Ovechkin ties Hull for fourth all-time in goals

Alex Ovechkin scored his 741st career goal to tie Brett Hull for fourth on the NHL’s all-time list, and helped the Washington Capitals beat the visiting Buffalo Sabres 5-3 on Monday night.

Tom Wilson added two goals and Evgeny Kuznetsov contributed his ninth, 10th and 11th assists as the Capitals snapped a three-game losing streak.

Ovechkin also assisted two goals, including Wilson’s first, which gave Washington an early lead it never relinquished. Connor McMichael and John Carlson also scored, and Vitek Vanecek made 20 saves for the Capitals.

After entering Monday tied for this season’s NHL goals lead, Ovechkin got his 11th of the season when he redirected Dmitry Orlov’s shot into the top left corner nearly midway through the second period. That gave Washington a 3-1 lead.

KINGS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 1 >> Phillip Danault had two goals and an assist and Los Angeles won at Toronto to extend its winning streak to five games. Andreas Athanasiou added a goal and assist and Trevor Moore, a former Maple Leaf, and Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings. Alex Iafallo added two assists. Jonathan Quick made 33 saves for Los Angeles.

John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a five-game winning streak end.

RANGERS 4, PANTHERS 3 >> Igor Shesterkin made a season-high 42 saves and New York held handed Florida its first loss in regulation this season. Chris Kreider and Adam Fox each had a goal in the first period before K’Andre Miller and Ryan Strome scored 30 seconds apart in the second as New York built a 4-0 lead after two. Eetu Luostarinen scored 20 seconds into the third for Florida (10-1-1), poking in the puck for his fourth goal of the season. Sam Reinhart made it 4-2 at 18:34 with this third before Patric Hornqvist scored at 19:20 to make it a one-goal game.