Ovechkin’s 2nd goal lifts Capitals over Hurricanes
RALEIGH, N.C. — Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 26th goal 1:57 into overtime and the Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Tuesday night for their third straight win.
Ovechkin also tied it with 7:15 left in regulation, with Nicklas Backstrom assisting on both goals. Alex Chiasson, Devante Smith Pelly and Dmitry Orlov each scored for the Capitals, who went to overtime for the sixth time in eight games.
Teuvo Teravainen and Elias Lindholm scored in the third period, and Victor Rask had two goals for the Hurricanes, who trailed by two midway through the second. They rallied to take a short-lived lead midway through the third before Ovechkin struck twice to end their six-game home winning streak.
After Sebastian Aho hit the post in OT for Carolina, Ovechkin headed the other way and fired a shot from the right circle that beat Cam Ward to end it.
Braden Holtby stopped 34 shots for the Capitals.
BRUINS 5, ISLANDERS 1 NEW YORK — Patrice Bergeron had the go-ahead goal in the second period and the surging Boston Bruins scored three times in the third to pull away from New York.
Danton Heinen, Brad Marchand, Tim Schaller and Noel Acciari also scored for the Bruins, who are 7-02 in their last nine games. Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots.
Jordan Eberle had New York’s goal and Jaroslav Halak finished with 33 saves as the Islanders lost their third straight. Josh Bailey was held without a point, ending his career-high streak at 11 games. LIGHTNING 2, MAPLE LEAFS 0 TORONTO — Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots for his NHL-best sixth shutout of the season to lead Tampa Bay over Toronto.
Vasilevskiy got his league-leading 26th win, and Cedrick Paquette and Alex Killorn scored for the Lightning, who won for the 12th time in 14 games.
Frederik Andersen had 34 saves for the Maple Leafs, who lost their third straight and are 3-6-1 in the last 10 games.
BLUES 3, DEVILS 2, SO ST. LOUIS — Carter Hutton stopped 24 shots through overtime and both New Jersey attempts in the shootout to lift St. Louis.
Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the tiebreaker for the Blues. Tarasenko and Vladimir Sobotka scored in regulation as St. Louis earned its ninth straight win against New Jersey, dating back to a 7-1 loss to the Devils on Jan. 21, 2014. The Blues have a 30-11 scoring edge during the streak.
Hutton improved to 7-3-0 on the season. He made an eye-popping pad save on Marcus Johansson with 2:09 left in overtime, then stopped Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri in the shootout.
Nico Hischier and Hall scored for New Jersey. Keith Kinkaid made 27 stops through overtime, but failed on both shots in the shootout. The Devils have lost three straight. SHARKS 4, CANADIENS 1 MONTREAL — Timo Meier scored twice and San Jose rebounded from its worst loss of the season with a victory over slumping Montreal.
Joe Thornton and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for the Sharks (21-12-4), who were coming off a 60 setback Sunday in Dallas. San Jose has won four of five.
Andrew Shaw scored for Montreal (16-20-4), which has lost five straight games and scored just four goals during that span.
Aaron Dell made 30 saves and has won six consecutive starts.
WILD 5, PANTHERS 1 ST. PAUL, Minn. — Matt Cullen and Eric Staal each scored twice as Minnesota stopped Florida’s five-game winning streak.
Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves for Minnesota, which has won three of four. Charlie Coyle added an empty-net goal and Jared Spurgeon had three assists. Zach Parise made his season debut for the Wild after missing the first 39 games while recovering from back surgery.