Ovechkin scores twice, Caps win
Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael each scored twice, and the host Washington Capitals beat the New Jersey Devils 6-2, boosting their slim playoff chances and dealing their division rivals a tough blow in their pursuit.
Ovechkin's goals give him 838 in his NHL career. He has 16 this season, with eight of them coming over the past eight games to reignite talk of him breaking Wayne Gretzky's record of 894.
Washington's offensive outburst came at a bad time for the Devils, who remain four points back of the second and final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Capitals are two points back of New Jersey.
Anton Lundell scored 1:36 into overtime and host Florida beat Ottawa to jump over the idle Boston Bruins and into the top spot in the Eastern Conference with 78 points to Boston's 77. The Panthers have won six straight games.
Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle scored for the Senators.
PANTHERS 3, SENATORS 2 (OT) >>
Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves and the host New York beat Dallas for its eighth straight win. Adam Fox, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers in the matchup of division leaders.
Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars.
Gabriel Vilardi scored twice and added an assist to lift host Winnipeg to a victory over Minnesota, ending the Wild's six-game point streak. Marco Rossi scored twice and Kirill Kaprizov notched a goal and assist for Minnesota.
RANGERS 3, STARS 1 >>
JETS 6, WILD 3 >>
Ryan Johansen broke out of a scoring slump with two goals, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 24 shots and
AVALANCHE 3, CANUCKS 1 >>
The Capitals' Alex Ovechkin, left, celebrates one of his two third-period goals in Tuesday's victory over the Devils.
host Colorado beat NHL-leading Vancouver. J.T. Miller had a goal for a Canucks team that's dropped three in a row for the first time this season.
Adam Pelech beat Alex Nedeljkovic 57 seconds into overtime to lift visiting New York past skidding Pittsburgh, which is 1-4-1 in its past six games. The Penguins' Erik Karlsson had an assist to become the 19th defenseman in NHL history to reach 800 career points.
Luke Evangelista, Cody Glass, Tommy Novak and Cole Smith scored for visiting Nashville for a 4-1 lead after two periods. Michael Amadio's goal at 17:01 of the third brought Vegas within a goal, but Nashville got an emptynetter by Gustav Nyquist at 18:11.
ISLANDERS 5, PENGUINS 4 (OT) >>
PREDATORS 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 >> RED WINGS SIGN RASMUSSSEN TO EXTENSION >>
The Detroit Red Wings have signed forward Michael Rasmussen to a four-year, $12.8 million contract extension.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vancouver Vegas Edmonton Kings Seattle Calgary Ducks
San Jose
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia New Jersey N.Y. Islanders Washington Pittsburgh Columbus
GP W
58 56 52 54 55 56 55 55
CENTRAL DIVISION
Dallas Colorado Winnipeg St. Louis Nashville Minnesota Arizona Chicago 56 55 56 55 55 54 53 54
Tuesday's results
Today's games
37 32 33 28 23 26 20 15
GP W
57 57 54 55 56 56 55 56 34 35 34 29 29 26 23 15
GP W
37 33 29 28 23 25 24 17
L OT Pts GF GA
15 18 18 16 21 25 33 35
L OT Pts GF GA
15 18 15 24 25 24 28 38
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
16 17 20 23 18 21 21 27 6 6 1 10 11 5 2 5 8 4 5 2 2 6 4 3
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Florida Boston Toronto Tampa Bay Detroit Buffalo Montreal Ottawa
GP W
56 56 54 57 55 55 55 53 37 33 30 30 29 24 22 23 3 5 7 4 14 8 8 10 80 213 159 70 180 154 67 187 150 66 170 146 57 152 159 57 172 177 42 143 193 35 116 211 76 212 174 74 212 182 73 165 128 60 162 172 60 172 182 58 177 189 50 160 178 33 118 199
L OT Pts GF GA
15 12 16 22 20 27 25 27 4 11 8 5 6 4 8 3 78 188 137 77 189 150 68 197 170 65 195 193 64 194 179 52 161 170 52 157 198 49 178 189
L OT Pts GF GA
77 188 157 71 187 158 65 167 165 60 185 191 60 165 187 58 137 169 56 155 144 44 158 202
Kings 5, Columbus 1
Washington 6, New Jersey 2 Florida 3, Ottawa 2, OT
N.Y. Rangers 3, Dallas 1
N.Y. Islanders 5, Pittsburgh 4, OT Winnipeg 6, Minnesota 3 Colorado 3, Vancouver 1 Nashville 5, Vegas 3
Buffalo at Montreal, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at Chicago, 4:30 p.m. Boston at Edmonton, 7 p.m. Columbus at Ducks, 7 p.m. Toronto at Arizona, 7 p.m.