Ovechkin hits 800 goals with hat trick
Alex Ovechkin scored three times to become the third NHL player with 800 career goals, and the streaking Washington Capitals beat the lowly Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Nic Dowd, Anthony Mantha, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Dmitry Orlov also scored as Washington earned its fifth straight win. Conor Sheary had two assists, and Charlie Lindgren made 26 stops.
The Capitals went 6-2-1 during a nine-game stretch that had only one home date. They play seven of their next nine at home, beginning Thursday night against Dallas.
Chicago dropped to 1-11-1 in its last 13 games. It has scored just four goals during a four-game slide.
Ovechkin scored on his first two shots, beating Petr Mrazek 24 seconds into the game before stuffing one home on a power play with 11:46 left in the first period. The 37-year-old winger then completed his 29th career hat trick when he sent a rebound over a sprawled Mrazek 6:34 into the third.
The rest of the Capitals poured onto the ice to celebrate after the milestone goal, and the United Center crowd responded by throwing their hats down and chanting “Ovi! Ovi!” Ovechkin acknowledged the cheers with a wave.
Ovechkin moved within one goal of Gordie Howe for second all-time. Wayne Gretzky has the record with 894 goals.
PANTHERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0 >> Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 shots, and Florida beat visiting Columbus.
It was the first shutout of the season for Bobrovsky, who played with Columbus from 2013-19.
The Panthers got goals from Brandon Montour, Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart as they halted a two-game skid. Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves for Columbus, which had won its past two games.
HURRICANES 1, RED WINGS 0>> Brady Skjei scored the only goal and Pyotr Kochetkov made 27 saves in Carolina’s win at Detroit. Carolina improved to 5-0-1 on its current road swing, tying a record for most wins and setting a record for points on the road. Ville Husso made 26 saves for the Red Wings, who fell to 0-2 when wearing their Reverse Retro jerseys.
BRUINS 4, ISLANDERS 3 >> Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak each scored in a shootout to give Boston the win over visiting New York. DeBrusk also had two goals and an assist in regulation, and Linus Ullmark stopped 23 shots for Boston, improving his record to 17-1. The Bruins are 15-0-1 at TD Garden, including the NHL-record 14 straight victories to open a season at home that was halted last week.
STARS 4, DEVILS 1 >> Roope Hintz scored the go-ahead goal with three seconds left in the second period and backup Scott Wedgewood made 35 saves against his former team as Dallas won at New Jersey, sending the Devils to their third straight loss. With both teams playing their second game in two nights, Hintz snapped a 1-all tie with his 13th goal of the season off a scrum in the crease in front of Devils netminder Akira Schmid.
LIGHTNING 6, KRAKEN 2 >>
Corey Perry, Brayden Point and Ross Colton scored 3:23 apart in the second period, Nikita Kucherov had three assists to lead Tampa Bay over visiting Seattle. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves, and Ian Cole, Erik Cernak and Steven Stamkos had the other Lightning goals. Tampa Bay has won all three games against the second-year Kraken, outscoring them 13-3. Stamkos extended his point streak to 14 games (nine goals, 12 assists) with his third-period goal. He is three away from becoming the 47th NHL player to reach 500 goals.
OILERS 6, PREDATORS 3 >>
Zach Hyman had a hat trick, Leon Draisaitl scored twice and added three assists and Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists to lift Edmonton at Nashville. Jack Campbell made 29 saves for Edmonton. Tyson Barrie had a pair of assists. Cody Glass, Ryan Johansen and Dante Fabbro scored and Kevin Lankinen made 31 saves for Nashville, losers of four straight. Roman Josi had two assists.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, JETS 5 >> Jonathan Marchessault’s second power-play goal late in the third period broke a tie and helped lift Vegas to victory at Winnipeg.
AVALANCHE 3, FLYERS 2 >> Artturi Lehkonen had a short-handed goal and an assist, Pavel Francouz stopped 26 shots and banged-up Colorado held off visiting Philadelphia. Devon Toews and J.T. Compher also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who won consecutive games for the first time in nearly a month.