Ovechkin drought-buster a big one
Goal in overtime beats Columbus, ends streak without one at 14 games
Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal in 15 games with 53 seconds left in overtime Thursday night to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio.
Ovechkin’s 828th career goal came on a 4-on-3 Capitals power play due to a roughing call against Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.
It was Ovechkin’s 26th OT goal, extending his NHL record, and his 125th gamewinner overall, second in NHL history behind Jaromir Jagr’s 135.
Ovechkin went 14 games without a goal after scoring on Nov. 18 against Columbus.
“It’s been a while. I’ll take it,” said Ovechkin. “I had pretty good chances in the first and the second as well. Sometimes you have to keep pushing and keep grinding. I’m happy it goes in and hope there’s going to be way, way more.”
Anthony Mantha scored twice and Charlie Lindgren made 34 saves as the Capitals won their third in a row. John Carlson had three assists.
Other games
Sabres 9, Maple Leafs 3: One game after allowing nine goals, the Buffalo Sabres scored nine themselves. Jeff Skinner scored twice, including the go-ahead goal, and added an assist. Tage Thompson also had a goal and two assists and captain Kyle Okposo scored twice. Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov allowed five goals on 19 shots before being pulled. Toronto had not allowed so many goals in a game since 2014.
Lightning 5, Golden Knights 4: Nicholas Paul knocked in a rebound with 1:13 remaining to break a 44 tie for Tampa Bay at home. NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists to increase his league-leading points total to 57.
Blues 4, Panthers 1: Joel Hofer stopped 38 shots, Pavel Buchnevich scored twice and the St. Louis handed Florida its third loss in four games. Buchnevich added an assist, giving him a three-point night.
Predators 4, Flyers 2: Philip Tomasino scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 4:01 remaining, and Nashville won in Philadelphia. Colton Sissons added a pair of assists for the Predators, who have won eight of 10. The loss ended the Flyers’ point streak at nine games.
Stars 4, Canucks 3: Matt Duchene scored with 9.2 seconds left in overtime for Dallas. The goal was Duchene’s NHL-leading sixth game-winner. It came seconds after Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood stoned Elias Pettersson on a 2-onnone at the other end.
Wild 4, Canadiens 3: Kirill Kaprizov scored with 4.9 seconds remaining in overtime for Minnesota. Kaprizov took a pass from Marcus Johansson and beat Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault to help the Wild avoid a shootout. It was Kaprizov’s third goal in two games after scoring twice against Boston on Tuesday.
Oilers 6, Devils 3: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Adam Erne scored in a span of 69 seconds early in the third period as Edmonton snapped a three-game losing streak on the road in Newark, N. J. The goal for McDavid was his 12th. Draisaitl scored his 14th.