Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell celebrates after he scored the winning goal during an overtime period of an NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers beat the Senators 3-2 in overtime. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Anton Lundell scored 1:36 into overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night to jump over the idle Boston Bruins and into the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour also scored while Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves in the Panthers’ sixth straight victory.
Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle scored for the Senators while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 31 shots in Ottawa’s third loss in its past four games.
Ekblad, who missed Saturday’s 9-2 Panthers win against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a lower-body injury, scored 19 seconds into the game, the second quickest goal in franchise history.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:
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ISLANDERS 5 PENGUINS 4 (OT)
PITTSBURGH, (AP) – Adam Pelech beat Alex Nedeljkovic 57 seconds into overtime to lift the Islanders past the skidding Penguins.
Pelech’s winner was his first goal since last April as the Islanders recovered in the extra period after squandering a late lead.
Brock Nelson, Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom and Mike Reilly also scored for the Islanders and Ilya Sorokin stopped 37 shots.
Valtteri Puustinen and Drew O’Connor scored 54 seconds apart in the third period as the Penguins erased a two-goal deficit. Marcus Pettersson and Lars Eller also scored for Pittsburgh, which is 1-4-1 in its last six games. Nedeljkovic made 28 saves.
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RANGERS 3 STARS 1
NEW YORK (AP) – Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves and the Rangers beat the Stars for their eighth straight win.
Adam Fox, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers in the matchup of division leaders.
Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas, which lost for the second time in two days. The Stars lost to the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Monday in a shootout.
The Rangers are 9-1-1 in their last 11 contests. They were coming off a dramatic 6-5 overtime win against the Islanders in an outdoor game on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
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CAPITALS 6 DEVILS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) – Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael each scored twice, and Washington beat New Jersey to boost the team’s playoff chances and deal its division rivals a tough blow in their pursuit.
Ovechkin’s goals give him 838 in his NHL career. He has 16 this season, eight in the past eight games to reignite talk of him breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Charlie Lindgren made 37 saves, and Dylan Strome and Michael Sgarbossa scored as Washington won a second consecutive game.
Alexander Holtz scored late in the first for New Jersey and Erik Haula added a goal late in the third.
POKE CHECKS: In late games Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks are in Colorado to play the Avalanche, the Winnipeg Jets are hosting the Minnesota Wild, the Nashville Predators visit the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Los Angeles Kings host the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
