Mantha shines in debut for Caps, who rout Flyers
Anthony Mantha had a two points in his Washington debut, Alex Ovechkin scored the 728th goal of his NHL career and the Capitals beat the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 6-1 Tuesday night for their third consecutive victory.
The East Division-leading Capitals went 3 for 3 on the power play as part of another offensive outburst. They routed the banged-up Boston Bruins 8-1 Sunday night on the eve of the trade deadline.
They gave up skilled young forward Jakub Vrana, a firstround pick and a secondrounder to get Mantha from Detroit in the hopes of better positioning themselves for another deep playoff run. So far, so good: Mantha picked up an assist on Tom Wilson’s goal in the first period, then showed off his shot in the second for his 12th of the season. RANGERS 3, DEVILS 0 >> Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves in posting his first NHL shutout and New York opened a fourgame series against rival New Jersey with a shutout victory.
Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin scored and Adam Fox had assists on both goals as New York improved to 10-4-3 since March 13. Pavel Buchnevich scored into an empty net with 28 seconds to play for the 20,000th goal in Rangers’ franchise history.
Mackenzie Blackwood had 17 saves as the young Devils fell to 2-7-2 in their last 11.
BRUINS 3, SABRES 2 >> Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk scored in Boston’s two chances in the shootout and the Bruins, with newcomer Taylor Hall, rebounded to beat visiting Buffalo.
Craig Smith and David Krejci scored in regulation for Boston. FLAMES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2 >> Johnny Gaudreau scored 36 seconds into overtime and Calgary beat first-place Toronto.
Juuso Valimaki and Elias Lindholm also scored for the Flames. Gaudreau and Lindholm each added an assist, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 shots. Calgary won its second straight to pull six points behind Montreal for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division.
PREDATORS 7, LIGHTNING 2 >> Roman Josi had a goal and an assist in Nashville’s three-goal first period as the Predators beat Tampa Bay for their fifth win in six games.