Capitals give Bruins rare home loss
Nicklas Backstrom and Garnet Hathaway each scored a goal, and the Washington Capitals beat NHL-best Boston 2-1 on Saturday, sending the Bruins to just their second regulation loss at home this season.
The Bruins are 22-2-3 at home. Their other regulation loss at TD Garden came on Jan. 12, a 3-0 setback against Seattle.
Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves for the Capitals, who have won three of their past four games.
Nick Foligno scored for Boston, and backup goalie Jeremy Swayman stopped 21 shots.
Washington star Alex Ovechkin was held without a point for a seasonhigh matching third consecutive game, only the second time this season that’s happened.
With both teams coming off long layoffs between games (Washington 11 days and Boston
10) the Capitals had the better scoring chances in a sloppy first period that saw a handful of breakdowns, mostly by the Bruins, in their own defensive zone.
Playing just his 11th game after recovering from offseason hip surgery, the 35-year-old Backstrom made it 1-0 when he collected a loose puck that Swayman couldn’t cover and flipped it into the net during a 5-on-3 power-play advantage 6:28 into the game.
Swayman stopped a couple of close, highpercentage scoring chances over the next few minutes before Kuemper flashed his right pad to make a stop on David Krejci’s wrister on a break-in late in the period.Lightning 3, Stars 1: Anthony Cirelli scored twice, including the winner with 43 seconds to play, to give visiting Tampa Bay the win.
Victor Hedman took the
Apuck behind the net and attempted a wrap-around, putting the puck in front for Cirelli to tap it past Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood. Cirelli also assisted on Brandon Hagel’s empty-netter as time expired.
In the Lightning’s past two games — both wins — Cirelli has two goals and two assists. Hagel has three goals and two assists in that span.
Flames 7, Sabres 2:
Calgary scored four times in just over five minutes in Buffalo.
Dillon Dube had a goal and three assists for Calgary and Tyler Toffoli had two goals and an assist. Jakob Pelletier, Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri and Dennis Gilbert also scored, while Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves.
Tage Thompson and Casey Mittelstadt scored for the Sabres, and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 33 saves.
Oilers 6, Senators 3:
Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist each to lead Edmonton past host Ottawa and snap the Senators’ four-game win streak.
Brett Kulak had a pair of assists in the third period as the Oilers broke a 3-3 tie on their way to victory. He made a crossice pass to Jesse Puljujarvi, who beat Ottawa goalie Anton Forsberg at 3:05 of the third period.
Kulak then sent a pass in front that was chopped
AAin by Derek Ryan at 7:24 for the Oilers’ second short-handed goal of the game.
Forsberg was injured in the third period during a scramble that led to a power-play goal by Ryan Nugent Hopkins. Forsberg had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher with an apparent lower-body injury.
Predators 2, Flyers 1 (OT): Matt Duchene scored 34 seconds into overtime, Juuse Saros made 23 saves and visiting Nashville won but lost top scorer Filip Forsberg in the first period after a hard late hit.
Nino Niederreiter scored in regulation for the Predators, who entered play four points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Kevin Hayes scored for Philadelphia, which dropped to 2-10 past regulation this season. Carter Hart made 23 saves but couldn’t stop Nashville’s lone shot in the extra session.
Canadiens 4, Islanders 3 (OT): Mike Matheson scored in overtime to lift host Montreal. But it took several minutes for the home crowd to be able to celebrate.
After the Canadiens successfully killed Mike Hoffman’s slashing penalty, the winger found himself on a breakaway. New York netminder Semyon Varlamov stopped Hoffman’s
AAinitial shot but Matheson bagged the winner on the rebound. Red Wings 5, Canucks 2: Dylan Larkin and Jonatan Berggren scored two goals apiece for host Detroit. Larkin added an assist for a three-point game, while the rookie Berggren notched his first game with multiple goals. The teams were playing the first game of a home-and-home set, with the rematch in Vancouver on Monday.
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