Ovechkin grabs milestone goals as Caps top Rangers
WASHINGTON: Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the third period to move into sole possession of fifth place on the NHL’s all-time goal list on Wednesday night, leading the Washington Capitals to a 5-1 win over the visiting New York Rangers in the season opener for both teams.
Ovechkin, who signed a five-year contract with the Capitals in July, is nine goals away from tying Brett Hull for fourth place and 162 goals behind the all-time leader, Wayne Gretzky.
TJ Oshie, Justin Schultz and Hendrix Lapierre (in his NHL debut at age 19) also scored for the Capitals. Washington goalie Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves. Chris Kreider scored in the third period for the Rangers. Goalie Alexandar Georgiev recorded 22 saves.
The win also produced a milestone for Capitals coach Peter Laviolette. He earned his 674th win behind the bench, breaking the mark he shared with John Tortorella for the most wins by an American-born coach.
William Nylander scored the goahead goal early in the third period and Toronto defeated visiting Montreal 2-1 in the season opener for both teams.
Nylander’s decisive shot came from the right circle at 1:06 of the third period. Morgan Rielly and Mitchell Marner had the assists. Pierre Engvall scored a power-play goal for Toronto after Montreal’s Jonathan Drouin produced the game’s first tally.
The Canadiens eliminated the Maple Leafs with a seven-game victory in the first round of the play-offs last season.
Gabriel Landeskog, Bowen Byram and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and an assist, Jack Johnson also scored, and Colorado beat Chicago 4-2 in Denver.
Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves for Colorado, who played without head coach Jared Bednar and centre Nathan MacKinnon, both away from the team due to Covid-19 protocols.
Dominik Kubalik and Connor Murphy scored goals for Chicago. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots in his Blackhawks debut.
In other games, Kyle Turris scored the winning goal in the fifth round of the shoot-out to give hosts Edmonton a 3-2 victory over Vancouver while Anaheim beat visiting Winnipeg 4-1.