Despite Alexander Ovechkin scoring career goal No. 895 to surpass Wayne Gretzky and become the all-time goals leader in NHL history, the New York Islanders came away with the 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday in Elmont, N.Y.
Marc Gatcomb collected the first two-goal game of his career while Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for the Islanders, who won their second straight game.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 of 29 shots — all but Ovechkin’s — for New York, which sits five points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
With the Islanders’ Casey Cizikas off for tripping seven minutes into the second period, Ovechkin, skating up along the left side of the ice, took a pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a wrist shot from the faceoff circle that sailed past Sorokin’s blocker.
Wild 3, Stars 2 (OT)
Marco Rossi’s power-play goal 58 seconds into overtime gave Minnesota a come-from-behind win over Dallas in Saint Paul, Minn.
Matthew Boldy had a goal and two assists, Rossi added an assist and Marcus Foligno also scored for the Wild, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots.
Jason Robertson and defenseman Thomas Harley produced the goals for the Stars, who lost their second in a row following a seven-game winning streak. Jake Oettinger made 38 saves in the loss.
Red Wings 2, Panthers 1
Cam Talbot made 32 saves to lead Detroit past visiting Florida, handing the Panthers their fifth straight loss.
The Red Wings won for the third time in four games and stayed in the hunt for the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, sitting six points behind Montreal.
Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher scored for the Red Wings, who have won both regular-season meetings so far against the Panthers with one more to go on Thursday.
Senators 4, Blue Jackets 0
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves in his fourth shutout of the season and 12th of his career to help Ottawa beat visiting Columbus.
Nikolas Matinpalo scored his first NHL goal while Adam Gaudette, David Perron and Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators, who have won three in a row and lead the league with 10 shutouts.
Daniil Tarasov gave up two goals in the first 4:26 before he was replaced by Elvis Merzlikins, who finished with 22 saves for Columbus, which has lost three in a row.
Blackhawks 3, Penguins 1
Ilya Mikheyev scored two goals and Frank Nazar also scored to back a 28-save effort from Spencer Knight as host Chicago defeated Pittsburgh to stop a five-game losing streak.
Chicago navigated a late charge from the Penguins, who tallied their lone goal when Rickard Rakell scored on the power play with 5:24 remaining.
Pittsburgh was eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoff race with the loss. With the Montreal Canadiens winning later Sunday, the Penguins now trail the Canadiens by 11 points for the final wild-card spot in the East with four games remaining.
Sabres 6, Bruins 3
Tage Thompson netted his eighth hat trick as Buffalo rallied from an early two-goal deficit to log a home win over Boston.
Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie scored in the first period to give the Bruins an early lead before the Sabres scored the final four goals of the game to pick up their fourth straight victory.
Rasmus Dahlin notched the equalizer late in the second period before Zucker put in the go-ahead goal less than two minutes into the third. Thompson scored twice after that, including an empty-netter, to push Buffalo across the finish line.
Canadiens 2, Predators 1
Montreal strengthened its hold on the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with a win over host Nashville, which is 0-6-0 in its last six.
Cole Caufield and Patrik Laine scored second-period goals to lead the Canadiens to their fifth consecutive victory and stretch their lead over the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings to six points.
Montreal has five games remaining in the regular season and the pursuers have six contests on the docket. Steven Stamkos opened the game’s scoring for the Predators.
