Travis Konecny and Derek Grant each recorded a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to a season-high six games with a 5-3 victory over the host New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
The Flyers tied a season high with three power-play goals and added a short-handed tally en route to their ninth win in the past 10 meetings with the Rangers. Philadelphia also improved to 16-5-1 in its last 22 games and remained three points behind Washington for the lead in the Metropolitan Division.
Philadelphia’s Matt Niskanen and Sean Couturier scored power-play goals in the first period, while Michael Raffl scored a short-handed marker. Grant scored the Flyers’ only even-strength goal, and Konecny added the third power-play goal.
New York’s Henrik Lundqvist made his first start since Feb. 3 and allowed five goals on 26 shots, as the Rangers dropped consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 19-21.
Capitals 4, Wild 3
Alex Ovechkin tallied twice in a three-point outing to carry Washington to a win over Minnesota in St. Paul, Minn.
Ovechkin, who scored twice in Washington’s three-goal first period, raised his season total to 45, tying him with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews for the NHL’s second-most. Richard Panik and Tom Wilson netted goals, and Evgeny Kuznetsov had two assists for Washington, which has won three of four and snapped a four-game road losing streak (0-4-0).
Minnesota’s Kevin Fiala (goal, assist) and Zach Parise produced power-play tallies, Ryan Donato also scored and Alex Stalock made 26 saves for the Wild, who opened March with a loss after going 9-4-1 last month to move into the playoff race.
Blue Jackets 5, Canucks 3
Emil Bemstrom scored the go-ahead goal on the power play with 1:37 remaining in regulation as Columbus rallied to defeat visiting Vancouver.
Riley Nash, Zach Werenski and Kevin Stenlund each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who scored four times in the final 7:21 to overcome a 3-1 deficit. Gustav Nyquist added an empty-netter with 11 seconds to go, and Ryan Murray had two assists.
Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, making just his second start since a Dec. 29 knee injury that required surgery, stopped 36 shots. The Blue Jackets, who maintained the Eastern Conference’s second and final wild-card playoff spot, snapped a two-game skid and won for just the second time in their past 12 games (2-5-5).
Kings 4, Golden Knights 1
Rookie goaltender Cal Petersen made 42 saves and Anze Kopitar scored two goals as Los Angeles snapped the franchise-record-tying eight-game winning streak of Vegas in Las Vegas.
Alex Iafallo had a goal and an assist and Trevor Lewis scored a goal for Los Angeles, which won its third consecutive game. Drew Doughty and Ben Hutton each added two assists for the Kings, who improved to 6-2-1 in their past nine games.
Shea Theodore scored for Pacific Division-leading Vegas, which suffered its first loss since Feb. 11, when it was blanked at Minnesota 4-0. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 13 of 17 shots, losing for the first time in six starts. The Kings are in last place in the division.
Flames 3, Panthers 0
Cam Talbot made 38 saves, and captain Mark Giordano had three assists in his third game back from an injury absence, leading Calgary to a shutout win over Florida at Sunrise, Fla.
The loss was the seventh in a row at home for Florida, tying a franchise record previously set in 2003.
Johnny Gaudreau collected a goal and an assist, and Milan Lucic and defenseman T.J. Brodie also tallied for Calgary, which concluded a five-game road trip with a 3-1-1 record. It was Talbot’s second shutout of the season and his first since his 44-save performance in a 6-0 romp over the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 13.
Devils 3, Ducks 0
Pavel Zacha scored two power-play goals, and Jesper Bratt had two assists as visiting New Jersey shut out Anaheim.
Zacha and Bratt connected twice in almost identical plays as the Devils stopped their two-game losing streak. Nico Hischier added one goal for the Devils.
Cory Schneider posted his second win and first shutout since returning to the Devils from a monthslong stint with Binghamton of the AHL. Schneider, who started the NHL season 0-6-1 before being sent to the minors, made 34 saves for his 26th career shutout.
–Field Level Media
