NHL roundup: Alex Ovechkin notches two historic goals

Alex Ovechkin scored two historic goals to lead the visiting Washington Capitals to a 5-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.

Ovechkin netted the 402nd and 403rd road goals of his career to pass Wayne Gretzky for first place on the NHL all-time list. The Capitals forward is seven goals away from 800 and nine from passing Gordie Howe for second place on the all-time list. Gretzky sits on top with 894 goals.

Anthony Mantha, John Carlson and Martin Fehervary also scored for Washington, while Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves. Nils Hoglander scored for the Canucks, who had won five of six. Spencer Martin made 23 saves.

At 5:35 of the first period, Ovechkin blocked a pass by Quinn Hughes near the Canucks’ net and knocked the puck past Martin to give Washington a 1-0 lead. It was Ovechkin’s 135th game-opening goal, matching Jaromir Jagr’s NHL record. Ovechkin made it 2-0 at 11:52 when he scored on a one-timer from the left faceoff circle, off a pass from Dylan Strome on the rush for his 13th goal of the season.

Kraken 9, Kings 8 (OT)

Andre Burakovsky scored a power-play goal at 2:08 of overtime as Seattle won in Los Angeles in the highest-scoring game of the NHL season.

Burakovsky, Matty Beniers and Jared McCann each scored twice for the Kraken, who broke a franchise record with their sixth consecutive victory. Alex Wennberg added a goal and two assists and Daniel Sprong had one of each. Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored, Jordan Eberle had four assists and Justin Schultz had three.

Gabriel Vilardi scored twice for Los Angeles, which lost for the fifth time in six games. Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, Sean Durzi and Mikey Anderson added a goal and an assist apiece. Viktor Arvidsson and Carl Grundstrom also scored, Kevin Fiala had four assists and Drew Doughty added three.

Jets 5, Avalanche 0

Blake Wheeler posted his fourth career hat trick and Connor Hellebuyck recorded his third shutout of the season as Winnipeg rolled to a third straight victory, beating visiting Colorado.

Mark Scheifele tallied a goal and two assists, Josh Morrissey added one of each and Cole Perfetti recorded three helpers for the Jets, who have totaled 17 goals during their three-game winning streak.

Wheeler’s hat trick was his first since a four-goal effort in March 2019 at Columbus. Hellebuyck was solid all night, making 40 saves while helping the Jets kill three power plays by the Avalanche, who had won four straight road games and eight of 10 overall. Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev stopped 18 shots.

Flyers 3, Islanders 1

Kevin Hayes scored twice for host Philadelphia, which snapped a 10-game losing streak by beating New York.

Hayes scored the go-ahead goal shortly before the midway point of the first period before icing the victory with an empty-netter in the final minute of the game. Travis Sanheim scored earlier in the first for the Flyers, and Carter Hart made 23 saves.

Noah Dobson scored to give the Islanders a brief lead in the first. Ilya Sorokin recorded 30 saves as New York had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Sharks 4, Canadiens 0

Tomas Hertl scored two goals and Logan Couture had a goal and an assist to lead San Jose over host Montreal.

Matt Nieto also scored for the Sharks, who received two assists from Kevin Labanc, while Kaapo Kahkonen made 28 saves to post his first shutout of the season. Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Canadiens, who went 0-for-6 on the power play.

The Sharks won for just the second time in their past seven games, while Montreal had its two-game winning streak end while getting shut out for the second time this season.

Predators 2, Ducks 1 (OT)

Colton Sissons also scored, Matt Duchene had two assists and Juuse Saros made 34 saves for the Predators, who had to postpone their previous two games because a broken water main flooded Bridgestone Arena. Nashville had not played since a 3-0 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 23.

Troy Terry scored and John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, who have lost six of their past seven.

Flames 6, Panthers 2

Dillon Dube tallied a goal and two assists and Dan Vladar made 31 saves as Calgary recorded a win over visiting Florida.

The victory ended Calgary’s three-game winless streak (0-2-1). Jonathan Huberdeau, Rasmus Andersson, Tyler Toffoli and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist for Calgary. Noah Hanifin had two assists, and Brett Ritchie scored the Flames’ other goal.

Nick Cousins and Sam Reinhart scored for the Panthers, who are on a three-game winless streak (0-1-2) of their own.

Hurricanes 3, Penguins 2 (OT)

Brett Pesce scored on a two-on-none rush at 2:20 of overtime as visiting Carolina beat Pittsburgh to claim a second win in a row.

Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist, Martin Necas also scored, Pesce added an assist and Sebastian Aho had two assists for the Hurricanes, whose mini-streak comes after a five-game skid (0-1-4). Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves.

Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel each posted a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who have lost two straight following a five-game winning streak. Tristan Jarry, who had won four starts in a row, made 36 saves. The Penguins played without top defenseman Kris Letang, who was a surprise lineup scratch due to illness.

Bruins 3, Lightning 1

Taylor Hall registered his first two-goal game of the season as Boston beat visiting Tampa Bay.

Brad Marchand slid home an empty-net goal with 41 seconds left to secure the victory, and Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves, improving to 4-1-0 in his past five decisions. Boston stayed perfect at home at 13-0-0, an NHL record for the best-ever home start.

After logging a two-goal game Monday in Buffalo, Steven Stamkos scored Tampa Bay’s lone goal in the third period on Tuesday. The tally left him one shy of the 1,000-point mark for his NHL career. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots, but the Lightning lost for just the second time in eight games.

–Field Level Media

Check out our sports section for the latest news and analysis. Care for a wager? Head to our sports betting section for news and odds.