Ovechkin’s shootout ‘goal’ sends Capitals past Rangers 3-2
NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored in the fourth round of a shootout without putting the puck in the net, and the Washington Capitals extended their win streak to four games with a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Ovechkin was skating to his right when Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev threw his stick at the puck, knocking it away from the star winger. Ovechkin was credited with the goal after a review.
Carl Hagelin and Andre Burakovsky scored in the first period for Washington, which is in a tight race with the Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division. Braden Holtby made 22 saves.
Pavel Buchnevich and Ryan Strome scored for New York. The Rangers lost their fourth in a row, including all three on their homestand.
Georgiev made 37 saves, including 20 in the second period. He stopped Ovechkin on a breakaway in overtime.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Brian Elliott stopped 29 shots and Philadelphia knocked New York out of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton and Sean Couturier scored for Philadelphia. The Flyers are 4-0-1 in their last five games and moved within five points of the final wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Elliott lost his shutout bid when Adam Pelech scored with 4:45 left. He got his ninth win of the season and third in his last four starts.
Robin Lehner made 10 saves in 23:18 of work before getting yanked. Thomas Greiss made 12 saves in relief.
SHARKS 5, BLACKHAWKS 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Joe Thornton set up Marcus Sorensen for a tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Melker Karlsson tacked on two insurance goals that sent San Jose past Chicago.
Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier also scored to help the Sharks end an eight-game stretch of alternating wins and losses. San Jose moved within three points of Calgary for first place in the Pacific Division. The Flames have a game in hand.
Martin Jones made 28 saves for the Sharks.
Chicago's Patrick Kane failed to record a point in back-to-back games for just the second time this season, also doing it Nov. 21-23.
Dylan Strome and Erik Gustafsson scored for the Blackhawks, who trail Western Conference wild-card leaders Dallas and Minnesota by eight points. Cam Ward made 29 saves.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, CANUCKS 0
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 19 shots and earned his second straight 3-0 shutout.
Fleury moved within one victory of tying Jacques Plante for eighth on the NHL's all-time wins list.
Max Pacioretty, Ryan Carpenter and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights, who won their fourth straight.
Vancouver Jacob Markstrom stopped 45 shots.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jakob Silfverberg had a goal and an assist and Anaheim snapped a five-game losing streak.
Silfverberg, who signed a $26.5 million, five-year extension Saturday, leads the team in goals with 17 and became the ninth player to score 100 goals with Anaheim.
Cam Fowler also scored and John Gibson made 25 saves for his first victory since Jan. 19.
Derick Brassard scored for Colorado and Philipp Grubauer stopped 21 shots. The Avalanche have dropped three of four after winning four straight.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Rudolfs Balcers scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and Ottawa snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Brian Gibbons and Zack Smith also scored for the Senators. Anders Nilsson stopped 30 shots.
Troy Brouwer and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, and Roberto Luongo made 30 saves. Florida has lost four straight.
JETS 5, BLUE JACKETS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Blake Wheeler scored three of his four goals in the third period and Connor Hellebuyck had 40 saves as Winnipeg won its second straight.
Wheeler's goal with 2:13 left off Patrik Laine's feed sealed the game, and he added an empty-netter with 34 seconds left. Sami Niku also tallied for the Jets, who stayed in first place in the Central Division despite being outshot by Columbus 42-26.
Nick Foligno and Seth Jones scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost their second straight and stayed below the wild-card line in the Eastern Division. Sergei Bobrovsky had 21 saves.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ryan Johansen scored in the fourth round of the shootout as Nashville stopped Minnesota's winning streak at five games.
Filip Forsberg and Nick Bonino scored for the Predators, who are 5-6-1 in their last 12 games. Backup goalie Juuse Saros won for the first time in four starts.
Eric Fehr and Jason Zucker scored late in the second period less than 3 minutes apart for the Wild, who still moved into a tie with Dallas for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 71 points. The Stars have played one fewer game.
