T.J. Oshie, playing the day after the death of his father, registered a hat trick Wednesday night as the visiting Washington Capitals beat the New York Rangers 4-2 in a clash that featured 141 penalty minutes and the injury-related exit of Capitals enforcer Tom Wilson.
Nic Dowd scored in the second for the Capitals, who moved into a tie for first place in the East Division with the idle Pittsburgh Penguins. Goalie Vitek Vanecek made 19 saves.
Alexis Lafreniere and Morgan Barron scored for the Rangers, who played hours after the firing of team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton. Alexandar Georgiev recorded 31 saves.
The game was marred by numerous first-period fights, including a three-on-three skirmish immediately after the opening faceoff. Wilson wound up in a fight moments after he stepped on the ice late in the first minute, and he missed the last two periods due to what the Capitals said was an upper-body injury.
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Jets 4, Flames 0
Adam Lowry and Blake Wheeler both scored twice and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck collected the shutout as Winnipeg clinched a playoff spot with a win at Calgary. The Jets snapped a seven-game losing skid.
Paul Maurice won for the 300th time with the Jets, becoming only the third coach in NHL history to have 300 or more victories with two different franchises. He also reached that milestone with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes.
Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom stopped 15 shots, including Andrew Copp’s penalty shot in the final minutes. The Flames have lost three of four games and would be eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday if the Canadiens earn a point against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Lightning 6, Stars 2
Erik Cernak notched a goal and two assists as Tampa Bay continued its dominance over visiting Dallas.
Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson, Brayden Point and Alex Killorn posted a goal and an assist. Ross Colton and Mikhail Sergachev also scored for the Lightning, who are 6-0-1 in their past seven games and 6-1-0 against Dallas this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves and improved to 18-2-0 on home ice.
Tyler Seguin scored in his second consecutive game back after missing seven months due to hip surgery, and Andrej Sekera also tallied for the Stars, who are 0-3-2 in their past five games. Goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 14 shots.
Golden Knights 3, Wild 2 (OT)
Alex Pietrangelo scored in overtime and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves to move into third place on the NHL’s all-time wins list as Vegas edged Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minn.
Fleury’s 490th career victory broke a tie with Roberto Luongo. It was his 24th win of the season and seventh consecutive. Martin Brodeur (691) holds the top spot, and Patrick Roy (551) is second.
Chandler Stephenson and Reilly Smith also scored goals for Vegas, which snapped a five-game losing streak this season against the Wild. Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals and Ryan Hartman had two assists for Minnesota. Cam Talbot finished with 31 saves.
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Blue Jackets 4, Predators 2
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two goals and added an assist as Columbus beat visiting Nashville.
The Blue Jackets scored got the go-ahead goal with 6:10 remaining, when Mikhail Grigorenko redirected a slap shot from Vladislav Gavrikov past Nashville goalie Juuse Saros. Bjorkstrand’s empty-net goal with 0.5 seconds left sealed the outcome.
Jack Roslovic also scored for Columbus while Gavrikov, Cam Atkinson and Mikko Lehtonen had two assists apiece. Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves. Tanner Jeannot and Calle Jankrok had the goals for the Predators, who got 23 saves from Saros.
Senators 5, Canadiens 1
Shane Pinto scored his first NHL goal, Nick Paul collected one goal and one assist and Erik Brannstrom notched a career-best three assists as host Ottawa defeated Montreal.
Brady Tkachuk, Connor Brown and Alex Formenton also scored for Ottawa, and Artem Zub had two assists. Goaltender Anton Forsberg made 30 saves for the Senators, who have been long eliminated from the playoffs but have posted a 7-1-1 mark in the past nine games.
Joel Edmundson scored the lone goal for the Canadiens, who sit fourth in the North Division and are still in the driver’s seat to clinch a playoff spot. Goalie Jake Allen stopped 29 shots for Montreal, which saw its three-game winning streak end.
Ducks 3, Blues 2 (SO)
Anthony Stolarz made 24 saves and stopped all three shots in the shootout as Anaheim won at St. Louis.
Max Jones and Haydn Fleury scored in regulation, and Troy Terry scored the lone goal of the shootout for the Ducks.
Mike Hoffman and Kyle Clifford scored, and Jordan Binnington made 33 saves for the Blues.
Sharks 3, Avalanche 2
Tomas Hertl scored twice in his 500th NHL career game as host San Jose came from behind to defeat Colorado.
Erik Karlsson produced a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period for the Sharks, and Evander Kane registered three primary assists. Hertl also had an assist, and San Jose goalie Josef Korenar made 30 saves.
Tyson Jost and Andre Burakovsky registered goals for the Avalanche, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 shots.
Kings 4, Coyotes 2
Gabriel Vilardi scored two goals as Los Angeles eliminated Arizona from playoff contention with a win in Glendale, Ariz.
Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar reached 1,000 career points on a late assist. Sean Walker amassed a goal and two assists and Jaret Anderson-Dolan also scored a goal for the Kings, who earned consecutive victories at Arizona in a span of three days. Los Angeles goaltender Calvin Petersen made 28 saves.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jakob Chychrun each scored goals for the Coyotes. Conor Garland assisted on both goals, and Adin Hill stopped 18 shots.
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–Field Level Media