Alex Ovechkin has hat trick, Capitals beat Maple Leafs 4-2

By AP
Published

TORONTO (AP) Alex Ovechkin had a hat trick to help the Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Saturday night.

Ovechkin scored two of his three goals in the opening period for the Capitals. Jakub Vrana also scored, and Braden Holtby made 27 saves for his 13th victory of the season.

Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev scored in the third period for Toronto.

Ovechkin opened the scoring when he skated with the puck through the neutral zone before taking a wrist shot from just outside the left face-off circle and beating McElhinney at 12:03. It was Ovechkin's 574th goal, which moved him past Mike Bossy for 21st on the career list.

The Russian scored his second goal with 47 seconds left in the period on a power play. The goal was Ovechkin's 217th of his career with the man advantage, which moved him into a tie with Jaromir Jagr for the most among active NHL players. Ovechkin added an empty-netter to give him 18 goals this season.

PENGUINS 5, LIGHTNING 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel each scored twice and Pittsburgh beat Tampa Bay to end a season-high three-game losing streak.

Tristan Jarry, making his first home start, stopped 33 shots for his first NHL win. He also assisted on the first goal of the game.

Pittsburgh hasn't lost four straight in regulation overall since Dec. 14-19, 2015, the first four games of coach Mike Sullivan's tenure. The Penguins, playing without injured star forward Evgeni Malkin, also ended a two-game home regulation losing streak.

Kessel also had two assists, and Crosby had one.

Bryan Rust scored a short-handed goal. Ondrej Palat and Cory Conacher scored for Tampa Bay.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, COYOTES 2

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Tomas Nosek, William Karlsson and Erik Haula scored in a 1:42 span of the second period and Vegas beat Arizona for its fifth straight victory.

Jonathan Marchessault had an empty-net goal right before the buzzer and an earlier pair of assists for the Knights. They improved to 3-0 against Arizona and solidified their spot in first place in the Pacific Division in their inaugural season.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brendan Perlini scored in a third-period Coyotes comeback. Perlini's spectacular goal through traffic and past goalie Malcolm Subban cut the lead to 3-2 with 9:25 remaining.

DEVILS 4, RED WINGS 3, OT

DETROIT (AP) - Brian Gibbons scored at 2:32 of overtime to lift New Jersey past Detroit.

The Devils squandered a 3-1 lead in the third period, but Gibbons was able to get his stick on a pass by Red Wings defenseman Nick Jensen and took control of the puck in front of the Detroit net. He beat Jimmy Howard for the winner, his 11th goal of the season.

David Booth scored twice for the Red Wings and Anthony Mantha started Detroit's third-period rally with his 11th goal of the season. Brian Boyle and Taylor Hall scored in the first period for New Jersey, and Nico Hischier added a goal in the third.

New Jersey moved past Columbus into first place in the Metropolitan Division.

BLACKHAWKS 4, PANTHERS 1

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Jonathan Toews had a goal and two assists and Corey Crawford made 37 saves in his 400th NHL game to help Chicago beat Florida.

Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Kane and John Hayden also scored for Chicago.

Jared McCann scored for the Panthers, and Roberto Luongo stopped 35 shots.

BLUES 6, WILD 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Jaden Schwartz scored twice and Kyle Brodziak added a short-handed goal in St. Louis' victory over Minnesota,

Paul Stastny, Dmitrij Jaskin and Sammy Blais also scored for the Blues, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period. Jake Allen made 22 saves to help St. Louis win for the third time in four games and improve its points total to an NHL-best 35 at 17-6-1.

Charlie Coyle, Zack Mitchell and Eric Staal scored for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk made 34 saves.

CANADIENS 3, SABRES 0

MONTREAL (AP) - Carey Price made 36 saves in his return from a lower-body injury and Montreal beat Buffalo to snap a five-game losing streak.

Price missed 10 games with the injury. The shutout was his 40th in the NHL.

Jeff Petry, Alex Galchenyuk and Paul Bryon scored. Montreal's last previous victory was against the Sabres two weeks ago. Buffalo has lost eight of its last nine games.

FLAMES 3, AVALANCHE 2

DENVER (AP) - Micheal Ferland and Mikael Backlund scored in the final minute of the second period to help rookie goalie David Rittich get his first NHL victory in Calgary's win over Colorado,

Dougie Hamilton also scored, and Backlund added an assist for the Flames.

Nikita Zadorov and Mikko Rantanen scored for the Avalanche, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 25 shots.

ISLANDERS 2, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle scored, Nick Leddy had two assists and New York handed Ottawa its sixth loss in a row.

Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves for the Islanders. They have won three straight and six of seven.

Matt Duchene scored his first goal in his eighth game with Ottawa, and Craig Anderson made 22 saves.

SHARKS 4, JETS 0

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Logan Couture scored two goals and Martin Jones had 38 saves in San Jose's victory over Winnipeg.

Couture scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway at 13:13 of the second period for his 13th goal of the season that gave the Sharks a 3-0 lead.

Tim Heed and Tomas Hertl also scored.

KINGS 2, DUCKS 1, SO

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Trevor Lewis scored in the fourth round of a shootout, and Los Angeles Kings ended a three-game losing streak.

Dustin Brown scored with 1:32 remaining in regulation as Los Angeles won for the second time in its last seven home games (2-5-0). Jonathan Quick broke a six-game losing streak, matching the longest of his career after going 0-4-2 in 2011-12 and 0-3-3 in 2014-15, by making 25 saves.

Anze Kopitar also scored in the shootout and Quick stopped Kevin Roy's shot for the 2-1 win.

Nick Ritchie scored for the Ducks, who opened a six-game road trip, their longest of the season, by earning a point away from home. Ryan Miller stopped 33 shots for Anaheim in his first start after missing five games with a lower-body injury.

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