NHL roundup: Jets defeat Caps to clinch playoff spot

Nikolaj Ehlers scored in overtime as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the visiting Capitals 3-2 on Tuesday night in a battle in which Washington’s Alex Ovechkin scored his 889th career goal.

Ovechkin’s tally climbed him within six goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record. Josh Morrissey and Mason Appleton were the other goal scorers for Winnipeg (49-19-4, 102 points), which clinched a playoff berth with 10 games remaining.

Mark Scheifele, Dylan DeMelo, Nino Niederreiter, Cole Perfetti, Dylan Samberg and Adam Lowry provided the Jets’ assists. Connor Hellebuyck made 27 stops.

Andrew Mangiapane also scored for Washington (47-15-9, 103 points), which was the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Jakob Chychrun, Aliaksei Protas and Trevor van Riemsdyk picked up assists. Logan Thompson saved 22 pucks for the Capitals.

Golden Knights 5, Wild 1

Jack Eichel netted a hat trick to help lift Vegas over Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minn.

Brett Howden and Tanner Pearson scored one goal apiece for Vegas, which won its fourth game in a row. Adin Hill turned aside 23 of 24 shots to earn the victory.

Marcus Johansson scored the lone goal for Minnesota, which lost its second game in as many nights. Marc-Andre Fleury allowed four goals on 37 shots.

Kings 3, Rangers 1

Kevin Fiala and Phillip Daneault scored power-play goals 6:54 apart in the second period as Los Angeles extended its home winning streak to seven games and its team-record home points streak to 15 by beating New York.

Los Angeles is 12-0-3 since its last regulation home loss on Jan. 20 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fiala also scored a third-period goal as the Kings won their fourth straight and their ninth in 10 games (9-1-0). Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves.

J.T. Miller scored for the Rangers, who lost for the fifth time in six games. Igor Shesterkin stopped 30 shots.

Avalanche 5, Red Wings 2

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist to add to his NHL points lead, and Colorado beat Detroit in Denver.

MacKinnon has 107 points (29 goals, 78 assists) in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. Devon Toews had a goal and two assists for Colorado, which is 11-1-1 since Feb. 23. Cale Makar, Valeri Nichushkin and Logan O’Connor also scored and Martin Necas and Jonathan Drouin had two assists each.

J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist, Austin Watson also scored and Alex Lyon made 23 saves for Detroit. The Red Wings were without goaltender Petr Mrazek, who was injured 1:38 into the win at Utah on Monday night.

Sabres 3, Senators 2

Tage Thompson scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and James Reimer made 30 saves as Buffalo continued its success over visiting Ottawa.

Jack Quinn and Jacob Bernard-Docker also scored for the Sabres, who are last in the Eastern Conference standings but have won all three meetings against the wild-card-leading Senators so far this season.

Brady Tkachuk and David Perron each scored for Ottawa, which might be headed to its first playoff appearance since 2017 but has lost three of four following a six-game winning streak.

Flames 4, Kraken 3 (OT)

Nazem Kadri scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lead host Calgary over Seattle.

Adam Klapka and Rasmus Andersson also scored for the Flames, who have won four consecutive games — all with comebacks. Matt Coronato collected two assists and Dustin Wolf made 26 saves.

Jaden Schwartz collected one goal and one assist while Tye Kartye and Jordan Eberle scored once for the Kraken, who have lost three consecutive games. Joey Daccord stopped 33 shots for Seattle, which for the first time this season failed to win a game it led through two periods (16-0-1).

Maple Leafs 7, Flyers 2

William Nylander and John Tavares each had two goals and two assists and Toronto defeated visiting Philadelphia.

Bobby McMann added a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have won four of five. David Kampf and Max Domi also scored and Matthew Knies added two assists. Anthony Stolarz made 17 saves.

Ryan Poehling and Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers, who have lost six straight and completed an 0-4-1 road trip. Samuel Ersson stopped 23 shots.

Lightning 6, Penguins 1

Anthony Cirelli scored twice in his 500th NHL game and Nikita Kucherov surpassed 100 points in a three-point showing as host Tampa Bay swept the three-game season series from Pittsburgh.

The Lightning blew away the Penguins with a four-goal onslaught in the first period to climb to 25-8-2 at home and 13-2-5 against Metropolitan Division opponents.

Kucherov produced a power-play goal and two assists to hit 101 points, tying Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for second in the league in scoring.

Blues 6, Canadiens 1

Philip Broberg and Robert Thomas each scored a goal and earned three assists as St. Louis defeated visiting Montreal for its seventh straight victory.

Dylan Holloway had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who have moved into the thick of the Western Conference playoff chase with a 14-2-2 surge. Jordan Kyrou and Zack Bolduc also scored for St. Louis and Jordan Binnington made 24 saves.

Nick Suzuki scored for the Canadiens, who suffered just their second regulation loss in their last 14 games. They are 8-2-4 during that span.

Predators 3, Hurricanes 1

Luke Evangelista scored two goals and Juuse Saros made 34 saves to record his 200th career win in Nashville’s victory over Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.

Nashville’s Michael Bunting scored a power-play goal and defenseman Marc Del Gaizo notched two assists. Former Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei set up a goal for the Predators, who have won two of their last three games following a four-game losing streak.

Carolina’s Taylor Hall followed up his sixth career hat trick by scoring a goal in the second period. Seth Jarvis had an assist to record his 200th career point and Pyotr Kochetkov turned aside 13 shots for the Hurricanes, who have lost two of three following an eight-game win streak.

–Field Level Media