NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his record-breaking 895th career goal, but the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Sunday.
Marc Gatcomb had two goals, Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored, and Kyle MacLean had two assists for the Islanders, who won their second straight after losing six in a row. Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 shots.
Charlie Lindgren finished with 18 saves for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals, who lost for the fifth time in seven games (2-4-1).
Ovechkin pulled the Capitals to 2-1 as he scored on a one-timer 7 1/2 minutes into the second period, breaking a tie with Wayne Gretzky. The UBS Arena crowd — with a large contingent of Capitals fans — let out a large roar as Ovechkin took a few steps toward the blue line and dove on the ice with his teammates mobbing him.
Gatcomb got his second of the game to restore the Islanders’ two-goal lead with 9:34 remaining in the second.
Pageau made it 4-1 at 4:20 of the third with a goal awarded after a review showed Lindgren pushed the puck across the line after initially making the save on the in-close attempt.
Horvat gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 7:06 into the game as he beat Lindgren from the right circle for his 26th of the season.
Gatcomb doubled the lead at 9:00 as he charged to the net and deflected MacLean’s centering pass past Lindgren.
WILD 3, STARS 2, OT
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Marco Rossi scored on a power play 58 seconds into overtime for Minnesota, who stopped a four-game losing streak by beating Dallas.
Matt Boldy, who scored early in the third period and assisted on Marcus Foligno’s go-ahead goal less than two minutes later, drew a tripping penalty on Jason Robertson to give the Wild a 4-on-3. Boldy and Mats Zuccarello set up Rossi’s tap-in.
Thomas Harley’s shot from the blue line that bounced off Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian tied the game for the Stars with 6:55 remaining in regulation.
Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves for the Wild, who lead Calgary by six points for the last spot in the Western Conference playoffs.
The Wild have four games left, including a crucial one at Calgary on Friday. The Flames have six games remaining.
Robertson’s 34th goal of the season on Mikko Rantanen’s 53rd assist gave Dallas an early lead, after their seven-game winning streak ended a day earlier against Pittsburgh.
SENATORS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Linus Ullmark made 30 saves for Ottawa’s second straight shutout and the Senators moved to the brink of their first playoff appearance since 2017, beating Columbus for their third straight victory.
With five games left, Ottawa holds the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference — seven points ahead of Montreal. The Canadiens were at Nashville on Sunday night.
Adam Gaudette and Nikolas Matinpalo — with his first NHL goal — scored early in the first period in the opener of a home-and-home set. David Perron and Shane Pinto, into an empty net, also scored, and Thomas Chabot had two assists.
Columbus has lost three straight.
Gaudette opened the scoring at 2:24 of the first period, and Matinpalo connected at 4:26. That goal chased Daniil Tarasov from the Columbus net after just six shots on goal. Elvis Merzlikins took over and stopped 22 of 23 shots.
RED WINGS 2, PANTHERS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher scored in the second ...
