Caps rout struggling Rangers; Blackhawks pip Sharks in OT
Lightning strike Senators; Flames, Canucks beaten
NEW YORK, Dec 21, (AP): Justin Williams had two goals and an assist and Marcus Johansson had a goal and two assists as the Washington Capitals closed with six straight goals to beat the struggling New York Rangers 7-3 on Sunday night.
Washington trailed 3-1 after one period but rallied for its fifth straight win. The Capitals are 24-6-2 and tied with Dallas for the NHL lead with 50 points.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, TJ Oshie, Alex Ovechkin and Jason Chimera also scored for the Capitals. Nicklas Backstrom added three assists and Braden Holtby made 33 saves.
The Rangers have lost three in a row and six of eight to fall to 19-12-4.
JT Miller, Chris Kreider and Dan Boyle scored for New York. Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves before being pulled, and then Magnus Hellberg made four saves in his NHL debut.
Blackhawks 4, Sharks 3, OT In Chicago, Jonathan Toews scored at 2:21 of overtime to give surging Chicago a victory over San Jose.
Toews skated in with Patrick Kane for a 2-on-1 and tipped home a nice pass for his 11th goal. Kane scored his 21st in the first period to help the Blackhawks win for the second straight day and seventh time in nine games overall. The star forward has two goals and two assists in three games since his 26-game point streak ended last Tuesday against Colorado.
Joonas Donskoi had a goal and an assist for San Jose, which has dropped eight of 10. Tommy Wingels and Joe Pavelski also scored.
Bruins 2, Devils 1, SO In Boston, Ryan Spooner scored the lone shootout goal and Jonas Gustavsson
Toews
Czech Republic’s Tomas Zohorna (right), tries to score past Russia’s goalie Alexei Murygin during the first period action of the Channel One Cup ice hockey match between Russia and Czech Republic, in Moscow, Russia on Dec 20. Czech
Republic won 3-1. (AP)
New Jersey Devils’ John Moore (2) becomes entangled with Boston Bruins’ Adam McQuaid (54) during the first period of
an NHL hockey game in Boston on Dec 20. (AP)