Ovechkin scores 1st goal in 15 games to lift Capitals over Blue Jackets in overtime
By The Associated Press on December 21, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal in 15 games with 53 seconds left on the clock in overtime Thursday night to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ovechkin’s 828th career goal came on a 4-on-3 Capitals power play due to a roughing call against Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins with 2:18 left in OT. It was Ovechkin’s 26th overtime goal, extending his NHL record, and his 125th game-winner overall, second in NHL history behind Jaromir Jagr’s 135. Anthony Mantha scored twice and Charlie Lindgren made 34 saves as the Capitals won their third straight. John Carlson had three assists. Cole Sillinger and Yegor Chinakhov scored for the Blue Jackets. LIGHTNING 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Nicholas Paul scored the winning goal with 1:13 left and added two assists as Tampa Bay beat Vegas. Paul put home a rebound for his second straight three-point game. Lightning right wing and NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists. Brayden Point had two goals and an assist, and Alex Barré-Boulet also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 30 shots. Jiri Patera made 31 saves for the Golden Knights while filling in for injured Adin Hill (lower body) and Logan Thompson (upper body). The defending Stanley Cup champions got two goals from Jonathan Marchessault. Ivan Barbashev and Paul Cotter had the other Vegas goals, and Jack Eichel extended his franchise-record point streak to 12 games with two assists. PENGUINS 2, HURRICANES 1, SO PITTSBURGH (AP) – Sidney Crosby scored his 19th goal of the season in regulation and then beat Pyotr Kochetkov in a shootout to send Pittsburgh past Carolina for its fourth victory in five games. Alex Nedeljkovic made 23 saves and turned away all three Carolina attempts in the shootout as the Penguins beat the Hurricanes for just the third time in 13 meetings. Teuvo Teravainen scored his 12th of the season for the Hurricanes, and Kochetkov stopped 24 shots. SABRES 9, MAPLE LEAFS 3 BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Jeff Skinner scored twice, including the go-ahead goal, and added an assist as Buffalo responded to its most embarrassing loss of the season by routing Toronto. Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists and captain Kyle Okposo scored twice, two nights after a 9-4 loss to Columbus when the team was booed off the ice and fans chanted “Fire Donnie” in reference to coach Don Granato. Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Jordan Greenway and Jack Quinn also scored for Buffalo, which won for just the fourth time in 12 games. Rookie goalie Devon Levi made 25 saves to improve to 4-0-2 in his past eight appearances. Auston Matthews and Max Domi scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost consecutive games in regulation for only the second time this season. Calle Jarnkrok scored a short-handed goal, and William Nylander had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games. Ilya Samsonov allowed five goals on 19 shots before getting pulled. Martin Jones gave up four goals on 16 shots. The nine goals against were the most for Toronto since a 9-2 loss to Nashville on Nov. 18, 2014. BLUES 4, PANTHERS 1 SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Joel Hofer stopped 36 shots, Pavel Buchnevich scored twice and St. Louis topped sliding Florida. Buchnevich added an assist, giving him a three-point night. Robert Thomas had three assists, and Jordan Kyrou and Alexey Toropchenko also scored for the Blues. Eetu Luostarinen scored the Panthers’ lone goal, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves. St. Louis has won three of its last four games under interim coach Drew Bannister, matching its best stretch of the season. The Blues have won four straight against Florida and are 6-1-1 versus the Panthers in their last eight meetings. The loss was the fourth in Florida’s last five games. The defending Eastern Conference champions have been held to one goal or less in all four of those defeats. OILERS 6, DEVILS 3 NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Adam Erne scored in a span of 69 seconds early in the third period as Edmonton beat New Jersey to snap a three-game losing streak. Ryan McLeod had two goals for the Oilers while playing against his older brother. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored, and Calvin Pickard made 23 saves. Dawson Mercer, Jonas Siegenthaler and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who lost their third straight after winning eight of 10. Michael McLeod had two assists. McDavid scored his 12th goal at 1:40 of the third to tie the game at 3. Draisaitl put Edmonton ahead with his 14th at 2:22 before Erne made it 5-3 with his first goal for the Oilers at 2:49. PREDATORS 4, FLYERS 2 PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philip Tomasino scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 4:01 remaining, and Nashville beat Philadelphia. Cole Smith also scored, Gustav Nyquist added an empty-netter and Colton Sissons had two assists for the Predators, who have won eight of 10. Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist, and Sean Couturier also scored for the Flyers, whose nine-game point streak ended. Juuse Saros stopped 29 shots for Nashville. STARS 4, CANUCKS 3, OT DALLAS (AP) – Matt Duchene scored with 9.2 seconds remaining on the clock in overtime to give Dallas a win over Vancouver. Duchene’s goal, his NHL-leading sixth game-winner, came seconds after Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood stoned Elias Pettersson on a 2-on-none at the other end. Thomas Harley, who had the primary assist, scored in the third period to send the game to OT. Tyler Seguin and Roope Hintz also scored for Dallas, and Wedgewood made 17 saves. Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua each had a goal and an assist and Brock Boeser also scored for the Canucks, who are 6-0-2 in their last eight games. Thatcher Demko stopped 32 shots in his first loss to Dallas (7-0-1). WILD 4, CANADIENS 3, OT ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Kirill Kaprizov scored with 4.9 seconds left in overtime to lift Minnesota over Montreal. Kaprizov took a pass from Marcus Johansson and beat Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault. It was Kaprizov’s third goal in two games, after scoring twice against Boston on Tuesday. Brock Faber scored his second NHL goal, Matt Boldy also scored and Marco Rossi had a goal, two assists and a fight for a “Gordie Howe hat trick” to spark the Wild. Juraj Slafkovsky, David Savard and Nick Suzuki scored for the Canadiens. Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves in the win. ___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl 52-51
