Alex Ovechkin registered his 33rd career hat trick and added an assist, and the Washington Capitals beat the Canadiens 8-4 in Montreal on Thursday night.
Ovechkin extended his goal streak to four games in the first meeting between the teams since Washington eliminated Montreal four games to one in a Stanley Cup Playoff first-round series last April. Ovechkin has 907 NHL goals, including 10 this season.
Ethen Frank had two goals and two assists, and Sonny Milano scored twice for the Capitals, who have won three straight. Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves.
Mike Matheson and Brendan Gallagher each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who have lost five in a row. Sam Montembeault was lifted after allowing three goals on 10 shots. Jakub Dobes made 21 saves.
Avalanche 6, Rangers 3
Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar each recorded two goals and an assist as streaking Colorado scored three unanswered third-period goals to defeat New York in Denver.
Martin Necas registered three assists and Scott Wedgewood stopped 16 shots and recorded his first career assist to help Colorado win its seventh in a row. The Avalanche are 9-0-2 in their last 11 games and have just one regulation loss in their first 20 games.
MacKinnon’s three points moved him past Peter Stastny on the franchise scoring list. MacKinnon is now second with 1,051 points, behind only Joe Sakic’s 1,641 points.
Kraken 3, Blackhawks 2
Jaden Schwartz scored the go-ahead goal on a third-period power play and Brandon Montour tallied two assists to boost visiting Seattle over Chicago in a game not without controversy.
Tye Kartye and Shane Wright also scored for the Kraken, who tallied three unanswered goals in the final period after the Blackhawks scored twice in the second.
Schwartz converted the game-winner in front of the net at 17:42. Two seconds remained on a man advantage that stemmed from a controversial unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Chicago’s Connor Bedard. Skating in on a breakaway, Bedard was unable to manage a shot against Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord but pleaded to an official that he had been hooked by Seattle’s Ryan Lindgren. He was given an abuse-of-officials penalty.
Panthers 1, Devils 0
Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves and Sam Reinhart scored a highlight-reel goal as Florida came out on the right end of a goaltender duel against New Jersey in Sunrise, Fla.
After allowing five goals on only 15 shots in Monday’s 8-5 Panthers win over the Vancouver Canucks, Bobrovsky bounced back by stopping every shot he faced Thursday for his second shutout of the season and 51st of his career.
Jake Allen more than held up his own end of the goaltending duel, stopping 23 of 24 shots. It was a hard-luck loss for Allen, who is 7-3-0 with a .920 save percentage in 11 starts this season.
Islanders 5, Red Wings 0
Max Shabanov produced two goals and one assist in his ninth career game as New York rolled past host Detroit.
Ilya Sorokin recorded his second shutout this season by making 29 saves as the Islanders completed their seven-game road trip with a 6-1 record. Calum Ritchie supplied a goal and an assist while Mathew Barzal and Bo Harvat also scored.
John Gibson made 21 saves for the Red Wings, who had won three of their previous four and were shut out for the second time this season.
Flyers 3, Blues 2 (OT)
Travis Sanheim scored with 1:09 left in overtime as host Philadelphia rallied to nip St. Louis, coming back from two goals down to beat the Blues for the second time in seven days.
On the decisive sequence, Sanheim took a pass from Travis Konecny and skated in on a 2-on-0 break with Sean Couturier. The veteran defenseman opted to shoot and beat Joel Hofer high to the glove side for the game-winner.
Rodrigo Abols and Tyson Foerster also scored for the Flyers. Dan Vladar made 27 saves for Philadelphia, allowing only a pair of goals to defenseman Justin Faulk.
Blue Jackets 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT)
Adam Fantilli scored his second goal of the game at 4:21 of overtime and Columbus beat host Toronto, handing the Maple Leafs a loss in their last game before a six-game road trip.
Fantilli also had an assist and Dmitri Voronkov contributed a goal and an assist in the win. Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski was credited with assists on all three goals.
Jet Greaves stopped 27 shots for the Blue Jackets, who have split the first two of four in a row on the road. John Tavares tallied a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs and Dakota Mermis scored his first goal of the season.
Lightning 2, Oilers 1 (OT)
Jake Guentzel scored to cap a wild 10-second span in overtime, and host Tampa Bay earned its second straight victory by edging slumping Edmonton.
Edmonton nearly won it in the 3-on-3 session with a loose puck in front of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (24 saves), but the big netminder made a toe save on Jack Roslovic, which sent the Lightning up the ice on an odd-man rush.
Fresh off the bench, Guentzel took a pass from Darren Raddysh and potted his sixth career overtime winner as the Lightning won for the 10th time in 13 games. Edmonton’s Trent Frederic notched his second goal of the season, and goaltender Calvin Pickard stopped 33 shots as Edmonton fell to 2-3-1 on its seven-game road trip.
Sharks 4, Kings 3 (SO)
Philipp Kurashev scored the lone goal in a shootout and also scored in regulation as San Jose edged visiting Los Angeles to earn a point for the ninth time in its past 11 games.
Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves and stopped all three shots in the shootout while Ty Dellandrea and Adam Gaudette also scored goals for the Sharks, who picked up their 10th victory in 21 games after not reaching double-digit wins until their 28th game last season.
Joel Armia, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe scored goals and Anton Forsberg made 21 saves for the Kings, who lost their second consecutive game and finished 4-1-1 on a six-game road trip. Kempe sent the game into OT on a goal with 58.3 seconds remaining.
Golden Knights 4, Mammoth 1
Jack Eichel scored two goals and had an assist to lead Vegas to a victory over Utah in Salt Lake City.
It was Eichel’s third two-goal game and also his fourth three-point game of the season. Shea Theodore had three assists, Braeden Bowman had a goal and an assist, and Ben Hutton also scored for Vegas, which extended its point streak to five games. Akira Schmid made 25 saves for his ninth victory in 12 starts (9-1-2).
Nate Schmidt scored a goal and Karel Vejmelka finished with 29 saves for Utah, which suffered its fourth straight loss.
Stars 4, Canucks 2
Colin Blackwell scored the winner and Jason Robertson extended his scoring streak to five games as Dallas kicked off a four-game Western road trip with a victory over Vancouver.
Robertson now has nine goals in that five-game span and he stretched his point streak against the Canucks to seven games. Mavrik Bourque and Mikko Rantanen scored and goaltender Jake Oettinger made 34 saves for the Stars, who have won six of their last seven contests.
Elias Pettersson and Linus Karlsson scored and Kevin Lankinen made 20 saves for Vancouver.
Senators 3, Ducks 2
Drake Batherson’s goal late in regulation broke a deadlock and gave visiting Ottawa a victory over Anaheim.
Nick Cousins and Shane Pinto also scored for Ottawa, which kicked off a seven-game road trip on a positive note. Goaltender Linus Ullmark made 23 saves in the victory, 10 of them in the third period.
Beckett Sennecke and Mason McTavish replied for the Ducks, who saw their six-game home winning streak snapped but remain atop the Pacific Division standings.
