SUNRISE, Fla. — Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season and got his 500th career assist to help the Washington Capitals snap a three-game skid with a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Ovechkin is the sixth player in NHL history with at least 30 goals in 13 or more consecutive seasons at any point in his career.
Brett Connolly, John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals. Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots.
Denis Malgin scored both goals for Florida, which has lost three straight. Harri Sateri made 42 saves in his second NHL start.
LIGHTNING 5, FLYERS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde and Ryan Callahan each scored in the second period to lead Tampa Bay over the Philadelphia Flyers, helping the Lightning head into the All-Star break with the best record in the NHL.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored twice late in the third to turn this one into a rout. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 36 shots. The Flyers pulled the goalie with 7:20 left and got a 6-on-4 goal from Travis Konency.
The Lightning are off to their best start in franchise history and top the NHL with 34 wins and 71 points as the league gets set to take a lengthy break. Tampa Bay's stars have little time to rest: Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Vasilevskiy were named to the All-Star team. Lightning
PENGUINS 6, WILD 3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored two power-play goals and Sidney Crosby had three assists to reach another career milestone as the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the Minnesota Wild.
Malkin, who has 23 goals, added an assist to give him 16 goals and 31 points in his last 24 games. Crosby passed Jaromir Jagr for second on the team's all-time scoring list with 1,082 points and is now behind only current Penguins owner Mario Lemieux, who finished his career with 1,723 points.
Dominik Simon scored twice, Carl Hagelin had a goal and an assist and Brian Dumoulin scored one goal for Pittsburgh. Phil Kessel, the Penguins' leading scorer with 58 points, also had three assists for the Penguins, who won their fifth straight home game.
Rookie Casey DeSmith, making his fourth straight start for Pittsburgh, stopped 23 shots. DeSmith had his bid for his first NHL shutout end when Eric Staal scored with 11:16 to play. Mikael Granlund added his 15th on the power play and Jonas Brodin had his fifth for the Wild, whose season-best six-game points streak ended.
SABRES 4, CANUCKS 0
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Robin Lehner made 30 saves for his second straight shutout and the Buffalo Sabres blanked the Vancouver Canucks.
Sam Reinhart, Nicholas Baptiste, Kyle Okposo and Johan Larsson scored for the Sabres, who won three straight games for the first time this season. Buffalo also shut out Edmonton 5-0 on Tuesday night.
The Canucks were playing the second game of a five-game homestand and also coming off a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Jacob Markstrom made 22 saves for Vancouver.
OILERS 4, FLAMES 3, SO
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid scored in the third round of the shootout to help the Edmonton Oilers salvage a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames.
Brandon Davidson scored twice and Zack Kassian had a goal for the Oilers, who rallied from 2-0 down to win their fourth in five games.
Matthew Tkachuk had two goals and Mark Giordano also scored for the Flames, who have a point in 11 straight games despite their fourth straight loss in extra time (7-0-4).
BLACKHAWKS 5, RED WINGS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Alex DeBrincat had his second hat trick of an impressive rookie season and the Chicago Blackhawks chased Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard in the first period on their way to a victory over the Red Wings.
DeBrincat, Anthony Duclair and Vinnie Hinostroza scored in the first 8:47 before Howard was pulled, and the Red Wings never got back in the game. DeBrincat added another goal in the second period and scored an empty-netter in the third, bringing his season total to 17.
Anton Forsberg came within 3:51 of his first career shutout before Anthony Mantha scored for Detroit.
PREDATORS 3, DEVILS 0
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — All-Star
Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson also scored as the Predators extended their point streak to a season-high eight games (6-0-2).
With regular goaltenders Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid injured, rookie Ken Appleby made 24 saves in his first career start for the Devils, who have lost four straight in regulation. New Jersey has two wins in its last 12 games (2-7-3).
BRUINS 3, SENATORS 2
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jake DeBrusk scored with 8:41 left to lift the Boston Bruins over the Ottawa Senators for their fifth straight win.
Danton Heinen and Tim Schaller also scored to help the Bruins get a point in their 18th straight game (14-0-4), their second longest point streak ever. Tuukka Rask stopped 21 shots.
Thomas Chabot and Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa, but the Senators are mired in a five-game skid. Mike Condon had 41 saves.
