Predators come back to tip Caps

The Nashville Predators showed some promise amid a disappointing season by beating the Washington Capitals 5-4 Wednesday night in a weird game that featured a bad goaltender turnover and a worse owngoal.

Ryan Johansen tied it after a giveaway by Washington goalie Braden Holtby, and Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal with 4:37 left in the third period. Nashville moved within four points of the final playoff position in the Western Conference and improved to 4-4 under new coach John Hynes, who replaced Peter Laviolette earlier this month.

Predators goalie Juuse Saros made 29 saves to make up for handing the puck to Alex Ovechkin for his 693rd goal and compensating for teammate Nick Bonino shooting the puck off him and into their own net. Those blunders seemed to encapsulate what’s going wrong with Nashville, which has struggled, especially without concussed defenseman Ryan Ellis.

The game not only included mistakes by Saros and Bonino but a strange moment in the third when Richard Panik punched Johansen in the face while standing on the bench. Each player was sent to the penalty box.

The Capitals had their winning streak snapped at four despite Ovechkin’s 35th of the season and a two-goal game from Panik. Holtby allowed five goals on 24 shots and still has not won back-to-back starts since early December.

Maple Leafs 5, Stars 3 — Mitchell Marner set up the first two goals for Toronto.

Marner’s fancy passes to Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman started Toronto on the way to its seventh win in the past eight road games. The Maple Leafs never trailed and set a franchise record with four or more goals in eight straight games away from home.