WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 886th career goal into an empty net to seal the Washington Capitals’ 4-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Sunday, moving nine back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record and helping the Eastern Conference leaders win their fourth game in a row.
Ovechkin backhanded the puck in from centre ice with 1:31 left, sending the crowd into jubilation and chants of “Ovi! Ovi!†His 33rd goal of the season was also his 1,600th career point.
Connor McMichael scored the go-ahead goal a few minutes earlier, not long after a line brawl nearly broke out and all five skaters on each team were sent to the penalty box, where players kept jawing at each other before Washington’s Brandon Duhaime was escorted to the bench and down the tunnel to the locker room for his 10-minute misconduct.
The post-whistle pushing and shoving kept flaring up and went on for some time as officials worked to keep Tom Wilson and John Hayden from fighting.
Martin Fehervary and Dylan Strome also scored and Charlie Lindgren made 30 saves for Capitals, who padded their comfortable lead atop the East and the Metropolitan Division.
Shane Wright and Jordan Eberle scored and Joey Daccord stopped 20 of the 23 shots he faced for the Kraken, who were unable to string together back-to-back wins on the weekend.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Sunday:
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DEVILS 3 FLYERS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cody Glass scored a goal in his first game with New Jersey, helping his new team defeat Philadelphia.
Glass, who was acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh at the deadline on Friday, scored 11:10 into the first period, snapping a wrist shot past Philadelphia goalie Ivan Fedotov to open the scoring.
Jake Allen made 23 saves to earn his 10th win of the season and made several key stops, including thwarting a shot from Philadelphia’s Bobby Brink from point-blank range during a Flyers power play late in the third period.
Erik Haula scored in the second period and Dawson Mercer added an empty-netter for the Devils, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Jamie Drysdale scored and Fedotov made 20 saves for Philadelphia, which has dropped four straight games, all on home ice. The Flyers have scored two goals or fewer in eight of their past 14 games.
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PENGUINS 3 WILD 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored twice, Evgeni Malkin also had a goal and Tristan Jarry made 30 saves and had an assist to help Pittsburgh snap a four-game skid with a 3-1 victory over Minnesota.
Jarry made his first start since being sent to the minors on Jan. 16 as Pittsburgh won for only the second time in regulation in its last 11 games.
Ryan Hartman scored for Minnesota, which lost for the fifth time in seven games. In likely his last game against the franchise with which he won three Stanley Cups during 13 seasons, Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves.
Malkin put the puck past Fleury with three seconds left on a power play in the second period for a 1-0 lead. Minnesota has the league’s worst home penalty kill at 66.7 per cent.
Crosby scored on a rebound midway through the third period for a 2-0 lead and later added an empty-netter.
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HURRICANES 4 JETS 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Mark Jankowski scored two goals and Carolina beat Winnipeg.
Logan Stankoven and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes, who won their fourth straight game. Frederik Andersen stopped 20 shots.
Alex Iafallo and Adam Lowry scored for the Jets, and Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves.
Carolina was playing for the first time since Friday’s trade deadline that saw them get Stankoven from Dallas in a deal that sent star forward Mikko Rantanen to Dallas just six weeks after the Hurricanes acquired him from Colorado. In a separate deal, Carolina acquired Jankowski from Nashville.
Jankowski beat Hellebuyck from the right circle with 1:55 left in the first period to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. Jankowski struck again, 5:21 into the second for a 2-0 lead. It was Jankowski’s first multi-goal game since Feb. 13, 2020.
Stankoven added a power-play goal 2:34 into the third.
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BLUE JACKETS 7 RANGERS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Fantilli scored three goals for his second career hat trick, and Columbus beat New York.
Mathieu Olivier had one goal, Dante Fabbro added a goal and an assist, and Justin Danforth also scored as Columbus won for the fifth time in seven games. Zach Werenski and Dmitri Voronkov each had two assists, and Daniil Tarasov stopped 30 shots.
Artemi Panarin, Braden Schneider and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, and Mika Zibanejad had two assists. Jonathan Quick finished with 20 saves in New York’s third straight loss (0-1-2).
Fantilli scored two goals 26 seconds apart early in the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 3-1 lead.
Schneider and Kredier scored short-handed goals 42 seconds apart to tie the score, but it was all Blue Jackets after that.
Olivier and Fabbro scored late in the middle period to give Columbus a 5-3 lead.
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KINGS 6 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Adrian Kempe scored the winner in Los Angeles' 6-5 victory over Vegas.
Quinton Byfield, Warren Foegele, Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore and Brandt Clarke also scored for the Kings. David Rittich stopped 27 shots in the win.
Tomas Hertl scored a hat trick, and Nicolas Roy and Brandon Saad also scored for the Golden Knights. Adin Hill had 29 saves.
The Kings won their second straight and ended the Golden Knights’ four-game winning streak that started after a 5-2 loss in Los Angeles on Feb. 24.
Los Angeles went 3-1 against the Golden Knights this season, having won three in a row.
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STARS 4 CANUCKS 1
VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — Mikael Granlund scored his first goal for the Stars and Dallas beat Vancouver.
Dallas picked up both the Finnish centre and Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks for first- and third-round picks on Feb. 1.
Thomas Harley, Jason Robertson and Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Stars, who were coming off . Ceci and Matt Duchene each contributed a pair of assists.
Dallas goalie Casey DeSmith — who played for the Canucks last season — stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in his return to Vancouver.
Derek Forbort had the lone goal for the Canucks, scoring for the first time since Feb. 16, 2023, when he was a member of the Boston Bruins.
Vancouver got 15 saves from Kevin Lankinen and missed the services of captain Quinn Hughes (lower-body injury) for a third straight game.
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DUCKS 4 ISLANDERS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Sam Colangelo scored twice, Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots and Anaheim beat New York.
Drew Helleson and Mason McTavish also scored for the Ducks.
Tony DeAngelo spoiled Dostal’s shutout bid with just under five minutes remaining, and Marcus Hogberg finished with 23 saves for the Islanders.
Colangelo gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead with 2:08 left in the first period, and Helleson doubled the lead with 5:04 remaining in the second.
McTavish made it 3-0 early in the third and Colangelo got his second of the night into an empty net at 8:08.
