Predators make up for mistakes, come back to beat Capitals
WASHINGTON >> 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 own-goal.
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.
Little-used defenseman Jarred Tinordi also scored his first NHL goal in his dad’s old home arena. Former Capitals prospect Filip Forsberg had two assists to give him
15 points in 11 games against the team that drafted and traded him away.
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.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, STARS 3 >> Mitchell Marner set up the first two goals and Toronto kept up its high-scoring ways on the road to beat Dallas.
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.
Tyson Barrie and William Nylander also scored for Toronto. Andreas Johnsson added an empty-net goal with three seconds left, and Frederik Andersen made
31 saves.
The Maple Leafs moved closer to playoff position. They pulled even in points
(61) with third-place Florida in the Atlantic Division and Carolina in the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference but have played more games than either team.
Kings’ Doughty out, ending consecutive game streak at 460
LOS ANGELES >> Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty was not in the Kings lineup against Tampa Bay, ending the longest consecutive games played streak in franchise history.
Coach Todd McLellan said Doughty didn’t play Wednesday against the Lightning because of an undisclosed injury. Doughty, who has not practiced since leaving practice early on Sunday, will likely miss the second game of a back-toback at the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.
The Kings are targeting their home game against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday for Doughty’s return, McLellan said.
Doughty had played in 460 consecutive regular season games since the start of the 2014-15 season, the fifth-longest active streak in the NHL.
Sabres’ Ullmark out 3-4 weeks
BUFFALO, N.Y. >> If the Buffalo Sabres intend to make a late-season playoff push, they’re going to have to do so without their starting goalie for much of the next month.
Linus Ullmark will miss between three and four weeks with an injury to his right leg, the Sabres announced Wednesday, a day after he was hurt in a 5-2 loss to Ottawa.
The team wouldn’t reveal the nature of the injury, though Ullmark was unable to place any weight on his right leg while being helped off midway through the third period Tuesday.