Boston was without leading scorer Brad Marchand, who began his five-game suspension for an elbow against New Jersey forward Marcus Johansson on Tuesday.
ISLANDERS 2, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ross Johnston scored the first goal of his NHL career, helping the New York Islanders defeat the Vegas Golden Knights.
Jordan Eberle also scored for the Islanders, while Jaroslav Halak had 38 saves.
Vegas (32-12-4) was looking to tie the 1993-94 Florida Panthers for the NHL record for most wins in an inaugural season with 33. It was just the third home loss for the Golden Knights, who are now 19-3-2 at T Mobile Arena.
Erik Haula scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury, who will represent Vegas on the Pacific Division roster in the All-Star game, stopped 23 shots.
HURRICANES 6, CANADIENS 5
MONTREAL (AP) — Teuvo Teravainen scored twice and added an assist as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens.
Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner, Derek Ryan and Justin Williams also scored for the Hurricanes, who had lost their last two. Cam Ward made 26 saves and
Charles Hudon scored twice and added an assist for the Canadiens. Brendan Gallagher, Jeff Petry and Max Pacioretty also scored, while Carey Price stopped 23 of 29 shots in defeat.
Montreal fell behind early and tied it three times, but Carolina held on for its third straight victory against the Canadiens.
BLUES 3, AVALANCHE 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brayden Schenn scored in his fourth straight game, Paul Stastny also had a goal and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche.
Alexander Steen scored for the fourth time in his last five games, and Carter Hutton made 36 saves for the Blues, who have won four of five.
Alexander Kerfoot scored for the Avalanche, who lost their second straight after winning 10 in a row. Jonathan Bernier made 31 saves. Colorado dropped consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 5-7.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, STARS 1
DALLAS (AP) — Curtis McElhinney made 39 saves while playing for the first time in more than a month, helping the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Dallas Stars.
Nazem Kadri scored twice, and Zach Hyman and Auston Matthews had one each for the Maple Leafs. Jake Gardiner had three assists for the second time in four games, and William Nylander assisted twice.
Tyler Seguin scored to bring Dallas within 3-1 late in the second period, but Matthews restored Toronto's three-goal lead at 2:38 of the third. Ben Bishop had 25 saves for Toronto.
DUCKS 4, JETS 3, SO
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Adam Henrique scored a goal, added an assist and got the shootout winner as the Anaheim Ducks ended the Winnipeg Jets' three-game winning streak.
Nick Ritchie and Ryan Kesler also had goals in regulation for Anaheim, which went 4-1 on its homestand.
Ducks goaltender John Gibson made 24 saves before he left with 6:40 remaining in the third period after Blake Wheeler lost an edge and hit into him. Ryan Miller didn't face a shot on goal in place of Gibson, but stopped all five Jets shooters in the shootout.
Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck stopped 36 shots in the loss. Jack Roslovic scored his first career NHL goal to tie it at 3 in the third, and Patrick Laine and Brandon Tanev also had goals for the Jets.
BLUE JACKETS 2, COYOTES 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Cam Atkinson scored with 3:03 left to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
Returning from a broken foot that sidelined him for 11 games, Atkinson tipped in Alexander Wennberg's shot. Wennberg also scored to help the Blue Jackets win for the second time in five games.
Columbus won its sixth consecutive game against Arizona, and snapped the Coyotes' season-high five-game points streak.
Sergei Bobrovsky had 38 saves, outdueling Antti Raanta, who stopped 25 shots for Arizona in the game that was scoreless after two periods. The game was the last one for both teams before the NHL All-Star break.
RANGERS 6, SHARKS 5
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Ryan McDonagh scored his first two goals of the season and Brady Skjei added a short-handed tally that helped the New York Rangers salvage the final game of a four-game road trip by beating the San Jose Sharks.
New York had been outscored 13-6 in losing the first three games of the trip before overcoming a deficit in the second period with a three-goal barrage from McDonagh and Skjei. Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast and J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers, and Ondrej Pavelec made 23 saves to send New York into the All-Star break on a high note.
Logan Couture scored twice to give him 20 goals on the season. Barclay Goodrow, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Tomas Hertl also scored for San Jose, and Kevin Labanc had three assists.
The Associated Press