WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his 767th goal to pass Jaromir Jagr for third on the NHL career list in the Washington Capitals’ 4-3 shootout victory against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin’s goal with 4:58 left in the third period gave the Capitals the lead and made him the top European goal-scorer in league history. The longtime Russian captain was surrounded by teammates while he was given a standing ovation by the crowd in the U.S capital that has cheered Ovechkin for almost two decades.
The chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” continued before Islanders captain Anders Lee tied it with a 6-on-5 goal with 1:59 remaining in the third. But fans left happy after Anthony Mantha scored the shootout winner to boost the Capitals to 5-0-1 in their past six games.
Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe are the only players with more goals in the NHL than Ovechkin. He needs 35 to pass Howe and 128 to break Gretzky’s record — long thought to be unapproachable in modern hockey.
PREDATORS 4, PENGUINS 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Juuse Saros made 35 saves to lead Nashville over Pittsburgh.
Mattias Ekholm, Tanner Jeannot, Eeli Tolvanen and Yakov Trenin scored for the Predators, who have won five of six. Roman Josi had three assists and Colton Sissons added two.
Jake Guentzel had the lone goal and Casey DeSmith stopped 21 shots for Pittsburgh, which won its previous two games.
RANGERS 4, DUCKS 3, OT
NEW YORK — Adam Fox scored 55 seconds into overtime and New York beat Anaheim.
Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Jonny Brodzinski also scored for the Rangers, who have won five of seven. Artemi Panarin had three assists and Fox added two to help New York improve to 12-2-1 in its last 15 home games. Alexandar Georgiev made 20 saves.
Max Comtois, Cam Fowler and Derek Grant scored for Anaheim, which lost its fifth straight (0-3-2) — all on the road. Adam Henrique had two assists and John Gibson finished with 34 saves.
BRUINS 2, BLACKHAWKS 1, OT
CHICAGO — Matt Grzelcyk scored at 1:40 of overtime and the surging Boston Bruins beat Chicago.
After taking a cross-ice feed from Taylor Hall, Grzelcyk whipped a shot past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to end it on Boston’s 48th shot. Hall had two assists as Boston won its third straight to start a four-game trip and improved to 10-1-1 in its last 12 overall.
Fleury sparkled in net, making 46 saves as the Bruins dominated and outshot the Blackhawks 48-20.
Fleury wasn’t beaten until Patrice Bergeron snapped a scoreless tie early in the third on Boston’s 40th shot. Brandon Hagel scored midway through the period to tie it.
Linus Ullmark stopped 19 shots for the Bruins.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, STARS 0
TORONTO — Erik Kallgren made 35 saves to earn a shutout in his first NHL start as Toronto blanked Dallas.
John Tavares had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (38-17-5). Rasmus Sandin and Ondrej Kase also scored, and Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly had two assists apiece. Ilya Mikheyev added an empty-net goal.
Jake Oettinger stopped 36 shots for Dallas (32-23-3).
JETS 7, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Kyle Connor extended his goal streak to five games and Winnipeg downed Vegas.
Connor added two assists to go with his 38th goal of the season. Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Logan Stanley and Josh Morrissey each had a goal and an assist, and Nikolaj Ehlers and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets.
Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves for Winnipeg, which is 6-2-1 in its last nine games.
The Jets entered four points behind Vegas for the final wild card in the Western Conference, with the Golden Knights holding a game in hand.
Nicolas Roy, Alex Pietrangelo and Michael Amadio scored for Vegas, which ended a five-game road trip without any points.
Former Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit was replaced by Logan Thompson midway through the second period after allowing four goals on 13 shots.
COYOTES 6, CANADIENS 3
MONTREAL — Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse each had a goal and an assist as Arizona beat Montreal to finish a five-game road trip with four wins.
Barrett Hayton, Anton Stralman, Nick Ritchie and Nick Schmaltz also scored for the Coyotes. Karel Vejmelka made 36 saves.
Laurent Dauphin scored and Cole Caufield made things interesting with two goals in eight seconds, but Montreal lost the matchup of the NHL’s bottom-dwellers.
The Canadiens pulled their goalie for a league-leading 11th time this season after Samuel Montembeault allowed four goals on seven shots in the first period.