Capitals stay hot against Rangers
Capitals players and coach Peter Laviolette sounded as if they’d lost after holding on to beat the New York Rangers 5-4 Sunday.
That’s a good sign for the first-place team in the East Division after tying the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the NHL.
Washington has won 10 of 11 games to move two points up on the secondplace New York Islanders and looks primed for another deep playoff run. Instead of celebrating two goals by Tom Wilson, the 724th of Alex Ovechkin’s career or three points from T.J. Oshie, the Capitals lamented a sloppy third period that turned a blowout into a nail-biter.
This veteran team has grown to appreciate the value of piling up points and learning lessons along the way, and this game serves as another teachable moment after almost letting what should have been an easy victory slip away.
“If there’s a trend, we want to address it,” said Wilson, who has five points in four games since returning from a seven-game suspension. “The whole season is definitely just to get ready for the meaningful hockey.”
The Capitals have been outscored 40-34 in third periods this season. They led 4-0 on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s goal 5:15 into the third before a Rangers scoring flurry.
Oshie’s deflection goal with 8:14 left proved crucial, standing up as the game-winner. Colin Blackwell scored twice on his 28th birthday, No. 1 pick Alexis Lafrenière scored the fifth goal of his rookie season and Chris Kreider scored on the power play, cutting New York’s deficit to one with 3:52 left.
Ilya Samsonov made a few final saves to give him 16 in his second consecutive victory. But the Capitals had to sweat it out.
Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1 — Michael Rasmussen broke a tie early in the third period with his first goal of the season.
Evgeny Svechnikov, defenseman Filip Hronek and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for Detroit, which beat Columbus for the second time in two days. The Red Wings won 3-1 on Saturday.
Calvin Pickard made 16 saves and got both wins.
Jack Roslovic scored for the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 shots.
Ducks 3, Blues 2 — Josh Manson scored at 1:42 of overtime and Anaheim Ducks overcame a two-goal deficit to beat St. Louis for a two-game sweep.
Adam Henrique and Can Fowler scored in regulation for Anaheim, and’ Anthony Stolarz made 37 saves in his first start of the season.
Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for St. Louis.
Panthers 4, Stars 1 — Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice in the first period and the Florida Panthers beat the Dallas Stars after losing standout defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a serious leg injury.
Ekblad was taken off on a stretcher midway through the second period after getting tangled up in the corner with Stars defenseman Esa Lindell following a hit from Lindell.
Anthony Duclair scored on a penalty shot in the first period and Owen Tippett added an empty netter with 1:05 to play with Huberdeau adding an assist.
Predators 3, Blackhawks 2 — Roman Josi scored with 6:33 left in the third period and the surging Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks for their fifth straight victory.
Viktor Arvidsson and Calle Jarnkrok scored on fluky plays in the first period for Nashville, which won for the seventh time in eight games and moved into a tie with Chicago for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division. Pekka Rinne stopped 27 shots.
Alex DeBrincat scored two goals 1:50 apart in the third period to tie the score for Chicago. Malcolm Subban finished with 38 saves.
On the tiebreaking goal, Josi skated in and beat Subban from the slot after taking a feed from Eeli Tolvanen to cap a pretty passing series after Chicago failed to clear its zone.