Tavares scores 300th, Leafs topple Devils
NEWARK, N.J. >> John Tavares scored twice and hit the 300-goal mark in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils Thursday night.
Defenseman Ron Hainsey also scored in Toronto’s three-goal first period and third-string goalie Michael Hutchinson made 27 saves. Mitch Marner added an empty-net goal.
Blake Coleman and Brian Boyle scored in a 26-second span for the Devils late in the second period to get New Jersey within a goal. Keith Kinkaid made 39 saves, including two on Tavares that prevented his hat trick and 30th goal of the season. CAPITALS 4, BRUINS 2 >> Nicklas Backstrom scored in the third period after missing a game with an illness, helping Washington beat Boston for the 14th straight time.
Backstrom ripped a left-circle wrister past Jaroslav Halak for the go-ahead goal with 14:14 remaining.
Alex Ovechkin scored his NHLleading 31st and 32nd goals, and also had the highlight hit of the game when he sent Zdeno Chara — the NHL’s tallest player ever at
6-foot-9 — flipping head over heels into the Capitals’ bench on a shove late in the first period. LIGHTNING 3, HURRICANES 1 >> Brayden Point had a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period and added a late empty-netter in NHL-leading Tampa Bay’s comeback victory over Carolina.
Justin Williams picked up his
300th NHL goal for the Hurricanes. ISLANDERS 4, RANGERS 3 >> Josh Bailey scored with 1:26 remaining to lift the Islanders over the Rangers 4-3 at Madison Square Garden.
Cal Clutterbuck found Bailey cutting to the back post, and he beat Henrik Lundqvist to help the Islanders improve to 13-2-0 in the last 15 meetings between the Big Apple rivals.
BLUE JACKETS 4, PREDATORS 3 >> Artemi Panarin scored his second goal of the night 1:22 into overtime to lift Columbus past Nashville.
Panarin won it on a 4-on-3 power play.