Flyers rout Capitals 7-2, deny Ovechkin’s milestone bid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sean Couturier scored twice, Claude Giroux recorded three points and Brian Elliott made 25 saves to help the Philadelphia Flyers deny Alex Ovechkin a milestone and blow out the Washington Capitals 7-2 Saturday night.
Philadelphia limited Ovechkin to one shot on net and kept Washington’s captain stuck on 698 career goals. He’ll need at least one more game to become the eighth member of the NHL’s 700-goal club.
T.J. Oshie scored a first-period power-play goal, but that was the extent of the Capitals’ meaningful offensive output. Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for Washington.
All eyes were on Ovechkin, but it was Giroux who instead reached a milestone. With assists on Couturier’s first goal, Travis Konecny’s 18th of the season and a late 5-on-3 power-play goal, the Flyers captain reached 800 points.
Michael Raffl, Couturier and James van Riemsdyk scored three times on four shots in 1:45 of the second to break the game open. Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Travis Konecny also scored for the Flyers.
Capitals coach Todd Reirden called timeout and lit into his players after the Flyers’ goal spree. But at the time he stuck with Braden Holtby, who was largely hung out to dry in allowing seven goals on 25 shots before a mercy pull in the third.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Carter Verhaeghe scored and Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to six games with a victory over the Islanders.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 15 shots and improved to 16-0-2 in his last 18 starts as the Lightning won their ninth straight home game and improved to 18-2-1 in the last 21 games.
Derick Brassard scored for New York, which lost in regulation for the first time in six games. Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots for the Islanders.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored his 10th goal in the second period, and Pittsburgh held off Florida.
Kris Letang had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who improved to 9-3-0 in their past 12 games. Teddy Blueger also scored, and Tristan Jarry stopped 33 shots.
Florida dropped to 1-3-1 since returning from the All-Star break. Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, and Brett Connolly also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves.
AVALANCHE 2, BLUE JACKETS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:34 left, Philipp Grubauer had 31 saves and Colorado beat Columbus.
Nazem Kadri scored earlier in the third to tie the game, and MacKinnon beat Elvis Merzlikins with a slap shot from the left point as Avalanche rolled to their third straight win and sixth in the last seven games.
Seth Jones scored for the Blue Jackets, and Merzlikins lost for the first time in the last 10 games. Columbus had an 11-game points streak and a three-game win streak snapped.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mackenzie Blackwood stopped a penalty shot and made 37 saves in posting his second straight shutout and New Jersey beat Los Angeles.
Nikita Gusev, Blake Coleman and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Devils, who extended their points streak to a season-high six games. They are 3-0-3 since returning from the All-Star break.
Calvin Petersen, who was recalled from Ontario of the AHL following the trade of backup goaltender Jack Campbell to Toronto, made 31 saves in his season Kings debut.
BOSTON (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored two goals, and Boston beat Arizona for its 16th straight victory over the Coyotes.
The NHL-leading Bruins earned their sixth consecutive win. Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk each had a power-play goal in the second period, and Coyle’s second was an empty-netter that sealed it in the final minute.
Boston’s last loss to the Coyotes came on Oct. 9, 2010, a 5-2 setback in what was a Bruins’ home game in Prague.
Tuukka Rask made 29 saves for Boston.
Phil Kessel and Jakob Chychrun scored for Arizona, which has lost five of its last six (1-3-2) overall and six in a row on the road. Adin Hill stopped 29 shots.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Patrik Laine recorded a hat trick with three power-play goals to propel Winnipeg over Ottawa.
It was Laine’s eighth career hat trick and gave the Jets points in four straight games after a five-game losing streak.
Kyle Connor scored and added three assists, while Neal Pionk had one goal and two assists for Winnipeg. Blake Wheeler had two assists.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Senators, who are winless in their past five games.
Laurent Brossoit made 25 saves for Winnipeg, which was beginning a six-game homestand.
Craig Anderson allowed four goals on 22 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Marcus Hogberg, who stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced.
CANADIENS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1, OT
MONTREAL (AP) — Ilya Kovalchuk scored 1:43 into overtime and Montreal rallied past Toronto.
Marco Scandella tied the score late in the third period for the Canadiens, who have won three straight and seven of nine. Carey Price stopped 22 shots and improved to 8-2-0 in his last 10 games.
On the winner, Campbell made the initial save on Nick Suzuki, but Kovalchuk netted the rebound for his ninth goal of the season.
John Tavares scored early in the third for the Maple Leafs. Replacing injured starter Frederik Andersen (neck), Jack Campbell made 28 saves in his second game in two nights after being acquired from Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored twice and Edmonton rallied to beat Nashville.
Alex Chiasson also scored for the Oilers, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Craig Smith and Nick Bonino scored for the Predators, who lost for the second time in six games.
It was the second of three meetings between the teams, with the Oilers winning the first encounter 4-2 on Jan. 14 in Edmonton.
