NHL roundup: Alex Ovechkin sets empty-netter mark as Caps top Bruins

Feb 10, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin each had a goal and an assist while Charlie Lindgren stopped all 18 shots he faced as the visiting Washington Capitals blanked the Boston Bruins 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.

Ovechkin scored his 57th career empty-net goal with 27 seconds left, breaking a tie with Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history. It was also Ovechkin’s 834th goal, pulling him within 60 of Gretzky on the NHL career goals list.

Feb 10, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) skates against Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) during the second period at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Oshie’s power-play goal at 1:05 of the second period held up as the game-winner before Dylan Strome and Ovechkin added insurance markers in the third to help the Capitals snap a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) that started on Jan. 20.

Feb 10, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Washington Capitals right wing T.J. Oshie (77) shoots the puck against the Boston Bruins during the second period at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves in his second straight loss for the Bruins.

Kings 4, Oilers 0

David Rittich made 26 saves and Quinton Byfield had two goals and an assist as Los Angeles made Jim Hiller a winner in his NHL head-coaching debut with a victory over visiting Edmonton.

Pierre-Luc Dubois and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings, who won their second straight game. The 54-year-old Hiller, an assistant for Los Angeles since July 2022, was named interim head coach after the dismissal of Todd McLellan on Feb. 2 after a 3-8-6 stretch.

Feb 10, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) tries to poke the puck past Los Angeles Kings goaltender David Rittich (31) who makes a stop in the third period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Stuart Skinner finished with 22 saves for Edmonton, which lost for the second time in the past three games after a 16-game winning streak, tied for the second longest in NHL history.

Blues 3, Sabres 1

Jake Neighbours scored twice to lead visiting St. Louis past Buffalo.

Feb 10, 2024; Buffalo, New York, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Jake Neighbours (63) carries the puck up ice as Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) defends during the first period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Jordan Kyrou also scored and Joel Hofer made 34 saves for the Blues, who won for the sixth time in their last seven games to remain in the race for a Western Conference playoff berth.

Kyle Okposo scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves for the Sabres, who lost for the fourth time in their last six games to fall further off the Eastern Conference playoff pace.

Red Wings 4, Canucks 3 (OT)

Jake Walman scored on a penalty shot 23 seconds into overtime to lead Detroit over visiting Vancouver.

Walman added an assist and Lucas Raymond, Daniel Sprong and Michael Rasmussen each scored for the Red Wings.

Filip Hronek and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and two assists for the Canucks.

Stars 3, Canadiens 2

Tyler Seguin scored two of Dallas’ three second-period goals as it continued its run of strong play with a win over host Montreal.

Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment assisted on both goals by Seguin, who increased his season total to 19 as the Stars capped a 2-1-0 post-All-Star break trip with their 10th win in 14 games.

Nick Suzuki had a goal with an assist, Juraj Slafkovsky scored in his third straight contest and Cole Caufield extended his point streak to 11 games with an assist for the Canadiens.

Flames 5, Islanders 2

MacKenzie Weegar collected his first career hat trick and visiting Calgary beat New York in Elmont, N.Y., to run its winning streak to four games.

Jonathan Huberdeau and Blake Coleman each collected one goal and one assist, and goaltender Jacob Markstrom sparkled with 35 saves, 16 of them in the third period. Markstrom added an assist, giving him four this season — most among NHL goaltenders.

Brock Nelson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for the Islanders, who saw their two-game winning streak snapped. Goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 shots.

Panthers 4, Avalanche 0

Aleksander Barkov had one goal and two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky earned his third shutout of the season as Florida defeated Colorado in Sunrise, Fla.

Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon, who entered Saturday ranked fifth in the NHL with 32 goals, got checked midway through the third period by Anton Lundell and tripped over the net, falling chin-first to the ice. MacKinnon went to the locker room and did not return.

The Panthers went 2-for-2 on the power play and killed off Colorado’s only man-advantage opportunity in a game that featured two All-Star goaltenders.

Hurricanes 1, Devils 0 (OT)

Sebastian Aho scored 3:40 into overtime and Pyotr Kochetkov made 34 saves to lift Carolina over New Jersey in Raleigh, N.C.

The Devils’ Vitek Vanecek denied Martin Necas on a shot from the high slot, but Aho brilliantly batted the puck out of the air and into the net. Aho has a team-leading 19 goals, including one scored in Carolina’s 3-2 victory over New Jersey on Jan. 25.

Vanecek made 31 saves for the Devils, who failed to cash in on any of their four power-play opportunities en route to losing for the ninth time in their last 13 games (4-7-2).

Lightning 4, Blue Jackets 2

Steven Stamkos scored the eventual game-winner, as visiting Tampa Bay doubled up Columbus.

Nicholas Paul had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Hagel had a goal and two helpers for Tampa Bay, which avoided a third straight loss. Anthony Cirelli had the other goal, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves as the Lightning improved to 9-3-0 over their last 12 games.

Boone Jenner scored twice for Columbus, and netminder Elvis Merzlikins stopped 33 shots in the loss.

Senators 5, Maple Leafs 3

Playing his first game back from the NHL All-Star break, Ottawa forward Josh Norris scored the eventual winning goal in the second period, powering his team to a victory over Toronto on home ice in Kanata, Ont.

Norris, Claude Giroux, Vladimir Tarasenko, Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig all scored for the Senators. Joonas Korpisalo turned aside 31 shots as his team won three straight games for the first time since November.

Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and Max Domi scored for the Maple Leafs, with Matthews’ goal marking his 42nd of the season, extending his lead atop the NHL goal-scoring charts.

Flyers 3, Kraken 2

Goaltender Cal Petersen, making his first start since Nov. 11, made 17 saves as Philadelphia defeated visiting Seattle.

Sean Couturier scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Scott Laughton and Ryan Poehling added special-teams tallies for the Flyers, who won their third in a row since the All-Star break.

Tomas Tatar and Jared McCann scored and Joey Daccord stopped 35 of 38 shots for the Kraken, who were playing for the first time since Jan. 30.

Predators 5, Coyotes 4 (OT)

Ryan McDonagh scored at 1:36 of overtime to lift Nashville to a comeback win against visiting Arizona.

McDonagh, Ryan O’Reilly, Tommy Novak, Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and an assist, and Juuse Saros made 27 saves for the Predators, who had not played since a 4-2 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 31.

Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist, Travis Dermott, Juuso Valimaki and Nick Schmaltz also scored, Jason Zucker had three assists and Connor Ingram made 32 saves for the Coyotes, who have lost five in a row for the first time this season.

Jets 2, Penguins 1

Nino Niederreiter scored the deciding goal in the first period and Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves as Winnipeg snapped a five-game losing streak, topping visiting Pittsburgh.

Mark Scheifele also scored for the Jets, who were 0-4-1 during their skid.

Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins, who lost their second straight on back-to-back nights.

–Field Level Media