The Mercury News Weekend

Lightning defeat Bruins for 11th home win in row

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Victor Hedman scored the go-ahead goal with 6:31 remaining and the Tampa Bay Lightning tied a team record with their 11th straight home victory by defeating the NHLbest Boston Bruins 3-2 on Thursday night.

Brayden Point's pass for Steven Stamkos on a 2-on-1 misfired, but the puck came right to Hedman. His shot from the left circle beat Linus Ullmark after the Boston goalie was run over by teammate Brandon Carlo, breaking a 2-2 tie.

The Lightning matched the franchise mark for consecutiv­e home wins, set in 2019-20. They ended Boston's six-game winning streak and the Bruins' run of seven road victories in a row.

Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov also scored for Tampa Bay, which defeated the Bruins for the first time in three tries this season. Andrei Vasilevski­y made 37 saves. CAPITALS 3, PENGUINS 2 >>

Alex Ovechkin scored his 32nd goal of the season, Nicklas Backstrom had the shootout winner and Washington beat visiting Pittsburgh in a matchup of rivals jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Capitals snapped a two-game skid and handed the Penguins a fifth loss in eight games. But Pittsburgh extended its point streak to six, trails Washington by just a single point in the standings and has three additional games left on its schedule.

RED WINGS 4, CANADIENS 3 >> Robby Fabbri scored at 2:36 of overtime to give Detroit the victory at Montreal.

Michael Rasmussen set up Fabbri with a pass through the crease.

Rasmussen, Jonatan Berggren and Oskar Sunqvist also scored to help the Red Wings improve to 20-18-8. Moritz Seider had three assists, and Ville Husso made 20 saves.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored twice and had an assist for Montreal. Michael Pezzetta added a goal and an assist, and Jake Allen made 38 saves. The Canadiens dropped to 20-25-3.

Harvey-Pinard tied it at 3 at with 1:21 left in the second period. He took a centering pass and beat Husso with a high backhander.

KUZMENKO SIGNS 2-YEAR EXTENSION WITH CANUCKS >> Forward Andrei Kuzmenko signed a two-year contract extension with the Canucks. The deal has an average annual value of $5.5 million. The 26-yearold Kuzmenko has played in 47 games for the Canucks this season with 21 goals and 22 assists, four penalty minutes and a plus-4 defensive ranking.

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