NHL roundup: Vasilevskiy sets saves mark in OT win over Caps

[March 21, 2019]  Victor Hedman scored 3:01 into overtime, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made a franchise-record and career-high 54 saves as the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals for the second time in five days, 5-4 on Wednesday night.

The old Lightning record for saves was 48, set by Ben Bishop in Jan. 19, 2014, and matched by Vasilevskiy on Dec. 13, 2018. Vasilevskiy was stellar at times, but he allowed Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov to tie the game with 52.6 seconds left in regulation.

The Lightning, though, prevailed for their sixth straight win -- one game after clinching the Presidents' Trophy with a victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Monday. Nikita Kucherov, the NHL leader with 119 points, scored twice during Tampa Bay's four-goal second period.

Despite recording a franchise-high 58 shots, to Tampa Bay's 28, Washington had its five-game home winning snapped and could not avenge a 6-3 road loss to the Lightning on Saturday.

Maple Leafs 4, Sabres 2

Auston Matthews and John Tavares each scored a goal and added an assist, and visiting Toronto held on to defeat Buffalo.

Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman also scored for the Maple Leafs, who won for only the second time in six games. Garret Sparks made 22 saves for the Maple Leafs, who swept the four-game season series between the teams.

Casey Mittelstadt and Alexander Nylander scored for the Sabres, who have lost eight of their past nine games (1-7-1). Carter Hutton was much busier than his counterpart, stopping 42 of 45 shots in Buffalo's goal.

Canucks 7, Senators 4

Tanner Pearson and Bo Horvat both scored twice in three-point games while Loui Eriksson collected one goal and three assists as host Vancouver earned its third consecutive win in beating Ottawa.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (77) scores the game winning goal against the Washington Capitals during the overtime period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Goalie Jacob Markstrom needed to make only 21 saves for Vancouver, which is on a 4-0-1 run and four points out of a playoff spot with eight games remaining in the regular season.

Max Veronneau, the prized product of Princeton University who signed with the Senators on March 12, put Ottawa on the board with his first career goal at 8:54 of the final frame. He was playing in his third NHL game. Anders Nilsson stopped 33 shots for Ottawa.

Jets 3, Ducks 0

Mark Scheifele scored an early goal, and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves as visiting Winnipeg earned a victory over Anaheim to get some breathing room atop the Central Division.

Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers added third-period goals for the Jets (44-25-4, 92 points), who are now three points ahead of the Nashville Predators in the division thanks to their four-game winning streak. The Jets' magic number for clinching a playoff spot was reduced to five points.

The Jets held off the Ducks despite playing without defensemen Nathan Beaulieu, Dustin Byfuglien and Josh Morrissey. Winnipeg defenseman Joe Morrow did return Wednesday for his first game since Feb. 14 after recovering from a lower-body injury.

--Field Level Media

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.