Ovechkin passes Messier in Capitals’ victory
>> OTTAWA: Alex Ovechkin scored twice to reach 695 goals for his career and move into eighth on the NHL’s all-time list, as the visiting Washington Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators for an eighth consecutive time, 5-3, on Friday night.
Ovechkin drew even with Mark Messier for eighth place via a three-on-one with 9:33 minutes left in the second period to give the NHL-leading Capitals a 3-1 lead. He took sole possession of the eighth spot with his 37th of the season and 11th goal in five games with a late empty-netter.
TJ Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Carl Hagelin also scored as Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves to win his 10th straight start — and 11th consecutive decision — for Washington, who are 8-3-0 in 2020.
The Capitals have outscored Ottawa 38-16 during that eight-winning streak amid a 15-1-1 stretch in this series. Chris Tierney, Thomas Chabot and Artem Anisimov scored for the Senators, who entered on a 2-0-1 stretch. Marcus Hogberg stopped 32 shots as Ottawa fell to 2-4-5 at home since Dec 21.
Sidney Crosby took a feed from Kris Letang and scored on a shot from the right edge of the high slot 55 seconds into overtime to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 win over visiting Philadelphia in the leagueleading 16th overtime game for both teams.
Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists, Bryan Rust and Letang also scored, and Crosby added two assists for Pittsburgh, who are 11-3-1 in their past 15 games and leads the NHL with 19 home wins. Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry made 27 saves.
Tyler Pitlick had a goal and an assist, Jacub Voracek and Scott Laughton also scored, and Matt Niskanen had two assists for the Flyers, who had won two straight. Brian Elliott made 16 saves.
Alex Tuch scored his seventh goal of the season with 2:28 minutes remaining as Vegas returned from a layoff to hold off Carolina 4-3 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Tuch’s winning goal came just six seconds into a power play and only 71 seconds after Sebastian Aho tied the game for Carolina. Paul Stastny and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist, while Nate Schmidt also scored for the Golden Knights.
Teuvo Teravainen and Aho each registered a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes. Brock McGinn ignited the comeback with a goal.