NHL roundup: Ovechkin leads Caps with 2nd straight hat trick

Ovechkin tied Lemieux midway through the first period with a breakaway goal
but after his 690th goal, the Capitals did little offensively until their
comeback bid in the third to win their third straight game.

Ovechkin got his 691st career goal on a spectacular play 5:18 into the third
when he scored while falling to the ice after making a move through the right
circle. He then tied Yzerman by capping Washington's comeback with an
empty-net goal with less than a minute remaining.

Ovechkin recorded his 26th career hat trick and posted a hat trick for the
second straight game.

Canucks 4, Sharks 1

Tanner Pearson collected one goal and one assist, while goaltender Thatcher
Demko made 17 saves as host Vancouver beat San Jose and moved atop the Pacific
Division standings.

The Canucks, who have won four of five games overall and eight straight at
home, are one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Vegas Golden
Knights and Arizona Coyotes in the standings. It's the first time the top five
teams in a division have been separated by one point since it happened with
the Norris Division on Jan. 1, 1987.

San Jose, which managed only three shots in the first period, received a boost
when Barclay Goodrow made it a one-goal game at 7:09 of the third period.
Goalie Aaron Dell made 35 saves for the Sharks, who have dropped three
straight games and have fallen 12 points behind the Canucks.

Avalanche 5, Blues 3

Cale Makar and Andre Burakovsky scored 22 seconds apart late in the second
period, Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Jost also scored, and Colorado beat St.
Louis in Denver.

MacKinnon and Burakovsky each added an assist, Ian Cole had two assists and
Philipp Grubauer stopped 21 shots. Gabriel Landeskog scored into an empty net
with 1.8 seconds left.

David Perron and Alex Pietrangelo each had a goal and an assist, Oskar
Sundqvist also scored and Zach Sanford and Ryan O'Reilly had two assists each
for the Blues.

Oilers 7, Coyotes 3

Connor McDavid scored two goals and Riley Sheahan had a goal and three assists
as Edmonton earned a victory over visiting Arizona.

Josh Archibald had a goal and two assists and Sam Gagner, Kailer Yamamoto and
Joakim Nygard also scored goals for the Oilers.

Edmonton won for the sixth time in its last eight games and heads into its bye
week and All-Star Game break with 57 points, one point behind the Pacific
Division-leading Canucks. Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each added
two assists for Edmonton. Mike Smith finished with 27 saves.

Canadiens 5, Golden Knights 4 (SO)

Tomas Tatar scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout as host Montreal
handed Vegas coach Peter DeBoer his first loss with his new team.

Tatar and Ilya Kovalchuk potted goals as the Canadiens won the extra session
2-1 after allowing two late goals to force overtime. Jonathan Marchessault
scored for the Golden Knights, but Canadiens goalie Carey Price stuffed Reilly
Smith's tying bid to end the shootout in the bottom of the fourth round.

Nick Cousins scored twice, Kovalchuk and Joel Armia contributed goals, Dale
Weise assisted on two markers and the Canadiens were victorious for the fourth
time in their last five games despite blowing a three-goal lead.

Blue Jackets 5, Devils 0

Rookie goaltender Elvis Merzlikins stopped 41 shots for this third shutout of
the season, and Columbus defeated visiting New Jersey for its fourth straight
win.

With No. 1 goaltender Joonas Korpisalo sidelined by a knee injury, Merzlikins
has posted shutouts in three of his last four games, with the only exception
when he allowed two goals on 34 shots to Carolina in Thursday's win.

Cam Atkinson scored twice, and Jakob Lilja, Nick Foligno and Alexander
Wennberg also scored for Columbus, which is 14-2-4 in its past 20 games. The
Blue Jackets are 7-1-1 in the past eight home games, outscoring the opposition
30-12.

Blackhawks 6, Maple Leafs 2

Jonathan Toews scored twice and added two assists, Dominik Kubalik had two
goals and an assist and visiting Chicago defeated Toronto.

Drake Caggiula added a goal and an assist, and Brandon Saad also scored for
the Blackhawks, who have won four in a row. Erik Gustafsson chipped in with
two assists for Chicago.

William Nylander and Alex Kerfoot scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost
five of their past six games. Tyson Barrie contributed two assists for
Toronto.

Predators 2, Sabres 1

Craig Smith scored a tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period as
Nashville gave new coach John Hynes his first home victory by defeating
Buffalo.

Ryan Johansen also scored, and goaltender Pekka Rinne made 30 saves for the
Predators, who evened their record at 3-3 since Hynes took over for the fired
Peter Laviolette on Jan. 7. They had lost their first two home games under
Hynes.

Sam Reinhart scored for the Sabres, and goalie Linus Ullmark stopped 35 of 37
shots. Buffalo's three-game winning streak, which tied for its longest of the
season, came to an end.

Senators 5, Flames 2

Brady Tkachuk, Connor Brown and Vladislav Namestnikov each had a goal and an
assist and Marcus Hogberg stopped 40 of 42 shots as Ottawa snapped a nine-game
losing streak with a victory over visiting Calgary.

Chris Tierney and Colin White also scored goals for the Senators, who won for
the first time since before Christmas, a 3-1 home victory over Buffalo on Dec.
23. It was Brown's third consecutive multi-point game and the second career
win for Hogberg.

Mark Jankowski and Noah Hanifin scored goals and David Rittich finished with
16 saves for Calgary, which lost for just the second time in the last eight
games.

Panthers 4, Red Wings 1

Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves to lead Florida to a win at Detroit.

The Panthers won their sixth straight game against the Red Wings and fourth
straight overall, in what was the first of a six-game road swing. Evgenii
Dadonov, Mark Pysyk, Aleksander Barkov and Denis Malgin each scored.

Dylan Larkin scored the lone goal for the Red Wings, who lost their fourth
straight game.

Flyers 4, Kings 1

Travis Konecny scored two goals and James van Riemsdyk added one goal and two
assists to carry host Philadelphia past Los Angeles.

Joel Farabee contributed one goal and Claude Giroux had two assists for the
Flyers, who improved to 16-4-4 at home. Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott made
34 saves.

Dustin Brown scored the lone goal for the Kings, who fell to 7-17-4 on the
road. Kings goaltender Jack Campbell stopped 22 shots.

Wild 7, Stars 0

Jason Zucker scored his first goal since returning from injury and added two
assists as Minnesota stomped visiting Dallas.

Zucker fractured his fibula during a Dec. 15 game against the Chicago
Blackhawks, blocking a slap shot from Brent Seabrook. He had surgery and
returned to the ice Jan. 12 against the Vancouver Canucks, but had been held
off the scoreboard.

Mattias Janmark had the Stars' best chance of the third period to end
Minnesota's shutout bid, trying to sneak a wrister past goaltender Alex
Stalock, who turned away all 27 shots by Dallas.

--Field Level Media