WASHINGTON (AP) - Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his seventh goal and added an assist, Alex Ovechkin had three assists in a game for the first time in nearly four years, and the Washington Capitals cruised to a 6-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
Dmitry Orlov, John Carlson and Nic Dowd also had a goal and an assist each as Washington won its seventh out of nine in its return from a four-game West Coast trip.
Michael Sgarbossa scored his first career goal for the Capitals. Tom Wilson completed Ovechkin's three-assist night when he scored on a one-timer of his feed, bringing Ovechkin's season assist total to 18.
Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves while winning his seventh game in eight starts, despite seeing his shutout streak snapped at 170 minutes, 13 seconds.
Artturi Lehkonen and Jake Evans each had a goal and an assist for Montreal, which lost its fifth game out of six.
RANGERS 4, ISLANDERS 1
NEW YORK (AP) - Chris Kreider and Kevin Rooney each scored twice, and the New York Rangers beat the Islanders.
Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves as the Rangers won for the sixth time in seven games. Ryan Reaves added two assists.
Andy Andreoff scored and Semyon Varlamov stopped 17 of 21 shots, but the short-handed Islanders fell for the seventh straight game as seven players remain in COVID-19 protocol. The Islanders have yet to record a win in three attempts at their new arena next to Belmont Park.
Rooney helped the Rangers restore a two-goal lead 20 seconds after Andreoff pulled the Islanders within one goal early in the third period. Reaves danced around Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey before setting Rooney up for an easy tap in at 4:12.
PENGUINS 4, CANUCKS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Tristan Jarry stopped 36 shots to win his fourth straight start and Pittsburgh cruised past reeling Vancouver.
Evan Rodrigues, Bryan Rust, Zach Aston-Reese and Brock McGinn scored for Pittsburgh, which has outscored opponents 15-2 during its winning streak. The surge has coincided with the team's emergence from a COVID-19 outbreak and Jarry's spectacular play.
Jarry has turned away 116 of the 118 shots he's faced during the winning streak, which has helped the Penguins climb out of last place in the hyper-competitive Metropolitan Division.
Thatcher Demko made 33 saves for the Canucks. Bo Horvat scored his sixth goal of the season - Vancouver's first marker in 147:58 of game time - but couldn't stop the Canucks from falling to 1-6-1 in their last eight games.
PANTHERS 2, FLYERS 1, OT
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Aaron Ekblad scored 2:39 into overtime and Florida won its record-tying 11th straight home game to start the season by topping Philadelphia.
After a faceoff win in the 3-on-3 session, Ekblad worked a give-and-go with Jonathan Huberdeau, zipping in the winner from the low slot for his sixth of the season.
Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist, and Anthony Duclair and Ekblad dished out assists for Florida, which won its fourth straight and is 8-2-1 against the Metropolitan Division.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves and became the first Florida goalie to record points in 11 straight starts (9-0-2).
Joel Farabee broke a five-game streak without a goal with his first-period marker, and Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov had assists for the Flyers, who dropped their fourth straight (0-3-1).
RED WINGS 4, BLUES 2
DETROIT (AP) - Adam Erne scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, streaking rookie Lucas Raymond got his eighth of the season and Detroit beat St. Louis.
Dylan Larkin and Robby Fabbri also scored for the Red Wings. Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 35 saves as Detroit snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 5-2-2 at home.
Making his second straight start, Nedeljkovic turned in several highlight-reel stops - including a sprawling glove save with 13:05 left to preserve a one-goal lead.
Pavel Buchnevich and David Perron scored for the Blues, who were playing with a full and healthy roster for the first time this season. Perron's goal snapped a 13-game scoreless drought.
WILD 3, DEVILS 2
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Kevin Fiala scored the lone goal in a shootout, Cam Talbot made 42 saves and Minnesota beat New Jersey after arriving late to the arena because of traffic.
The game was delayed 24 minutes after the Wild got stuck in a Manhattan traffic jam with the Holland Tunnel closed. The team bus did not arrive until 6:26 p.m. and the start was pushed back to 7:33 p.m.
Minnesota scored two first-period goals before the Devils overcame the 2-0 deficit in the third to send the game to overtime.
BRUINS 5, SABRES 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle each had a goal and an assist to lead Boston over Buffalo.
Mike Reilly and Taylor Hall also scored, Nick Foligno had two assists and rookie Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves as Boston bounced back from a 4-0 loss to Calgary on Sunday for its fourth win in five games and third straight on the road.
The Bruins chased Sabres goalie Aaron Dell with four first-period goals on the 22 shots he faced. Dustin Tokarski stopped 24 of 25 shots.
BLUE JACKETS 3, WINNIPEG 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Elvis Merzlikins made 36 saves for his seventh career shutout and Columbus blanked to hand the Jets their fourth consecutive defeat.
Gregory Hofmann, Zach Werenski and Andrew Peeke scored for Columbus, which won for the fourth time in five games.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 29 shots in his first loss in five starts against the Blue Jackets.
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