Alex Ovechkin scored his 41st goal of the season in regulation and added the shootout winner for the visiting Washington Capitals in a 4-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
Ovechkin ended the shootout with a backhander in the third round. Tage Thompson gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead in the first round and Evgeny Kuznetsov tied it in the second round.
Jeff Skinner scored twice for the Sabres, who had won three straight and five of six. Dustin Tokarski made 37 saves.
Ilya Samsonov made 20 saves for the Capitals, who had lost two straight but have now won four consecutive road games. Kuznetsov had an assist in regulation for Washington to extend his career-best point streak to 11 games (14 points; seven goals, seven assists).
Avalanche 6, Flyers 3
Cale Makar had two goals, Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, and Colorado beat Philadelphia in Denver.
Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher each had a goal and an assist, Kurtis MacDermid also scored, Erik Johnson had two assists and Pavel Francouz stopped 28 shots for Colorado.
James van Riemsdyk, Zack MacEwen and Max Willman scored goals and Carter Hart had 45 saves for the Flyers.
Flames 4, Coyotes 2
Johnny Gaudreau finished with a goal and two assists, and Matthew Tkachuk added one of each to lead host Calgary to a victory over Arizona.
Elias Lindholm and Rasmus Andersson also scored for the Flames. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 16 saves.
Michael Carcone and Vladislav Kolyachonok both netted their first career NHL goals for the Coyotes. Goalie Karel Vejmelka stopped 29 shots.
Rangers 5, Penguins 1
Chris Kreider logged two goals and an assist as host New York started fast and rolled to within one point of second-place Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division.
Kreider’s 43rd and 44th goals moved him into a tie for second in the NHL. Alexis Lafreniere, Frank Vatrano and Andrew Copp also scored for New York, and Mika Zibanejad collected three assists. Goalie Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves as the Penguins rarely had any prime scoring chances.
Jeff Carter scored for Pittsburgh, which dropped its second straight but is still 8-3-2 in its past 13 games. The Penguins played without Evgeni Malkin (non-COVID illness). Tristan Jarry saw his five-game winning streak end as he allowed five goals on 30 shots.
Jets 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT)
Nikolaj Ehlers’ breakaway goal 21 seconds into overtime sent host Winnipeg past Columbus for its seventh win in its last 10 games.
A big save from Jets goalie Eric Comrie (33 saves) set up a breakaway for Ehlers, who scored his 20th goal of the season. Six of those have come in his past seven games. Kyle Connor and Dominic Toninato each had a goal and an assist, and Josh Morrissey also scored for the Jets.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, Adam Boqvist and Brendan Gaunce tallied for the Blue Jackets, who are 1-2-1 in their past four games. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 29 of 33 shots.
-Field Level Media
