Lightning 2 at Capitals 3
Alex Ovechkin came through as a captain should, scoring a big goal and rescuing a win for his streaking Washington Capitals.
Ovechkin scored with 6:26 remaining in regulation in the Capitals’ 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, giving Washington a franchise record-tying 10th consecutive victory.
“It’s kind of fun and it’s kind of good,” Ovechkin said. “But we don’t want to stop.”
The reigning two-time league MVP slid on one knee and into the boards to celebrate his 35th goal of the season, a shot from the slot that beat Mike Smith to the stick side. The score rescued the Capitals after Washington blew a two-goal lead with a rare third-period meltdown.
“It was a quiet game,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Once they got the two goals, it got everybody’s blood going again . . . Ovie, you could feel on that shift that he sort of just said ‘OK, it’s time I did something.”’
Nicklas Backstrom and Brooks Laich also scored for the Capitals, whose double-digit run matches the team mark set Jan. 27-Feb. 18, 1984. Washington, which has outscored opponents 47-21 over the 10 games, can break the record Tuesday at Boston.
“The number 10 is pretty tough to get to,” Boudreau said. “I told the guys it’s something that you might go your whole career again without getting again, and so enjoy it.”
The league’s top-scoring team has turned the Southeast Division race into a laugher and is within one point of San Jose for best record in the NHL. Seven of the 10 wins have been by two goals or more, but Sunday’s victory showed the Capitals also can win when they’re far from their best.
“Every team wants to come in a make a statement and say ’We’re the team that knocked these guys off,”’ Laich said, “so we’re getting teams’ best efforts every single night. We’re in special territory right now, and a chance to make history in our next game, so we’ve got to be prepared.”
Jose Theodore, returning after missing two games with a lower body injury, made 25 saves for Washington.
The Capitals were leading 2-0 when Martin St. Louis made a nice deflection to pull the Lightning within a goal with 15 minutes to play. Just 7 seconds later, Backstrom was whistled for tripping, Washington’s first penalty of the game.
Tomas Fleischmann compounded matters during the penalty kill committing a hooking penalty out of frustration seconds after losing the puck. The Capitals killed off 23 seconds of 5-on-3, but Steven Stamkos’ one-timer with Fleischmann in the box tied it with 12:18 remaining.
Tampa Bay’s rally proved fruitless when Ovechkin scored, an overdue breakthrough in a game in which the Russian forward had 11 shots blocked before they reached the net.
“It’s devastating, but we’ve got to grab some positive out of this third period, some momentum going into the next game,” St. Louis said. “I thought we showed a lot of character coming back like that.”
The Lightning were the last team to beat the Capitals, a 7-4 victory on Jan. 12 during which Ovechkin challenged Lightning forward Steve Downie to a fight before Washington’s Matt Bradley intervened on behalf of his teammate.
Backstrom got the game’s first goal in the second period by stuffing a rebound between Smith’s legs during a power play. It was Backstrom’s 23rd of the season — a career high — and gave the Capitals nine straight games with a power-play goal.
Laich scored the second goal, poking the puck into the net after Smith had lost his footing.
Red Wings 1 at
Penguins 2 (SO)
Sidney Crosby scored in regulation and the shootout and the Penguins overcame Jimmy Howard’s second successive 46-save game to beat Detroit in the rivals’ first game since Pittsburgh won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
Kings 3 at Devils 2
Wayne Simmonds and defenceman Drew Doughty scored in the final 1:46 to give Los Angeles its sixth straight victory.
Islanders 0 at Panthers 2
Tomas Vokoun made 33 saves for his career-high seventh shutout of the season, and Jordan Leopold and Keith Ballard scored for Florida.
Coyotes 4 at Stars 2
Shane Doan had a goal and two assists, Ilya Bryzgalov made 38 saves, and Phoenix stretched its winning streak to four games in Coyotes coach Dave Tippett’s return to Dallas. Tippett coached the Stars from 2002 until his firing last June.
Avalanche 1 at Rangers 3
Marian Gaborik had his 10th career hat trick, rookie Chad Johnson made 34 saves for his first NHL win, and New York snapped a five-game losing streak.