Blackhawks suffer 6-0 slaughter at hands of Capitals
WASHINGTON: Jay Beagle scored twice to lead a balanced blowout for the Washington Capitals as they won their eighth consecutive game, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 6-0 on Friday night in a matchup of the NHL’s hottest teams.
Nicklas Backstrom, Brett Connolly, Tom Wilson and TJ Oshie also scored for Washington, who snapped Chicago’s winning streak at four.
The Capitals have ended five different opposing win streaks of three games or more already i n 2017 while playing their best hockey of the season.
With the victory, they reached 61 points and passed the Columbus Blue Jackets for the most in the league.
Braden Holtby stopped all 24 shots he faced and got the benefit of goaltender interference on Vinnie Hinostroza’s would-be goal for his fifth shutout in the past 14 games.
BLUE JACKETS 3, LIGHTNING 1
Joonas Korpisalo made 31 saves in his first game of the season, Nick Foligno had a go-ahead powerplay goal in the third period and Columbus beat Tampa Bay.
Columbus, 2-3 since ending a 16-game winning streak, also got goals from Josh Anderson and Boone Jenner. Korpisalo played in place of Sergei Bobrovsky, who also missed Tuesday’s game at Carolina due to illness.
Jonathan Drouin scored for the Lightning, who have lost five of six. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, RANGERS 2
William Nylander and James van Riemsdyk scored in the first period, Frederik Andersen stopped 34 shots and Toronto beat New York.
Connor Brown and Connor Carrick also scored to help the Maple Leafs win for the seventh time in nine games (7-1-1). Toronto moved four points behind Philadelphia for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Tyler Bozak and Mitch Marner had two assists each.
Chris Kreider and JT Miller scored for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 23 saves. New York had won five of six overall, and four in row against Toronto.