Eights are wild as Ovechkin, Caps edge Devils

Red Wings end road loss streak against Lightning

NEWARK, N.J. — The Washington Capitals came up with two Great 8s against the New Jersey Devils.

Alex Ovechkin hit another milestone in his amazing career and the Capitals finished off a rare eight-game sweep of their season series with the Devils with a 5-4 win on Sunday.

Ovechkin in his No. 8 jersey scored his 265th power-play goal to move into a second-place tie with Brett Hull on the NHL’s all-time list in that category. He is 10 shy of passing all-time leader Dave Andreychuk (274).

Like most of his personal marks, he downplayed it.

“Keep going,” said the 35-year-old Russian who now has 725 goals, six goals shy of tying Marcel Dionne for fifth place all time in the NHL. “It is what it is.”

The Great 8 was more impressed with the sweep and the play of goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who had 35 saves in a game the Caps were outshot 39-19.

“I think Sammy today was unstoppable,” Ovechkin said.

Caps coach Peter Laviolette said no one was thinking about a sweep at the start of the season.

“You hope to play somebody once and work hard and get one win and through the course of the year at the end of the year there will be a result,” he said. “But they’re a good young team.”

T.J. Oshie, Conor Sheary, Carl Hagelin and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for Washington. The eight-game sweep was the first in team history against a single opponent.

Travis Zajac scored twice and Yegor Sharangovich and Jesper Bratt once for New Jersey, which trailed 3-2 after two periods despite outshooting the Caps 31-12.

After Zajac and Oshie scored in the first period, Sheary gave the Caps the lead at 3:21 of the second period with a shot that deflected off the jersey of Devils defenseman Damon Severson and fluttered into the net.

Ovechkin stretched the lead to two goals, slam-dunking the rebound of Nicklas Backstrom’s shot that slipped through Blackwood’s pads. The power play was set up when Dmitry Kulikov high-sticked Ovechkin in the face.

“He’s going to be a legend in the game,” Devils defenseman Ryan Murray said of Ovechkin. “You know, it’s our job to shut him down. But, of course, you appreciate what he’s done over his career.”

Sharangovich got New Jersey within 3-2 late in the second period but Hagelin and Kuznetsov scored early in the third to stretch the margin to 5-2. Bratt and Zajac got the Devils within a goal with 4:07 to play. They never got closer.

“I would say tonight we probably created the most opportunities we’ve had all year,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “And at the end of the night, we didn’t win a game.”

RED WINGS 5, LIGHTNING 1: In Tampa, Fla., Thomas Greiss made 27 stops to lead Detroit to its first road win against Tampa Bay in the regular season in more than 10 years.

Marc Staal, Valtteri Filppula, Michael Rasmussen, Darren Helm and Dylan Larkin all scored for the Red Wings, who snapped a three-game winless streak. Luke Glendening and Anthony Mantha each finished with two assists for Detroit, which had lost 17 consecutive regular-season games in Tampa.

“The past record … if you guys (the media) didn’t tell us we would have no idea, to be dead honest with you,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “But certainly we haven’t beat these guys much. Having success against them certainly feels good especially the fact they are as good of a team as they are and the defending Stanley Cup champions.’’

Victor Hedman scored his seventh goal for the Lightning. Christopher Gibson stopped 13 shots in the loss, his undoing coming when he allowed three goals in a span of 2:53 in the second period.

PANTHERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 0: In Sunrise, Fla., Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist, Chris Driedger posted his third career shutout, and Florida won its sixth straight.

Frank Vatrano and Gustav Forsling also scored, and MacKenzie Weegar had two assists as the Panthers moved into sole possession of first place in the Central Division.

Driedger, who has earned wins in four of his last five appearances, stopped all 32 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season.