Washington’s Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal in his return from a suspension, giving the Capitals a 3-2 win against the New York Islanders on Thursday and maintaining a 15-point gap atop the NHL Metropolitan Division.
The Russian winger was suspended for the previous game because he skipped the All-Star game due to injury, and his impact helped the Capitals get back to winning ways following rare consecutive losses.
Chicago captain Jonathan Toews returned from a suspension for the same reason and also scored the winner as the Blackhawks won in overtime at Arizona, keeping them three points clear atop the Central Division ahead of Dallas, which also won in overtime, at Colorado.
Washington’s Ovechkin scored off a pass from Nicklas Backstrom with 2:40 left as the Capitals maintained their record of not losing three straight games this season. T.J. Oshie and Andre Burakovsky also scored for the Capitals.
Mikhail Grabovski and Josh Bailey had New York’s goals in a reprise of last season’s first-round playoff series.
Dallas’ John Klingberg scored 35 seconds into overtime to give the Stars a 4-3 win at Colorado, ending a run of eight straight losses.
Antti Niemi stopped a pivotal penalty shot in the third period while Jason Spezza and Alex Hemsky also netted for the Stars.
Nick Holden, Blake Comeau and Carl Soderberg scored for the Avalanche.
Chicago’s Toews scored his second goal of the night in overtime to lift the Blackhawks over Arizona 5-4.
The teams traded scoring chances in the 3-on-3 overtime, leaving players on both sides exhausted. Toews skated in with a burst of energy, netting a wrister with 29 seconds left in the extra period.
Toews also scored in the second period. Patrick Kane scored his NHL-leading 31st goal in the second, Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist and Michal Rozsival scored his first of the season for the Blackhawks.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a goal and two assists for the Coyotes. Mikkel Boedker and Jordan Martinook scored two quick goals in the second period, and Shane Doan scored in the third.
Florida’s Vincent Trocheck scored twice and added an assist to lead the Panthers to a 6-3 win against Detroit.
Jaromir Jagr had a goal and two assists. His first assist was his 1,100th in regular-season play, becoming the sixth player to reach that milestone.
Brandon Pirri had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who have scored at least five goals in a franchise-record four consecutive games. Aleksander Barkov and Derek MacKenzie also scored for Florida.
Rookie center Dylan Larkin had his first two-goal game for Detroit, both coming within a span of 67 seconds bridging the first and second periods. Mike Green added a power-play tally with 7:24 left.
St. Louis’ Joonas Donskoi and Joe Thornton scored in the second period as the Sharks beat St. Louis 3-1, tying Washington for the league lead on away wins at 17.
Martin Jones made 26 saves and Matt Nieto added an unassisted goal late in the third.
Jay Bouwmeester scored late in the second period for St. Louis.
Anaheim extended its winning streak to five as David Perron had a goal and two assists in 4-2 win against neighboring Los Angeles.
Ryan Getzlaf added a goal and his 500th career assist, while Ryan Garbutt scored his second goal in two games and Hampus Lindholm added a power-play goal for the Ducks.
Tyler Toffoli matched his career high by scoring his 23rd goal during a power play for the Kings, who have lost three straight home games for the first time since the first three games of the season. Alec Martinez scored in the final seconds.
The New York Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat struggling Minnesota, with Derick Brassard setting up the tying goal and scoring the winner early in the third period.
Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds had two goals and an assist and Claude Giroux also scored twice to lead the Glyers past Nashvilled 6-3.
Boston’s Ryan Spooner scored in regulation and the shootout to lead the Bruins to a 3-2 win at Buffalo.
Toronto marked the 1,000th NHL game for coach Mike Babcock by edging New Jersey 3-2 after a shootout.
Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle scored twice and added an assist to help the Oilers open a four-game road trip with a victory 7-2 over Ottawa.
Columbus’ Alex Wennberg scored the only goal in a shootout to lift Columbus to a 2-1 win at Vancouver.
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