Capitals beat Leafs 5-2 as Ovechkin scores in return
TORONTO (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored an empty-net goal in his return to action as the Washington Capitals upended the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Saturday night.
Andrew Mangiapane, Jakob Chychrun, Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson also scored for the Capitals. John Tavares and Bobby McMann scored for the Leafs.
Washington’s captain Ovechkin played his first game since he fractured his left fibula Nov. 18 in a game against the Utah Hockey Club.
Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet Saturday until firing the puck into an empty net for his 869th career goal.
Logan Thompson stopped 35 shots for the win. Matt Murray made 27 saves for Toronto.
CANADIENS 4, PANTHERS 0
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jakub Dobes stopped 34 shots in his NHL debut, Kirby Dach had his first two-goal game in nearly two years, and Montreal beat Florida.
Dobes, a 23-year-old from the Czech Republic, went 9-3-1 with a 2.44 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in the minors this season, his second as a pro.
He became the first goaltender to record a shutout against the defending Stanley Cup champion in his NHL debut since Daren Puppa for Buffalo at Edmonton on Nov. 1, 1985, according to STATS.
Cole Caufield and Jake Evans also scored for Montreal, and Alex Newhook had two assists.
Spencer Knight stopped 21 shots for Florida, which has been shut out in back-to-back games for the second time this month.
FLYERS 3, DUCKS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Noah Cates extended his goal-scoring streak to five games, Morgan Frost scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Philadelphia beat Anaheim.
Joel Farabee also scored for the Flyers, who had lost four of their past five. Samuel Ersson stopped 31 shots.
Troy Terry scored for Anaheim, and Lukas Dostal made 22 saves.
Frost had no angle but ended up banking a shot in off the inside of Dostal’s stick on a backhand 5:57 into the third for his seventh goal of the season.
Cates tied Nashville’s Jonathan Marchessault for the longest active goal streak in the league at 4:03 of the second off a snap shot in front of the goal to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
KRAKEN 5, CANUCKS 4, OT
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Vince Dunn scored his second goal of the game 2:15 into overtime and Seattle overcame a three-goal, third-period deficit to beat Vancouver.
Jaden Schwartz also scored twice, tying it at 4 with 49 seconds left and goalie Philipp Grubauer off for an extra attacker.
Matty Beniers also scored to help the Kraken end a five-game losing streak. Grubauer made 25 saves.
Brock Boeser scored twice for Vancouver. Conor Garland had his first goal in 13 games, and Jake DeBrusk celebrated his 500th NHL game with his team-leading 16th goal. Thatcher Demko stopped 16 shots.
Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes and center Elias Pettersson missed the game with undisclosed injuries.
KINGS 4, OILERS 3, OT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Quinton Byfield scored his second goal of the game with 1:41 remaining in overtime as Los Angeles beat Edmonton.
Byfield scored on a wrist shot from the right circle to give Los Angeles a win in its first of four regular-season games against Edmonton, which has knock the Kings out of the playoffs for three straight seasons.
Warren Foegele had a goal and two assists, Tanner Jeannot also scored and the Kings won their sixth straight home game. Darcy Kuemper made 24 stops.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a power-play goal, Kasperi Kapanen and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Oilers, who had their three-game winning streak halted. Stuart Skinner made 24 saves.
The Kings retooled in the offseason, bringing in Foegele and Jeannot with the idea of matching the physicality the Oilers showed in last season’s five-game first round exit. Playing on a line with Byfield, they helped Los Angeles by combining for seven points and a plus-7 rating.
BRUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0
BOSTON (AP) — Jeremy Swayman stopped 18 shots for his second shutout of the season, David Pastrnak scored on a clean breakaway and Boston beat Columbus to split consecutive-night, home-and-home games between the teams.
Morgan Geekie, Justin Brazeau and Cole Koepke also scored for the Bruins, who won for the fifth time in seven games. Swayman is 7-1-1 in his last nine starts.
Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy took a hard check from Mathieu Olivier that banged his head into the glass. After being on the ice for a while, he went to the locker room before returning a few minutes later.
