Lindholm’s hat trick lifts Flames in OT over Caps
Elias Lindholm completed his second career hat trick with a one-timer 2:46 into overtime, and the Calgary Flames beat the host Washington Capitals 4-3 on Saturday.
Lindholm’s fourth, fifth and sixth goals of the season helped the Flames to a second consecutive victory at the start of a five-game road trip, this one coming after blowing an early 3-0 lead. Washington had won two in a row.
Andrew Mangiapane added his third on the power play to open the scoring for the Flames, who gave all of their firstperiod advantage back by the end of the second.
“We knew they were going to come with a push,” Lindholm said of the Capitals’ comeback. “We battled back in the third, and it was nice to get the win in OT.”
Calgary’s Dan Vladar made 22 saves for his first win with his new team. Johnny Gaudreau had two assists, including the final feed to Lindholm for an effort that caught the body of goaltender Ilya Samsonov before trickling over the line.
That game-winning play also gave Gaudreau 500 points on his career.
Rangers 3, Senators 2: Chris Kreider, Ryan Lindgren and Barclay Goodrow all scored in the final six minutes to rally New York to the win at Ottawa.
The Rangers have won four in a row, all on the road. Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves.
Ottawa led 2-0 after Josh Norris’ goal early in the third period, but the Senators unravelled late. Kreider scored a powerplay
Agoal by beating Matt Murray in close with 5:23 left.
Murray, who stopped 22 shots, left the game following the goal, leaving Anton Forsberg to close things out. Forsberg gave up a goal to Lindgren on the first shot he faced with 4:08 left. Goodrow scored the winner with 2:03 left by deflecting a long shot from Sammy Blais past Forsberg.
CROSBY’S RETURN UNDETERMINED
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby still isn’t sure when he will be cleared to return after he had left wrist surgery last month.
Crosby skated with his teammates for more than an hour Friday in the latest step in his recovery from surgery in early September. The team announced at the time of the procedure that Crosby would miss a minimum of six weeks. The six-week mark passed on Wednesday with Crosby still inching his way back.
The three-time Stanley Cup winner has been dealing with pain in the wrist off and on since shortly after the 2014 Olympics. He initially hoped offseason rest would give it time to heal properly, a strategy that worked for him during previous summers. But as training camp for the 2021-22 season loomed with symptoms still lingering, he opted to have surgery in hopes of fixing the problem for good.
“So I think we all felt like it was something I wouldn’t have got through this season if I didn’t take care of it,” Crosby said. “Unfortunately end up missing some time here early, but I guess the other side of that was missing a lot more games, probably, in the middle of the year.”
Crosby called surgery the “last resort,” but felt it became unavoidable this time around.