Ovechkin fueling Caps’ onslaught
Flames top Pens; Bruins fire coach
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin got his 26th goal of the season and Braden Holtby gave the Capitals another steady performance in net as Washington beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 on Tuesday night for its fourth straight victory.
Brett Connolly, Lars Eller, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson also scored for Washington, which picked up its second consecutive shutout. Holtby stopped 23 shots in an easy outing two days after backup Philipp Grubauer made 38 saves to shut out Los Angeles.
Holtby’s seventh shutout of the season ties him with the Kings’ Peter Budaj for the NHL lead. It’s his fourth in 12 games.
The Capitals have scored four or more goals in 14 of their past 18 games and put up five or more in nine consecutive home games, the first team to do that since the 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup.
Washington has won 10 games in a row at home. FLAMES 3, PENGUINS 2 (SO): In Pittsburgh, Kris Versteeg scored the only goal in the shootout as Calgary recovered after a furious third-period rally by Pittsburgh to get a victory.
Chad Johnson stopped 31 shots in regulation and then turned away Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby in the shootout.
The Penguins’ Kris Letang hit the post on his team’s final attempt. WILD 4, JETS 2: In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Jason Pominville and Nino Niederreiter each scored twice to help Minnesota foil Winnipeg.
Devan Dubnyk made 38 saves for the Western Conferenceleading Wild, and Minnesota finished its road trip 3-1-0. AVALANCHE 4, CANADIENS
0: In Denver, Mikko Rantanen scored three times for his first career hat trick and Calvin Pickard stopped 27 shots as Colorado beat Montreal.
Andreas Martinsen added a goal as the last-place Avalanche posted back-to-back wins for the first time since November. Even more, it’s the first time all season Colorado has won two straight at home.
RANGERS 4, DUCKS 1: In New York, Henrik Lundqvist made a season-high 43 saves and Michael Grabner scored twice as New York beat Anaheim.
Mats Zuccarello and Oscar Lindberg also scored to help the Rangers win for the sixth time in eight games and give coach Alain Vigneault his 600th career victory. PREDATORS 4, CANUCKS
2: In Nashville, Tenn., Viktor Arvidsson and Calle Jarnkrok each had a goal and an assist to lead Nashville to a victory over Vancouver.
Filip Forsberg and Mike Fisher also scored, and Pekka Rinne made 31 saves for Nashville. Roman Josi added two assists. SABRES 5, SHARKS 4 (OT): In Buffalo, N.Y., Evander Kane scored 1:05 into overtime as Buffalo overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period to defeat San Jose.
Kane scored twice in the game, and the Sabres got three goals in a span of 3:28 to erase San Jose’s
4-1 lead. Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and assist, and Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson also scored for Buffalo. LIGHTNING 5, KINGS 0: In Tampa, Fla., Ben Bishop made 28 saves and Nikita Kucherov scored twice during a three-goal second period as Tampa Bay beat beat Los Angeles.
Tampa Bay, which won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 20-22, also got goals from Jonathan Drouin, Gabriel Dumont and Braydon Coburn. BLUE JACKETS 3, RED WINGS 2 (OT): In Detroit, Seth Jones took a drop pass from Brandon Dubinsky and wired a high slap shot past goalie Petr Mrazek 3:22 into overtime to give Columbus a victory over Detroit.
The Blue Jackets ended an 0-1-1 skid and haven’t lost three straight games this season. Detroit snapped a two-game winning streak.
BLUES 6, SENATORS 0: In Ottawa, Jake Allen made 30 saves and Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice as St. Louis beat Ottawa.
Magnus Paajarvi, Patrik Berglund, Alex Steen and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Blues.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, STARS 1: In Toronto, rookie sensation Auston Matthews scored his teamleading 25th goal as Toronto beat Dallas. Curtis McElhinney made 39 saves as the Maple Leafs won for the second time in six games (2-3-1).
Note
BRUINS: Boston fired Stanley Cup-winning coach Claude Julien on Tuesday, just hours before a downtown parade in honor of the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl victory.
General manager Don Sweeney apologized for the timing, but said, I’m not going to make a decision just based on that.”
Boston has lost two in a row and six of nine and fallen out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Assistant Bruce Cassidy was named interim coach.