Ovechkin breaks goal drought as Capitals beat Wild
WASHINGTON: Alex Ovechkin ended the longest goal-scoring drought of his career and the Washington Capitals held on to beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Tuesday night, snapping a season-worst four-game losing streak.
Ovechkin hadn’t scored in 10 games or had an even-strength goal in 18 before firing a one-timer by NHL save percentage leader Devan Dubnyk in the second period. Ovechkin’s 28th goal of the season came one second after a power play expired.
Nate Schmidt, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jay Beagle also scored for the NHL-leading Capitals, who recaptured sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots as the Capitals won for the first time since March 4 and moved two points up on Pittsburgh.
Minnesota lost for the fifth time in seven games despite goals from Matt Dumba and Eric Staal. Dubnyk made 36 saves.
In Montreal , Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists, and Corey Crawford made 40 saves to lead Chicago to a 4-2 win over Montreal.
Johnny Oduya, Artemi Panarin and Jonathan Toews, into an empty net, scored for the Blackhawks, who jumped over Minnesota and lead the Central Division with 93 points.
Paul Byron and Shea Weber scored for Montreal.
Carey Price made 20 saves and became the third Canadiens goaltender to play 500 games, joining Patrick Roy (551) and Jacques Plante (556).
The Canadiens have not beaten Chicago since 2014 (0-6-1).
Crawford, a Montreal native coming off a season-best 42 saves against the Wild on Sunday, is 7-0-2 versus the Canadiens.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, John Tavares scored 34 seconds into overtime to lift New York over Carolina 3-2.
Joshua Ho-Sang and Jason Chimera scored in the final 65 seconds of the second period to help the Islanders erase a 2-0 deficit and eventually claim what interim coach Doug Weight called a must-win game.
Tavares’ winner was set up by Ho-Sang’s takeaway at centre ice. Ho-Sang brought the puck across the blue line and fed a drop pass to Tavares, who snapped it past Cam Ward.
Joakim Nordstrom and Elias Lindholm scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost three of five but earned points in four straight.
New York are tied with Tampa Bay for the final play-off spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Toronto. The Islanders currently hold the tie-breaker.
Victor Hedman scored with 55 seconds on the clock in overtime and Tampa Bay defeated Ottawa 2-1 for their fourth straight victory.
Brayden Point also scored for the Lightning while Tommy Wingels scored for the Senators.
In other games, Florida topped Toronto 7-2 to stop a five-game slide, Edmonton snapped a three-game skid with a 7-1 victory over Dallas, San Jose crushed Buffalo 4-1 while Arizona edged Los Angeles 3-2.