John Carlson scored at 2 minutes, 17 seconds of overtime and Braden Holtby made 22 saves as the Washington Capitals moved within grasping distance of the Presidents’ Trophy with a 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils in the NHL on Friday.
Carlson, playing for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury on Feb. 24, took a pass from Jason Chimera and ripped a shot from the right circle that beat Devils’ goalie Scott Wedgewood.
Wedgewood, who shut out Pittsburgh on Thursday night, had his shutout streak of 159 minutes, 34 seconds ended by the goal, only the second he has given up in three NHL starts. He stopped 25 shots.
Photo: AFP
Chimera took a pass from Marcus Johansson on the winning play, circled the Devils’ net and found Carlson in the circle for his seventh goal of the season.
Holtby is three wins away from tying Martin Brodeur’s NHL single-season record of 48 wins.
BLUES 4, CANUCKS 0
In St Louis, Missouri, Brian Elliott made 15 saves for his third straight shutout as the Blues beat Vancouver to clinch a playoff spot and tie Dallas for the Central Division lead.
St Louis’ Robby Fabbri had a goal and an assist, Kyle Brodziak, Fabbri, Carl Gunnarsson and Joel Edmundson also scored, and Paul Stastny had two assists.
Elliott has not allowed a goal since returning from a lower-body injury on Saturday last week.
The Canucks have a seven-game winless streak at 0-6-1, their longest streak since January and February in 2014. They have been shut out in four of their last five games.
LIGHTNING 7, ISLANDERS 4
In Tampa, Florida, Tyler Johnson and Jason Garrison scored 23 seconds apart midway through the third period as the Lightning beat New York.
Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman left in the first with a non-displaced fracture of the left fibula after getting checked by Anders Lee. Stralman will miss the rest of the regular season, but coach Jon Cooper did not rule out a return at some point in the playoffs.
Johnson had a go-ahead rebound goal at 10:09 before Garrison stopped a 26-game goal drought and put the Lightning up 6-4. Garrison also had two assists after going 18 games without a point.
Tampa Bay also got goals from Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Steven Stamkos, Andrej Sustr and Victor Hedman, who had an empty-netter. The Lightning were set to host Florida yesterday with first place in the Atlantic Division at stake as both teams have 91 points.
Brock Nelson, Shane Prince, Johnny Boychuk and Nikolav Kulemin scored for the Islanders. They remained a point behind third-place Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division.
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