Blue Jackets’ win streak ends at 16
WASHINGTON — Columbus delivered a clunker in its try for a historic win.
The Blue Jackets lost 5-0 to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, ending their winning streak at 16 games, one shy of the NHL record.
Columbus lost for the first time since Nov. 26, ending a captivating run for coach John Tortorella’s team that fell short of the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins’ record of 17 consecutive wins.
The Capitals kept the Blue Jackets’ league-leading power play off the board in five chances, and Daniel Winnik, John Carlson, Nate Schmidt, Andre Burakovsky and Justin Williams scored to chase goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Bobrovsky had been rock solid during the streak but stopped just 18 of 23 shots Thursday.
A game after being pulled himself, Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby made 29 saves, giving Columbus just its second shutout defeat this season.
The Capitals moved within five points of the Blue Jackets for the top spot in the ultracompetitive Metropolitan Division.
OILERS 4, BRUINS 3: In Boston, Patrick Maroon had a hat trick and also squared off in a fight with 6-foot-9 defenseman Zdeno Chara, helping Edmonton beat Boston.
Cam Talbot stopped 33 shots for the Oilers. He took a 4-2 lead into the final four minutes before David Krejci scored on a rebound of Patrice Bergeron’s shot in the last two seconds of a 5-on-3 power play.
But Talbot killed off the rest of the power play with the Oilers one man down. He then blanked Boston for another minute with goalie Tuukka Rask pulled for an extra skater.
Bergeron and Colin Miller also scored for the Bruins, and Rask stopped 21 shots.
BLACKHAWKS 4, SABRES 3, OT: In Chicago, Patrick Kane scored 56 seconds into overtime, Artem Anisimov had two goals and Chicago beat Buffalo.
Jonathan Toews set up Kane’s 12th goal when he forced Anders Nilsson to make a left pad save. The rebound went right to Kane, who knocked it into the open side of net before Nilsson could recover.
Ryan Hartman also scored for the Blackhawks, who had dropped five of six. Kane also had two assists against his hometown team and Corey Crawford made 17 stops in Chicago’s 10th consecutive victory against Buffalo.
HURRICANES 4, BLUES 2: In St. Louis, Jeff Skinner put Carolina ahead in the third period and Derek Ryan scored twice to beat the Blues.
Skinner scored a power-play goal with 6:08 remaining to make it 3-2, and then Ryan added an empty-netter for his second of the game with 1:19 left. Skinner’s goal was his 14th of the season.
Jay McClement also scored for Carolina, which ended a two-game losing streak. Cam Ward made 21 saves.
PREDATORS 6, LIGHTNING 1: In Tampa, Fla., Colton Sissons ended a 12-game goal drought with his first career hat trick, Pekka Rinne made 27 saves and Nashville beat Tampa Bay.
Nashville also got goals from Mike Fisher, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Ellis. Rinne improved to 7-0-1 against Tampa Bay.