 2, Jets 1 (OT)
Mikael Granlund’s one-timer off the post 1:11 into overtime gave Nashville a victory at Winnipeg.
Granlund’s 11th goal of the season gave the Predators their third win in four games, with two of those victories coming beyond regulation.
Nashville’s Juuse Saros stopped 33 of 34 shots while Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck stopped 34 of 36 shots. The Jets’ Mason Appleton and the Predators’ Nick Bonino scored first-period goals.
Canadiens 5, Devils 4 (SO)
Ilya Kovalchuk scored the winning goal in a shootout as Montreal overcame a three-goal deficit and bounced back from allowing the tying goal in the final seconds of regulation to edge New Jersey in Newark, N.J.
Kyle Palmieri scored the tying goal on a rebound during a scramble in front of the net with 19.4 seconds remaining on a six-on-four. New Jersey had a power play after Montreal was called for having too many men on the ice, and the Devils pulled goalie Louis Domingue to set up the tying tally.
Canadiens goaltender Charlie Lindgren filled in for Carey Price (flu), who did not make the trip, and stopped 20 saves in the first 65 minutes. He then stopped Nikita Gusev, Palmieri and Jack Hughes in the shootout.
Ducks 3, Senators 2 (SO)
Ondrej Kase scored in regulation and a shootout to lift Anaheim to a win at Ottawa.
Nick Ritchie also scored a regulation goal for Anaheim, and John Gibson made 30 saves. Rikard Rakell scored the clincher in the shootout. The Ducks came up short of winning two straight in regulation for the first time since Oct. 16-18, but they have won five of seven for the first time since starting the season 6-2-0.
Drake Batherson and Artem Anisimov scored power-play goals, Mike Reilly had two assists, and Marcus Hogberg made 26 saves for the Senators.
Avalanche 6, Sabres 1
Andre Burakovsky tied his career high in goals for a season and added three assists as Colorado scored four goals in the second period to win easily in Buffalo.
Valeri Nichushkin added a goal and two assists, and Samuel Girard, Nazem Kadri, Nikita Zadorov and Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Avalanche, who won for the fourth time in their past five games. Kadri and Zadorov also had assists, and goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves.
Sam Reinhart scored the lone goal for the Sabres, who dropped to 1-4-0 in their past five games. Buffalo goalie Carter Hutton allowed five goals on 13 shots before being replaced at 10:58 of the second period by rookie Jonas Johansson, who was making his NHL debut. Johansson allowed a goal on his first shot faced, then stopped the final 13.
Islanders 4, Stars 3 (OT)
Anthony Beauvillier scored his second goal of the game with 2:08 left in overtime as host New York rallied to beat Dallas.
Beauvillier also opened the scoring in the first period. Derick Brassard and Mathew Barzal added goals for the Islanders, who have earned points in four straight games (2-0-2). Semyon Varlamov recorded 28 saves.
Denis Gurianov, Jason Dickinson and John Klingberg scored for the Stars, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Ben Bishop made 37 saves.
Wild 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)
Matt Dumba produced the game-winning goal 2:21 into overtime as Minnesota defeated Chicago in Saint Paul, Minn.
The defenseman took a pass from Mats Zuccarello, skated in close and popped a puck up and in past goalie Corey Crawford. Chicago’s Jonathan Toews hit the crossbar on a two-on-one with Patrick Kane earlier in the extra session.
Dumba, who also contributed an assist, scored for the first time in 34 games — his first goal at home this season and just his fourth overall. The Wild’s Kevin Fiala potted two goals to bring his total against Chicago to four in the teams’ two meetings, and Minnesota goalie Alex Stalock stopped 27 shots.
Sharks 3, Flames 1
Joe Thornton collected the 1,500th point of his career with his second assist of the night, and Aaron Dell made 30 saves in a sparkling performance as San Jose snapped a two-game losing streak with a win at Calgary.
Brent Burns, Evander Kane and Kevin Labanc all scored for the Sharks, who had lost five of six games but drew up a comeback win.
Johnny Gaudreau notched a power-play goal for the Flames, and David Rittich stopped 23 shots. Calgary captain Mark Giordano left late in the second period due to a lower-body injury sustained when he fell awkwardly while attempting to take a shot.
Bruins 4, Canucks 0
Charlie Coyle scored a controversial first-period goal, and Tuukka Rask stopped all 25 shots he faced as host Boston won its fourth straight game, blanking Vancouver.
Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Karson Kuhlman also scored, and Charlie McAvoy had two assists. Rask’s shutout was his third of the season and the 48th of his career.
Jacob Markstrom made 38 saves for the Canucks, who lost their second straight since a five-game winning streak.
Lightning 4, Golden Knights 2
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots to pick up his league-leading 27th victory, and Steven Stamkos scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to lead host Tampa Bay past Vegas for its fourth straight victory.
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn also scored goals for Tampa Bay, which improved to 16-2-1 in its last 19 games. Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat each added two assists. Vasilevskiy improved to 14-0-2 in his last 16 starts, tying the team record for longest point streak of 16 games set by Nikolai Khabibulin (12-0, four ties) set in 2003.
Paul Stastny and William Carrier scored goals, and Brayden McNabb had two assists for Vegas, which had a two-game winning streak snapped. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 14 saves.
Blues 6, Hurricanes 3
Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford each scored two goals as host St. Louis defeated Carolina.
Sammy Blais and Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues, who extended their home-ice point streak to 11 games (10-0-1). Ryan O’Reilly had three assists, and Jordan Binnington made 25 saves.
Sebastian Aho, Brock McGinn and Martin Necas scored for the Hurricanes, who lost their fifth consecutive road game. Petr Mrazek allowed all six goals on 26 shots.
Coyotes 3, Oilers 0
Conor Garland, Lawson Crouse and Christian Dvorak scored goals and goaltender Antti Raanta stopped 30 shots as Arizona shut out Edmonton in Glendale, Ariz.
It was Raanta’s second shutout of the season, 13th of his career and second ever against Edmonton. The Coyotes ended a five-game losing streak while at the same time extending their streak of home games with at least one point to eight.
Edmonton lost in regulation for just the second time in 10 games. The Oilers totaled 22 goals from their previous four games, including eight in a win over Calgary on Saturday, but on Tuesday were shut out for the first time since Oct. 22. Goalie Mikko Koskinen stopped 24 shots.
—Field Level Media