Capitals surge past Penguins
Facing another deficit and the prospect of their losing streak dragging on, Capitals players returned to the locker room at the second intermission with some things to say.
“We were just saying we’ve got to show some character,” veteran Carl Hagelin said. “Things haven’t gone the way we wanted. It’s time for us to show up.”
Oh, they showed up. Washington scored three goals in the first 11 minutes of the third period to come back and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 on Sunday. The Capitals snapped their skid at four and leapfrogged their archrivals into first place.
“We happy we get two points,” captain Alex Ovechkin said the day after scoring his 700th career goal in a loss.
“It was important mentally game for us. We play against very good opponent and it was huge two points.”
Sabres 2, Jets 1 — Kyle Okposo enjoyed his first two-goal game in 23 months, and the Buffalo Sabres continued their late-season playoff push with a win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Okposo scored the go-ahead goal 7:37 into the third period and the Sabres won their fifth in six games. Rookie Jonas Johansson stopped 25 shots to earn his first victory in three NHL starts.
Stars 2, Blackhawks 1 — Tyler Seguin scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and the Dallas Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Stars’ Joe Pavelski opened the scoring in the first period.
Blackhawks rookie Dominik Kubalik tied the game in the second period on the power play.
Islanders 4, Sharks 1 — Anders Lee scored twice, Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves and the New York Islanders won their second straight at Nassau Coliseum, beating the San Jose Sharks.
Defenseman Devon Toews also scored to help the Islanders move within a point of idle Philadelphia for third place in the tightly contested Metropolitan Division.
Flames 4, Red Wings 2 — Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan scored in the first period, and the Calgary Flames started their road trip with a win, beating the Detroit Red Wings.
Andrew Mangiapane scored Calgary’s last two goals, one of which came into an empty net at the end. Dylan Larkin had both goals for Detroit.
The Flames are in a tight race for the final postseason spots in the Western Conference, and the five-game trip they began Sunday could be crucial.
Blues 4, Wild 1 — Oskar Sundqvist had a goal and an assist, Jordan Binnington made 32 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild.
Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Blues, who have won four straight and retained their spot atop the Western Conference standings.