Pastrnak collected a pass from Geekie near center ice, broke in alone and shifted the puck before beating goalie Daniil Tarasov (24 saves) with a wrister inside the right post to make it 3-0 at 8:18 of the second period.
Columbus had won three of four games.
HURRICANES 5, DEVILS 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jackson Blake scored a power-play goal with 9:17 remaining to give Carolina the lead, and Jack Roslovic scored twice as they beat New Jersey.
Dmitry Orlov and Sebastian Aho also scored in Carolina’s four-goal third period. Dustin Tokarski had 21 saves to help the Hurricanes forge a split of the home-and-home on consecutive nights.
Paul Cotter and Ondrej Palat scored for the Devils, who snapped a three-game winning streak. Jake Allen stopped 37 shots, but has gone more than a month without a victory.
Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour became the fastest coach to 300 wins in NHL history. It was the Hurricanes’ 488th game under Brind’Amour, who reached that mark in eight fewer games that Bruce Boudreau.
New Jersey won 4-2 on Friday night at home.
LIGHTNING 6, RANGERS 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point scored twice and added an assist to lead Tampa Bay past reeling New York.
Nikita Kucherov added a goal and two assists for Tampa Bay. Anthony Cirelli and Ryan McDonagh each had a short-handed goal.
Nick Paul also scored for the Lightning, who have won six of seven. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 42 saves.
Artemi Panarin had a power-play goal and Vincent Trocheck scored short-handed for New York. Igor Shesterkin allowed five goals on 13 shots before being pulled at the 8:08 mark of the second period. Jonathan Quick allowed one goal on 12 shots.
After a strong start, the Rangers are 4-14 in their past 18 games.
Tampa Bay pulled away with three goals in the second, two by Point. He has 24 this season, tied with Edmonton star Leon Draisaitl for the NHL lead.
JETS 4, SENATORS 2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves, Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and two assists and NHL-leading Winnipeg beat Ottawa.
Gabriel Vilardi gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead on a power play midway through the third period, scoring off Ehlers’ one-touch pass.
Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist. The Jets have won three in a row and seven of eight to improve to 26-10-1.
Down 2-0 early in the second, Winnipeg tied it with goals in a 2:15 span. Scheifele set up Connor with 7:14 left, and Ehlers sent Scheifele in alone for a backhander past Mads Sogaard with 4:59 to go.
Tim Stutzle and Ridly Greig scored power-play goals for Ottawa. Sogaard made 19 saves.
ISLANDERS 6, PENGUINS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Casey Cizikas and Anders Lee each scored twice and New York beat Pittsburgh.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anthony Duclair also scored, and Mathew Barzal and Alexander Romanov each had two assists for New York, which had lost three of four. Ilya Sorokin finished with 22 saves.
Michael Bunting, Noel Acciari and Rickard Rakell scored for the Penguins, who were 4-1-1 in their previous six games. Tristan Jarry made 28 saves.
New York scored three-goals during a 4-minute stretch in the second period to take the lead.
Duclair put the Islanders ahead for good at 5:39. Lee made it 3-1 at 8:36 as his shot from the left side was stopped by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang behind a sprawled Jarry, but Letang then knocked the puck in. Cizikas scored 1:03 later on a deflection.
Acciari scored with 6:11 remaining in the second and Rakell made it 4-3 with 4 seconds left in the period.
FLAMES 3, SHARKS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and Calgary beat San Jose, handing them their seventh straight loss.
Mikael Backlund also scored and Nazem Kadri had two assists for the Flames, and Dustin Wolf had 21 saves.
Macklin Celebrini got his 12th goal of the season for San Jose, and Yaroslav Askarov stopped 30 shots. The Sharks are 0-6-1 during their skid, and 1-9-1 over their last 11 games.
Calgary took a 2-1 lead at 6:50 of the second period on Backlund’s power-play goal. Backlund has five points (three goals, two assists) in his last five games.
Huberdeau had an empty-netter in the closing seconds, giving him a team-leading 15 goals.
Celebrini, who had the tying goal early in the second, leads all rookies in goals and is tied for the lead in points (27).