WASHINGTON — Brayden Point scored two first-period goals, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 35 shots to earn his NHL-leading 35th victory and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 Tuesday night in a matchup between division leaders.
Chris Kunitz also scored in the opening period, which ended with Tampa Bay up 3-0. That was enough of a cushion for Vasilevskiy, an All-Star who came in with a 2.34 goals-against average.
After Alex Ovechkin notched his NHL-high 36th goal for Washington to make it 3-2 at 11:02 of the third period, Nikita Kucherov clinched it with a breakaway goal with 7:02 remaining.
The victory improved Tampa Bay's NHL-best record to 40-17-3 and kept the Lightning ahead of surging Boston in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.
Lars Eller scored a power-play goal for the Capitals, who lead Pittsburgh by one point in the Metropolitan Division.
FLYERS 3, CANADIENS 2, OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jakub Voracek scored the tying goal with 1:25 left in regulation and then got the game-winner 1:26 into overtime to lift Philadelphia past Montreal.
Voracek also had an assist and Nolan Patrick had the other goal for Philadelphia, which improved to 7-0-2 in its last nine games. The Flyers, third in the Metropolitan Division, pulled two points behind second-place Pittsburgh and three behind first-place Washington.
Paul Byron and Jeff Petry scored for Montreal, which lost its sixth straight. The Canadiens' NHL-worst road record fell to 8-19-2.
With Philadelphia goalie Alex Lyon pulled for an extra attacker, Voracek sent the game to overtime with a slap shot from the point that deflected off Montreal's Max Pacioretty and through goalie Carey Price's five-hole.
Voracek netted the game-winner when he skated to the slot and fired a wrist shot past Price's glove side.
BLUE JACKETS 2, DEVILS 1
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) —
Boone Jenner also scored as the Blue Jackets moved into the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference with 65 points, one ahead of Carolina and the Islanders. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves in helping the Blue Jackets win for the fifth time in 15 games (5-9-2).
Taylor Hall scored for the Devils to extend his point-scoring streak to 12 games, tying David Pastrnak of the Bruins for the league-high this season. He also pushed his personal point-scoring streak to 19 games. He missed three games with a thumb injury, so the league does not consider that to be part of his current streak.
Keith Kinkaid had 17 saves for New Jersey, which holds the first wild-card spot in the conference.
PREDATORS 3, RED WINGS 2
DETROIT (AP) — Viktor Arvidsson scored his third goal in two games and Nashville ended its seven-game skid to Detroit.
Scott Hartnell and Kyle Turris also scored, and Juuse Saros stopped 34 shots for the Predators, who ended a three-game losing streak in Detroit since a win on Nov. 19, 2013.
Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Tatar scored for the Red Wings, and Jimmy Howard finished with 26 saves.
SHARKS 3, BLUES 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Logan Couture and Mikkel Boedker each had a goal and an assist, sending San Jose to a victory over slumping St. Louis.
Joonas Donskoi also scored and Martin Jones made 30 saves for the Sharks, who have won five of their last six games.
Ivan Barbashev and Vladimir Tarasenko had the goals for the Blues, who have lost a season-high four straight.
All five goals were scored in the second period.
KINGS 4, JETS 3
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Dion Phaneuf scored on the power play for his third goal in four games with Los Angeles, helping the Kings cap a seven-game road trip with a win over Winnipeg.
Alec Martinez also scored on the power play, Dustin Brown's goal late in the third period stood as the winner and Torrey Mitchell had the other goal for the Kings. Darcy Kuemper stopped 30 shots to win his fifth straight start.
Anze Kopitar picked up an assist on Brown's goal, giving him his 800th NHL point in his 900th career game.
Patrik Laine scored on the power play with 49 seconds left to trim the deficit for Winnipeg. Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien had the other Jets goals, and Laine added an assist.
Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the Jets, who completed a 6-3-1 homestand.
It was the third consecutive win for the Kings, who were coming off a 3-1 victory at Chicago the night before and went 4-3 on their trip.
MAPLE LEAFS 1, PANTHERS 0
TORONTO (AP) — Frederik Andersen made 40 saves, James van Riemsdyk scored his 25th goal with 28 seconds left in the first period and surging Toronto blanked Florida.
The shutout was Andersen's career-best fifth of the season. The 28-year-old goalie has reached 30 wins for the third time.
The Maple Leafs have won 11 of 12 and improved to 14-4-2 since Jan. 4.
The Panthers have dropped back-to-back games after opening their five-game road trip with three straight wins. Florida entered the night six points out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots in the loss.
BRUINS 3, OILERS 2
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — David Krejci broke a tie with 1:04 remaining and Boston rallied for three goals in the third period to beat Edmonton.
Noel Acciari and Matt Grzelcyk also scored for the Bruins, who have won seven of nine and are one point back of Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division and overall NHL standings.
Ryan Strome and Jujhar Khaira had the goals for the Oilers, who have lost seven of eight.
Strome got the Oilers on the scoreboard on a 2-on-1 break with 1:31 left in the first period as Edmonton was being outshot 13-2 to that point. Khaira made it 2-0 with about 8 1/2 minutes left in the second.
Boston, which had a 29-14 advantage on shots through 40 minutes, got on the board 4:37 into the third when Acciari swung a puck that bounced off Strome and in. Grzelcyk put the puck past a diving Talbot during a flurry to tie it with eight minutes left.
AVALANCHE 5, CANUCKS 4, OT
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored Colorado's fifth power-play goal of the game 3:36 into overtime, lifting the Avalanche past Vancouver to cap a comeback from three goals down.
With Daniel Sedin off for hooking, Tyson Barrie passed to MacKinnon, who fired a shot from the faceoff circle past Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson.
Barrie, who had four assists, tied it with 3:01 remaining in the third period.
Tyson Jost, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog also scored for Colorado. MacKinnon also had three assists, Rantanen added two and Landeskog one. Semyon Varlamov finished with 24 saves.
Brandon Suter and Nikolay Goldobin each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks in a wild second period. Darren Archibald and Bo Horvat also scored for Vancouver. Nilsson stopped 29 shots.
The Associated Press