NEWARK, N.J. – Alex Ovechkin became the eight NHL player to score 700 career goals, reaching the milestone in the third period of the Washington’ Capitals’ 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
The 34-year-old Ovechkin scored on a slap shot from the right circle that went in off the left post 4:50 into the third period, tying the game at 2. It was his 42nd goal of the season and came on his second shot on goal of the game.
Capitals players rushed onto the ice to congratulate their teammate, and Devils fans gave him a strong ovation.
Wayne Gretzky leads the career list with 894 goals. He is followed by Gordie Howe (801), Jaromir Jagr (766), Brett Hull (741), Marcel Dionne (731), Phil Esposito (717) and Mike Gartner (708).
Damon Severson scored the winning goal for last-place New Jersey with 1:59 left off a cross-ice pass from Nikita Gusev. Wayne Simmonds and Jesper Bratt also scored for the Devils, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 33 shots.
Tom Wilson also scored for the Capitals. Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves as Washington lost its fourth straight.
HURRICANES 6, MAPLE LEAFS 3
TORONTO (AP) — Emergency backup goalie Dave Ayres made eight saves in relief of Carolina’s two injured netminders in the Hurricanes’ victory over Toronto.
Ayres, who works as a Zamboni driver for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, was forced into action midway through the second period after Carolina’s James Reimer and Petr Mrazek were injured. The Hurricanes were leading 3-1 when the 42-year-old Ayres took over.
Warren Foegele scored twice, Martin Necas had a goal and an assist, and Lucas Wallmark, Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Carolina.
Alexander Kerfoot, Pierre Engvall and John Tavares scored for Toronto, which beat the Hurricanes 8-6 at home on Dec. 23. Kasperi Kapanen and Tyson Barrie each had two assists. Frederik Andersen made 41 saves.
COYOTES 7, LIGHTNING 3
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Clayton Keller and Conor Garland each had two goals and an assist, leading Arizona past Tampa Bay.
Derek Stepan, Carl Soderberg and Brad Richardson scored and Taylor Hall had two assists. Antti Raanta made 27 saves.
Anthony Cirelli, Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point scored and Cameron Gaunce had two assists for the Lightning, who lost their second straight after their franchise-record 11-game winning streak came to an end. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 34 shots.
FLYERS 4, JETS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Scott Laughton scored two goals as Philadelphia extended its winning streak to three games with a win over Winnipeg.
Sean Couturier and Tyler Pitlick also scored and Justin Braun had three assists for the Flyers, who won for the fourth time in five games and improved to 21-5-4 at home.
Josh Morrissey and Patrik Laine scored for Winnipeg. The Jets had won three in a row while outscoring opponents 14-6 during their season-best winning streak.
RANGERS 3, SHARKS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Jesper Fast scored twice, Igor Shesterkin made 44 saves and the Rangers won their third straight game.
Mika Zibanejad also scored and Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to eight games with two assists as the Rangers won for the seventh time in eight games.
Shesterkin made 40-plus saves for the fourth time in his 10th career start and extended his winning streak to seven games. The Russian rookie is 9-1 this season.
Joe Thornton scored twice, and Aaron Dell made 30 saves as the Sharks lost their third straight.
SABRES 5, PENGUINS 2
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Eichel scored twice as Buffalo dealt Pittsburgh its second blowout in three days.
Zemgus Girgensons, Sam Reinhart and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Sabres. Connor Hutton turned away 41 shots as Buffalo earned its second regulation victory in its last 20 meetings with Pittsburgh.
Evgeni Malkin picked up his 19th and 20th goals for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry finished with 21 saves.
CANADIENS 3, SENATORS 0
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Max Domi had a pair of goals to help Montreal beat Ottawa.
Carey Price stopped 30 shots for his fourth shutout of the season, while Paul Byron also scored.
Already playing without Tyler Ennis and Vladislav Namestnikov, both healthy scratches, the Senators then lost Thomas Chabot midway through the first and struggled to create anything offensively.
Craig Anderson made 32 saves in defeat.
PREDATORS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3, SO
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rocco Grimaldi scored in the eighth round of the shootout, and Nashville beat Columbus.
Colton Sissons, Ryan Johansen and Mikael Granlund each scored, and Filip Forsberg had two assists for Nashville.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Forsberg scored to open the shootout. Gustav Nyquist scored in the fourth round for Columbus only to see Ryan Ellis score to keep the shootout going until Grimaldi finally ended it putting a backhander top shelf over Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins.
Goalie Juuse Saros made 40 saves, not counting six in the shootout, for the win.
Boone Jenner, Eric Robinson and Emil Bemstrom scored in the second period for Columbus.
CANUCKS 9, BRUINS 3
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Tyler Toffoli scored his first two goals with his new team and added an assist as Vancouver routed Boston.
Troy Stecher had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points, and J.T Miller had three assists. Bo Horvat, Adam Gaudette, Tanner Pearson, Loui Eriksson, Elias Pettersson and Jake Virtanen also scored for Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves.
David Pastrnak scored his league-leading 44th and 45th goals of the year for Boston. Chris Wagner also scored. Tuukka Rask made 21 saves before being replaced by Jaroslav Halak with 13:32 left in the third period. Halak gave up three goals on eight shots.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, PANTHERS 3
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Reilly Smith scored two goals, Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves and Vegas beat Florida.
The Golden Knights completed a five-game homestand 5-0-0 and catapulted to the top of the Pacific Division, where they lead Edmonton by three points. The Oilers have two games in hand, and the teams play three more times down the stretch.
Vegas improved to 9-3-2 under coach Peter DeBoer, who replaced fired Gerard Gallant on Jan. 16. The Golden Knights’ five-game win streak is their highest of the season.
Tomas Nosek, William Carrier and Max Pacioretty also scored for the Golden Knights.
Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov and Aleksi Saarela scored for the Panthers. Sam Montembeault, making just his 24th career start, made 34 saves.
AVALANCHE 2, KINGS 1, SO
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joonas Donskoi scored in the shootout and Colorado earned its sixth straight road win.
Ryan Graves scored for the Avalanche, who have won 11 of their past 15 games. Pavel Francouz saved two shots in the shootout after making 20 saves through overtime for his third straight win.
Austin Wagner scored on a penalty shot and Jonathan Quick made 30 saves for the Kings, who had won three of four.
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