On a night he was honoured for passing one NHL legend, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin made history by eclipsing another. However, the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets stole the show with a stunning 7-6 overtime win over the Capitals on Tuesday night.
Jack Roslovic took advantage of a T.J. Oshie turnover and scored his second goal of the night 2:43 into overtime, giving the Blue Jackets (22-41-7, 51 points) the win on a night when they trailed 3-0 and 5-3.
Before the game, Ovechkin was honoured in a 20-minute on-ice ceremony for passing Gordie Howe for second place on the all-time NHL goals list on Dec. 23. On Tuesday, Ovechkin scored his 40th goal of the season, passing Wayne Gretzky for the most 40-goal seasons in NHL history with his 13th.
Though they earned a point, the loss was a painful one for the Capitals (33-31-8, 74 points), who are trying to catch the Florida Panthers for the second and final Eastern Conference wild card. They ended the night five points behind Florida.
Kraken 5, Stars 4 (OT)
Defenseman Adam Larsson scored on a breakaway at 1:52 of overtime as Seattle overcame a near-disastrous finish to defeat host Dallas.
Joe Pavelski pulled the Stars within a goal with a tip-in at 16:34 of the third. Brandon Tanev had two goals and an assist, and Daniel Sprong and Jared McCann had one of each for the Kraken, who extended their road winning streak to six games. Joey Daccord, recalled from the American Hockey League to fill in for a sick Philipp Grubauer, made 25 saves.
Dallas’ Jamie Benn scored with 0.7 seconds remaining to force the extra session. Miro Heiskanen and Wyatt Johnston also scored for Dallas. Jake Oettinger stopped 22 of 27 shots.
Hurricanes 3, Rangers 2
Teuvo Teravainen gave Carolina its first lead of the game with 2:33 remaining and the Hurricanes used a three-goal third period to win at New York.
Jalen Chatfield and Stefan Noesen scored 49 seconds apart for the Hurricanes, but Carolina gave up a goal in between in an eventful final 11 minutes. Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots as the Metropolitan Division leaders hit 100 points in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history.
Tyler Motte and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers, who missed a sweep in its season-long five-game homestand. Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves.
Wild 2, Devils 1 (OT)
Matt Boldy scored with two seconds left in overtime and Filip Gustavsson made a career-high 47 saves as Minnesota beat host New Jersey in Newark, N.J.
After the Devils’ Jack Hughes hit the post in the waning seconds of overtime, the puck caromed off the far board and onto the stick of Boldy, who broke free, then flipped a back-hander past Vitek Vanecek (27 saves).
Mason Shaw also scored and Gustavsson kept his team in the game all night as the Wild (41-22-8, 90 points), tied for the Central Division lead with Dallas, improved to 13-1-3 in their last 17 games. Timo Meier scored for the Devils (45-18-8, 98 points), who are two points out of the lead in the Metropolitan Division but mired in a 1-2-2 stretch.
Canadiens 3, Lightning 2
Kirby Dach and Jonathan Drouin both tallied a goal in their return to the lineup as Montreal topped visiting Tampa Bay.
After missing 16 games due to a lower-body injury, Dach netted the night’s first goal. Drouin — who dressed but didn’t skate during Montreal’s Saturday loss in Tampa for disciplinary reasons — added a second as the Canadiens salvaged one of four contests in the season series.
Mike Matheson also hit the back of the net for Montreal, and Nick Suzuki notched two assists. Sam Montembeault stopped 31 shots. Brayden Point and Pat Maroon scored for the Lightning. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy saw his 11-game winning streak against Montreal came to an end after making 17 saves on 20 shots.
Jets 2, Coyotes 1
Nikolaj Ehlers and Adam Lowry each scored in the first period and Winnipeg held on to edge visiting Arizona.
Morgan Barron and Neal Pionk each added an assist for Winnipeg (40-29-3, 83 points), which won for just the second time in the last five games. Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves.
Barrett Hayton scored the lone goal for Arizona (27-33-11, 65 points), which saw its four-game winning streak come to an end. Clayton Keller picked up an assist, extending his point streak to nine games. Karel Vejmelka turned aside 23 shots.
