McDavid scores 43rd, 44th goals, reaches 800 career points

By The Associated Press on February 21, 2023.

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Connor McDavid reached 800 career points and scored his 43rd and 44th goals in the third period to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

McDavid also assisted on Leon Draisaitl’s tying goal early in the third, with McDavid picking up his 800th point and Draisaitl his 700th on the play.

Playing in his 545th game, McDavid became the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to hit the mark, behind Wayne Gretzky (352 games), Mario Lemieux (410), Mike Bossy (525), and Peter Stastny (531).

McDavid gave the Oilers the lead with 7:21 left when his pass deflected in off Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim. McDavid then scored a short-handed goal into an empty net with 2:25 remaining.

McDavid leads the NHL in goals and points with 105.

Draisaitl also had two assists, Tyson Barrie scored and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves. The Oilers snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 31-19-8.

Noah Cates and Owen Tippett scored for Philadelphia.

MAPLE LEAFS 6, SABRES 3

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Newly acquired center Ryan O’Reilly scored twice on Toronto’s first two shots on net and added an empty-net goal in the Maple Leafs’ victory over Buffalo.

Playing his third game in four nights since being acquired from St. Louis, O’Reilly scored 37 seconds apart in the opening period and the Maple Leafs led 4-0 on goals in a span of 8:18.

O’Reilly added two assists and sealed the win with the first five-point outing of his career by scoring into an empty net with 1:10 remaining – and after the Sabres scored three times to cut Toronto’s lead to 5-3.

O’Reilly’s new linemates got in on the fun, with captain John Tavares scoring and adding three assists, and Mitchell Marner setting up five goals. Michael Bunting and William Nylander also scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves.

Alex Tuch, with the 100th goal of his career, Jack Quinn and Jeff Skinner scored for Buffalo.

RED WINGS 3, CAPITALS 1

WASHINGTON (AP) – Pius Suter scored twice, Robert Hagg ended a 75-game goal drought and Detroit beat Washington.

The Red Wings won for the sixth time in seven games, moving ahead of the Capitals in the Eastern Conference wild-card race and taking another step to ending their six-year playoff drought. Washington lost a fifth in a row in regulation – its longest stretch without a point since January 2014, the last time the team missed the postseason.

Detroit kept rolling despite Dylan Larkin getting ejected 12:43 in for cross-checking T.J. Oshie in the face. Larkin, a pending free agent and the Red Wings’ captain, had been their best player during this run with seven goals and six assists in six games since the NHL All-Star break.

No Larkin, no problem, with Hagg scoring for the first time since Oct. 25, 2021 – two teams ago – and Suter getting one goal short-handed in the first period and another at even strength in the third. Ville Husso made 26 saves.

Washington’s only goal came on a major penalty to Larkin, when Tom Wilson redirected a shot from Erik Gustafsson past Husso. Alex Ovechkin missed a fourth consecutive game for the death of his father.

LIGHTNING 6, DUCKS 1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Nick Paul had the first of four Tampa Bay goals in a span of 5:55 in the second period, Brayden Point scored his 200th NHL goal and the Lightning dealt Anaheim its sixth straight loss.

Ross Colton, Anthony Cirelli and Zach Bogosian also scored during the second-period outburst, and Point and Corey Perry scored in the third. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 24 saves.

Anaheim’s Ryan Strome spoiled Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid, scoring 6:28 into the third period.

BLACKHAWKS 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2, SO

CHICAGO (AP) – Tyler Johnson scored the lone goal in a shootout to lift Chicago past Vegas for its third straight victory.

Johnson beat Laurent Brossoit with a low shot in the third round of the tiebreaker after scoring a power-play goal with 55 seconds left in regulation to for force overtime.

Johnson tied it on a screened shot from the high slot after Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was penalized for delay of game for lofting the puck over the glass and goalie Petr Mrazek was pulled for an extra attacker.

Jack Eichel scored his 18th goal and Keegan Kolesar also connected for the Golden Knights, whose five-game winning streak ended. Rookie Cole Guttman scored in his second straight game for Chicago.

HURRICANES 4, BLUES 1

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Andrei Svechnikov scored twice in the first eight minutes to break a 19-game goal drought and Carolina beat St. Louis.

Sebastian Aho had a second-period goal, and Seth Jarvis added a goal and two assists. Svechnikov also had an assist as the Hurricanes won their fourth game in a row and for the 11th time in their last 12. Frederik Andersen stopped 35 shots for his fifth consecutive victory.

Justin Faulk scored for St. Louis.

PREDATORS 5, CANUCKS 4, SO

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Matt Duchene scored the only goal in the shootout as Nashville held off Vancouver.

Vancouver’s Conor Garland made it a one-goal game with 1:0t to go, and Andrei Kuzmenko tied it with his second goal of the night with 15.4 seconds left.

Duchene beat goalie Collin Delia as Nashville’s second shooter.. Goalie Juuse Saros stopped Kuzmenko, J.T. Miller and Elias Petterson for the win.

Cole Smith, Philip Tomasino, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund each had a goal for Nashville, winners of two of its last three. Sheldon Dries also had a goal for Vancouver, which has lost four of five.

CANADIENS 5, DEVILS 2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Sam Montembeault stopped three breakaways and made 37 saves to help Montreal end New Jersey’s six-game home winning streak.

Defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic and Nick Suzuki scored in a 1:13 span in the second period to put Montreal ahead. Justin Barron, Rem Pitlick and Mike Matheson also scored for the Canadiens.

Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer scored for New Jersey, which lost for only the third time in 18 games (13-3-2).

WILD 2, KINGS 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Ryan Hartman scored twice and Filip Gustavsson made 33 saves and Minnesota beat Los Angeles.

Gustavsson won for the fourth time in five games as Minnesota won its third straight.

Pheonix Copley made 18 saves for Los Angeles, which had won seven of nine. Anze Kopitar scored with 20.5 seconds remaining for the Kings.

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