Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares (91) celebrates his game winning goal with right wing Mitch Marner (16) during overtime of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. The Maple Leafs won 4-3 in overtime. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
WASHINGTON (AP) – Mitch Marner tied it in the final minute of the third period, John Tavares scored the overtime winner and the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Wednesday night.
William Nylander sparked the comeback with his goal with 4:09 left and set up Marner’s 6-on-4 power-play goal with 47.8 seconds left in regulation with goaltender Joseph Woll pulled for an extra attacker and Washington’s Nic Dowd in the penalty box.
Nylander’s heroics came 24 hours after his turnover on the first shift put the Leafs on track to a dud of a shutout loss at home against Ottawa.
The Capitals led 3-1 on goals by Taylor Raddysh, Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas before a turnover by Tom Wilson ended with Nylander beating Logan Thompson. Dowd’s penalty became one mistake too many, and Washington lost for just the fifth time in 15 games this season.
Woll stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced to help Toronto bounce back. Thompson had 31 saves and lost for the first time since Washington acquired him from Vegas last summer.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Wednesday:
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RED WINGS 3 PENGUINS 2 (OT)
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Simon Edvinsson scored 1:30 into overtime, and the Detroit Red Wings clipped the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2.
Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist for Detroit. Jonatan Berggren also scored, and Cam Talbot stopped 32 shots in his 250th career win.
Kane scored during a power play in the second. It was his first goal since Oct. 24 and his third of the season.
Anthony Beauvillier and Bryan Rust scored for Pittsburgh. Beauvillier also scored during Monday night’s 7-1 loss to Dallas.
In a pre-game ceremony, the Penguins celebrated Evgeni Malkin scoring his 500th career goal on Oct. 16 against Buffalo.
Alex Nedeljkovic, who spent two seasons with the Red Wings, made 28 saves for Pittsburgh.
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UTAH 4 HURRICANES 1
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Nick Bjugstad scored his second goal of the game to cap Utah’s three-goal flurry in a 2 1/2-minute span of the third period in a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Jack McBain and Mikhail Sergachev also scored for Utah, which won at home after losing three of four on the road. Michael Kesselring had two assists and Karel Vejmelka had a career-high 49 saves to get his first win in five games.
Martin Necas scored for Carolina, which lost for just the second time in 11 games and ended a streak of nine straight games with at least four goals. Pyotr Kochetkov gave up three goals on 18 shots before he was replaced after giving up Sergachev’s goal that made it 3-1 at 7:11 of the third period. Spencer Martin stopped two of the three shots he faced in relief.
Vejmelka had 15 saves in the first period, 16 in the second and 18 in the third.
McBain started the outburst at 5:09 of the third, and Bjugstad capped it 17 seconds after Martin came on.
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GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 DUCKS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Nicolas Roy, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev all scored, and the Vegas Golden Knights held on late to beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2.
Shea Theodore had two assists and Adin Hill made 22 saves for Vegas. Jack Eichel got his 20th assist of the season, second-most in the NHL.
Brock McGinn and Frank Vatrano scored for Anaheim. Lukas Dostal made 36 saves and Brett Leason had two assists for Anaheim.
Vatrano’s goal with 13 seconds left in the third period brought the Ducks within one, but they couldn’t get another shot off before the final buzzer.
The Golden Knights outshot the Ducks 40-24.
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AVALANCHE 4 KINGS 2
DENVER (AP) – Mikko Rantanen scored twice in the third period to complete his ninth career hat trick, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2.
Rantanen’s goal at 10:01, his second of the night, gave Colorado the lead in the third and he added an empty-net goal with 1:59 remaining for his second hat trick of the season. Artturi Lehkonen also scored and Alexandar Georgiev made 13 saves for the Avalanche.
Nathan MacKinnon, who had three assists, has at least one point in 16 of 17 games this season and all 10 home games.
Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 18 saves before leaving early in the third period with an apparent injury. David Rittich finished with three saves.
Adrian Kempe had two goals, including one 32 seconds into the game, for the Kings. Lehkonen tied it at 3:40 of the first period but Kempe scored again off of a Colorado turnover with 4:09 remaining in the opening period.
Rantanen tied it with 3:53 left in the second.
