Ovechkin gets historic hat trick in Caps’ victory
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored four goals to become the first player in 100 years with back-to-back hat tricks to open a season, and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Saturday night.
Ovechkin had three goals in the third period in Thursday’s opening night win at Ottawa, then matched the feat while helping chase Montreal goalie Carey Price in the first period Saturday. He added his fourth goal at 16:46 of the second period against Al Montoya.
It was the fourth fourgoal game of his career and second against the Canadiens.
Braden Holtby stopped 38 shots and T.J. Oshie also scored for Washington.
Ovechkin opened the scoring 20 seconds in, added his second goal at 2:51 and his third at 18:10. Evgeny Kutnetsov assisted on all four of Ovechkin’s goals. DEVILS 4, AVALANCHE 1: The New Jersey Devils’ youth movement has a lot more going for it than No. 1 overall draft pick Nico Hischier. The Devils are three deep in the rookie department. Hobey Baker Award winner Will Butcher and Swedish import Jesper Bratt stole a lot of the spotlight from Hischier in a season-opening victory over Colorado. PENGUINS 4, PREDATORS 0: Evgeni Malkin scored, Matt Murray stopped 26 shots and Pittsburgh beat Nashville in a Stanley Cup Final rematch.
ISLANDERS 6, SABRES 3: John Tavares scored twice to lead New York to a winover Buffalo in their home opener. Casey Cizikas had two goals and an assist, and Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier also scored for the Islanders. PANTHERS 5, LIGHTNING 4: Jared McCann scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period after a review overturned the initial ruling of goalie interference, and Florida beat Tampa Bay. Evgenii Dadonov and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist, and Vincent Trocheck and Colton Sceviour also scored goals for the Panthers. James Reimer made 26 saves. HURRICANES 5, WILD 4 (SO): Jaccob Slavin scored in the shootout to lead Carolina past Minnesota Wild. Victor Rask scored late in regulation and Sebastian Aho had two key assists while Noah Hanifin, Joakim Nordstrom and Derek Ryan also scored to help Carolina win its opener.
RED WINGS 2, SENATORS 1: Frans Nielsen scored the only goal in the shootout and Detroit edged the Ottawa. Martin Frk had the lone goal in regulation for the Red Wings, who got 37 saves from Jimmy Howard.
MAPLE LEAFS 8, RANGERS 5: Tyler Bozak, Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri scored third-period goals and Toronto held off the New York in its wild home opener.
BLUES 4, STARS 2: Jake Allen made 38 saves and St. Louis used three firstperiod goals to beat Dallas and spoil coach Ken Hitchcock’s return to St. Louis.