LDN - Sports

NHL roundup: Capitals top Sabres, regain division lead

[February 20, 2018] John Carlson had a goal and an assist, and Alex Ovechkin scored as the Washington Capitals defeated the host Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in a Monday matinee.

Carlson assisted on Ovechkin's goal that gave Washington a 1-0 lead, and then the defenseman scored his 11th goal this season as the Capitals rebounded from a 7-1 loss in Chicago on Saturday.

Ovechkin now has 35 goals and is tops in the NHL in that category, two goals ahead of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin. Washington backup goalie Philipp Grubauer got the start and was solid throughout, making 32 saves.

The Capitals moved back into first place in the Metropolitan Division with the victory with 75 points, one ahead of Pittsburgh, which had taken the top spot with its victory on Sunday.

Ducks 2, Golden Knights 0

Ryan Miller and John Gibson combined to stop 33 shots as Anaheim handed Western Conference-leading Vegas a rare home loss.

Miller, taking over at the start of the third period for the injured John Gibson, finished with 20 saves. Gibson stopped 13 shots but went down with what was called a lower-body injury after banging skates behind the net with Reilly Smith at the end of the second period.

Jakob Silfverberg and Josh Manson scored goals and Rickard Rakell had two assists for the Ducks, who tied their season high with a three-game win streak. Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves for Vegas, which had a three-game win streak snapped and was shut out for the third time this season.

Predators 5, Senators 2

Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals as Nashville moved into a tie for first in the Central Division with a win over visiting Ottawa.

Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis added power-play markers for Nashville, which tied the Winnipeg Jets with 79 points but has a game in hand. Craig Smith also scored for the Predators, and Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne made 36 saves to earn his 30th win of the season.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Max McCormick scored goals for Ottawa, which lost its fourth straight road game. Senators goalie Craig Anderson saved 36 shots.

Wild 5, Islanders 3

Jason Zucker scored twice as visiting Minnesota tallied three times in the second period and beat New York.

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Zucker produced his 10th career game with at least two goals, his third this season. Tyler Ennis capped the three-goal second period after being scratched on Saturday. Matt Cullen and Zucker also scored in the second.

Cullen, Ennis, Ryan Suter and Matt Dumba also recorded multi-point games for Minnesota. Joel Eriksson Ek scored the other goal while Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves. Ross Johnston, Anders Lee and Tanner Fritz scored for the Islanders, and Lee added an assist.

Bruins 2, Flames 1 (OT)

Brad Marchand scored the game-winning goal 3:36 into overtime, and Tuukka Rask finished with 28 saves to lead visiting Boston past Calgary.

Marchand's winner, his 22nd goal of the season, came on a breakaway set up by Riley Nash, as Marchand went five-hole against Flames goaltender David Rittich. David Pastrnak also scored his 22nd goal of season, helping Rask improve to 24-10-4 on the campaign. The Bruins bounced back from a season-worst 6-1 loss at Vancouver on Saturday and improved to 7-2-0 in February.

Matthew Tkachuk (22nd goal) had the lone score and Rittich (6-3-3) recorded 30 saves for Calgary, which dropped its second in a row and fell to 5-5-0 this month.

Kings 3, Blackhawks 1

Torrey Mitchell, Andy Andreoff and Dion Phaneuf each scored, and visiting Los Angeles posted a win over Chicago.

Patrick Sharp scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks, who have scored two goals or fewer in six of their past seven games. Chicago fell to 1-8-1 in its past 10 contests and is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick made 27 saves to improve to 23-21-2 on the season. Blackhawks goaltender Anton Forsberg turned aside 29 shots.

--Field Level Media

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