Alex Ovechkin scored his 717th goal, tying him for sixth on the NHL’s career list, and the visiting Washington Capitals won their season-high fifth consecutive game, a 6-0 rout of the slumping Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
Washington rookie Vitek Vanecek faced just 23 shots to record his first shutout. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Richard Panik, Daniel Sprong and Garnet Hathaway also scored as the Capitals won for the ninth time in 10 games.
The Sabres took their 11th loss in a row (0-9-2) since winning at New Jersey on Feb. 23.
With Washington up 5-0 and 3:39 left in the contest, Ovechkin trailed the play and blasted home his 11th goal of the season and third in as many games. That left him tied with Phil Esposito and in position to claim the sixth spot outright Tuesday night against the visiting New York Islanders.
Penguins 4, Bruins 1
Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists and Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel a goal and an assist each, helping host Pittsburgh extend its winning streak to six games at the expense of Boston.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry picked up his fourth straight win by making 42 saves. Evan Rodrigues also scored for the Penguins, who improved to 12-2-0 at home.
Matt Grzelcyk scored for Boston, which has lost five of its past seven games. Jaroslav Halak stopped 22 of 25 Pittsburgh shots. Pittsburgh winger Brandon Tanev left in the third period after taking a shot off his left wrist.
Predators 4, Lightning 1
Calle Jarnkrok netted a short-handed goal and added two assists as Nashville broke through against host Tampa Bay.
The victory was the Predators’ first in six tries (1-5-0) against Tampa Bay and moved their record to 2-2-1 on an eight-game, 15-day road trip. Mattias Ekholm produced a goal and a helper, and Eeli Tolvanen and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for Nashville.
Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning. Backup goalie Curtis McElhinney allowed three goals on 25 shots as Tampa Bay had its four-game home winning streak snapped.
Flyers 5, Rangers 4 (OT)
Jakub Voracek scored an unassisted breakaway goal with 1:13 left in overtime for visiting Philadelphia, which squandered an early two-goal lead before beating New York.
James van Riemsdyk, Ivan Provorov, Joel Farabee and Claude Giroux also scored for the Flyers, who won for the second time in six games (2-4-0). Philadelphia goalie Carter Hart made 20 saves.
Panarin, Colin Blackwell, Julien Gauthier and Kevin Rooney scored for the Rangers, who have lost four of five (1-3-1). Keith Kinkaid recorded 25 saves.
Canadiens 4, Jets 2
Tyler Toffoli collected two goals and an assist as Montreal recorded a road victory over Winnipeg.
The Canadiens snapped a two-game losing streak and won for just the second time (2-3-4) in their past nine road games. Josh Anderson had a goal and an assist for Montreal.
Kyle Connor scored both Winnipeg goals, both on the power play. Connor has been the Jets’ biggest weapon on power plays this season, as eight of his 14 goals have come with the extra attacker.
Golden Knights 2, Sharks 1
Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves and Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty each had a goal and an assist as Vegas won its third straight game, beating San Jose in Las Vegas.
Stone extended his point streak to eight games and registered his sixth game-winning goal of the season for Vegas, which increased its West Division lead to four points.
Timo Meier scored a goal and Devan Dubnyk recorded 34 saves for the Sharks, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Flames 4, Oilers 3
Noah Hanifin scored the winning goal in the third period and Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves as host Calgary held off Edmonton for its third consecutive victory.
Dillon Dube, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane all collected one goal and one assist for the Flames, who have three consecutive wins for just the second time this season.
Leon Draisaitl, Josh Archibald and Adam Larsson scored for the Oilers. It was Draisaitl’s seventh goal in a five-game scoring streak. Mike Smith stopped 23 shots for Edmonton.
Canucks 3, Senators 2 (OT)
J.T. Miller scored at 1:40 of overtime and Thatcher Demko made 44 saves as Vancouver defeated host Ottawa.
Jayce Hawryluk and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Canucks, who have won five of their past six games despite the absence of first-line center Elias Pettersson (upper-body injury).
Josh Norris and Colin White scored for the Senators. Ottawa goaltender Joey Daccord, who posted his first NHL victory with a 4-3 decision against visiting Toronto the previous night, stopped 25 of 28 shots.
Panthers 6, Blackhawks 3
Aleksander Barkov scored a go-ahead, short-handed goal with 6:34 left in the third period, leading Florida to a win over visiting Chicago in Sunrise, Fla.
The Panthers trailed 3-1 midway through the second period before producing the game’s final five goals. Florida, which earned its fourth consecutive win, also got goals from Owen Tippett, Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Carter Verhaeghe and Alex Wennberg. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for his sixth win in a row.
Patrick Kane, Philipp Kurashev and Brandon Hagel scored for the Blackhawks, who are 0-3-1 against Florida this year. Kevin Lankinen stopped 30 shots.
–Field Level Media
