Ovechkin injured as Maple Leafs top Capitals in shootout
Alex Ovechkin was injured, and the Capitals missed a major opportunity to move up in the standings by blowing a lead and losing 4-3 in a shootout Sunday night to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Washington.
Ovechkin crashed hard into the boards early in the third period and was ruled out with what the team called an upper-body injury. His status moving forward was not immediately clear.
The Capitals gave up a two-goal lead they build not long after Ovechkin left the game in pain. They left with just a point after Toronto's Alex Kerfoot scored to end the seven-round shootout.
Washington had the chance to move into third place in the Metropolitan Division with three games left to play in the regular season after the rival Pittsburgh Penguins lost at Philadelphia.
Ovechkin tripped over Toronto goaltender Erik Kallgren's stick after failing to score on a breakaway attempt. His left arm and shoulder made contact with the boards, and the 36-yearold remained on the ice for several seconds while the arena went silent. Before he could get medical attention, Ovechkin got to his feet and skated off the ice without his stick.
Ovechkin went right down the tunnel this time, and his status is unclear with the start of the playoffs just over a week away.
Not long after Ovechkin exited the game, Lars Eller and Marcus Johansson scored to make it 3-1. Ilya Mikheyev scored to cut the Leafs deficit in half, and Jason Spezza tied it with 57.3 seconds left to force overtime.
Kallgren won his first shootout after making 34 saves in regulation and OT.
Timo Meier scored with one second left in regulation and San Jose then won a shootout to complete a comeback from a two-goal deficit with 2:06 remaining. The blown lead hurt Vegas' playoff hopes immensely. It trails the Kings by six points in the Pacific and has just three games remaining.
Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos each had two goals and two assists, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots and visiting Tampa Bay snapped Florida's franchise-record 13game winning streak. The Lightning remained alive in the race with Toronto for the No. 2 spot behind Florida in the Atlantic Division.
Max Domi scored the goahead goal early in the third period for visiting Carolina, boosting their Metropolitan Division lead. Carolina tied franchise records for victories (52) and points (112). Both marks were set in the 2005-06 season, which culminated in the team's sole Stanley Cup championship.
Erik Haula scored twice for Boston as the Canadiens paid tribute to the late Guy Lafleur. The Canadiens celebrated the Hall of Famer, who died Friday at age 70, with a ceremony before the game. A video of Lafleur's goals and of him lifting the Stanley Cup played at the Bell Centre before fans gave him a standing ovation that lasted more than 10 minutes.
Dmitry Kulikov scored with 1.3 seconds left in overtime to lift visiting Minnesota. Joel Eriksson Ek had two power-play goals and an assist, Nick Bjugstad and Kevin Fiala also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Minnesota.
Rookie Nick Blankenburg scored his first NHL goal and added an assist to lift host Columbus, breaking a five-game losing streak and keeping the Oilers from clinching second place in the Pacific Division.
Noah Cates had two goals and an assist, and Martin Jones made 37 saves for host Philadelphia.
Adam Lowry, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor scored in a span of 3:21 in the third period as host Winnipeg handed the Avalanche their season-high fourth straight loss.
Alex Nedeljkovic had 17 saves, Oskar Sundqvist and Tyler Bertuzzi each had a goal and assist for visiting Detroit.