Flyers 6, Panthers 3
Travis Sanheim scored two goals, and Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee each had a goal and an assist as host Philadelphia doubled-up Florida.
Scott Laughton and Ivan Provorov contributed one goal apiece while Egor Zamula, Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster had two assists each for the Flyers (26-32-12, 64 points). Goaltender Carter Hart made 41 saves for Philadelphia, which went 1-4-1 in its previous six games.
Brandon Montour and Sam Reinhart each had one goal and one assist for the Panthers, who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. Matthew Tkachuk added a goal for Florida (36-28-7, 79 points). One day after becoming the Panthers’ career points leader with 614, Aleksander Barkov registered two more assists.
Golden Knights 4, Canucks 3
Phil Kessel and Reilly Smith scored first-period goals off giveaways as the Vegas kicked off a three-game Canadian road trip with a victory over Vancouver.
Teddy Blueger and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored and William Karlsson had two assists for the Golden Knights, who have won nine of their past 11 games. Jonathan Quick turned aside 31 shots.
J.T. Miller notched two goals and an assist, Phillip Di Giuseppe also scored and Quinn Hughes had two assists for the Canucks, who have lost just two of their past nine games. Thatcher Demko made 23 saves.
Predators 7, Sabres 3
Luke Evangelista had two goals and two assists and Matt Duchene added two goals and one assist to power Nashville to a victory over host Buffalo.
Philip Tomasino, Ryan McDonagh and Tommy Novak each had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who ended their three-game losing streak that included a setback in overtime. Juuse Saros made 28 saves for the Predators. Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner scored for the Sabres, who have dropped four straight.
Trailing 2-0 after the first period, the Sabres halved the deficit at the 3:36 mark of the second period. JJ Peterka carried the puck the length of the ice only to be stopped by Saros, who failed to make a clean save, enabling Cozens to put home the rebound from close range. But Nashville responded with four unanswered goals and took a 6-2 lead into the final period.
Bruins 2, Senators 1
A two-goal first period stood up as host Boston defeated visiting Ottawa for its fourth consecutive win.
After Ottawa drew first blood, David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk scored for Boston. Hampus Lindholm assisted on both, posting multiple helpers in a game for the eighth time this season. Linus Ullmark made 40 saves for Boston, improving to 10-1-0 in his last 11 starts.
Dylan Gambrell scored Ottawa’s goal, and Mads Sogaard stopped 33 shots. The Senators are 1-5-1 in their last seven games. Ottawa finished with a 41-35 shots advantage and went 0-for-3 on the power play, letting a late opportunity go by with the goaltender pulled.
Islanders 7, Maple Leafs 2
Cal Clutterbuck posted his first two-goal game in more than a year, and New York took advantage of a spate of turnovers by Toronto to earn a win in Elmont, N.Y.
Zach Parise, Hudson Fasching, Simon Holmstrom, Noah Dobson and Anders Lee also scored for the Islanders, who extended their lead over the Florida Panthers to three points in the race for the first Eastern Conference wild card. New York is four points ahead of the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins. Goalie Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves.
Sam Lafferty and Mitch Marner scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Goalie Ilya Samsonov recorded 22 saves.
Red Wings 3, Blues 2 (SO)
Magnus Hellberg made 20 saves as Detroit won in St. Louis in a game that saw four goals scored in the first period and then nothing else until the shootout.
Lucas Raymond earned the extra point for the Red Wings (31-30-9, 71 points) by scoring the only goal in the four rounds of the shootout. Alex Chiasson and Filip Zadina scored regulation goals for the Red Wings, who earned just their third victory in their last 13 games.
Robert Bortuzzo and Marco Scandella scored and Joel Hofer made 28 saves for the Blues (31-33-6, 68 points), who have lost three of their last five games.
Flames 5, Ducks 1
Nick Ritchie scored in the opening minute and Tyler Toffoli collected three assists as Calgary scored an easy victory in Anaheim.
Troy Stecher, Rasmus Andersson, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Flames (32-25-15, 79 points), who are four points out of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining. Toffoli has netted nine points in a four-game point streak.
Frank Vatrano scored for the Ducks (23-38-10, 56 points), who have one victory in their last five games. Goalie John Gibson stopped 38 shots.
