Pacioretty pots a pair in win over Caps
WASHINGTON Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist to help the Montreal Canadiens break a three-game losing streak with a 32 win over the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
Paul Byron also scored for the Canadiens. Antii Niemi, playing in place of Carey Price, who had been in goal for eight consecutive games, stopped 24 shots.
John Carlson and Lars Eller scored for the Capitals, and Philipp Grubauer finished with 22 saves.
Pacioretty, who has six goals in the last six games, scored Montreal’s first goal at 7:08 in the second period and added an empty-netter with 1:18 remaining in the game.
Byron’s 13th of the season, midway through the third period, put the Canadiens ahead 2-1.
The Capitals, who returned from a fiveday bye with an overtime loss at New Jersey on Thursday night, have lost backto-back games for the second time this season.
Montreal took a 1-0 lead when Pacioretty scored just 14 seconds into a power play at 7:08 in the second period.
Washington tied it on a powerplay goal of their own when Carlson’s slap shot at 13:24 of the second beat Niemi. Carlson has six goals this season — three on power plays. Alex Ovechkin received his 499th career assist on the goal.
Eller closed the scoring in the final minute. PANTHERS 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3
SUNRISE, Fla. — Aaron Ekblad scored 40 seconds into overtime to lift the Panthers to victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, spoiling former coach Gerard Gallant’s return to Florida.
Ekblad grabbed a rebound in the high slot and fired it past Malcolm Subban to give Florida its second win in six games this month.
Aleksander Barkov scored his leagueleading fifth short-handed goal of the season and had two assists, and Evgenii Dadonov and Jamie McGinn also scored for the Panthers. James Reimer stopped 33 shots.
William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and David Perron and James Neal also scored for Vegas. Subban finished with 22 saves.
Dadonov broke a 2-2 tie when he poked in a rebound at 3:35 of the third. Barkov’s shot from the high slot bounced off Subban’s glove out to Dadonov to the right of the crease and Dadonov pushed the puck into the net. Dadonov has three goals in the past two games.