Panthers move into 1st in Eastern Conference with 3-2 OT win over Senators
Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell celebrates after he scored the winning goal during an overtime period of an NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers beat the Senators 3-2 in overtime. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Anton Lundell scored 1:36 into overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night to jump over the idle Boston Bruins and into the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour also scored while Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves in the Panthers’ sixth straight victory.
Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle scored for the Senators while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 31 shots in Ottawa’s third loss in its past four games.
Ekblad, who missed Saturday’s 9-2 Panthers win against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a lower-body injury, scored 19 seconds into the game, the second quickest goal by a defenseman in franchise history.
ISLANDERS 5, PENGUINS 4, OT
PITTSBURGH, (AP) — Adam Pelech beat Alex Nedeljkovic 57 seconds into overtime to lift the Islanders past the skidding Penguins.
Pelech’s winner was his first goal since last April as the Islanders recovered in the extra period after squandering a late lead.
Brock Nelson, Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom and Mike Reilly also scored for the Islanders and Ilya Sorokin stopped 37 shots.
Valtteri Puustinen and Drew O’Connor scored 54 seconds apart in the third period as the Penguins erased a two-goal deficit. Marcus Pettersson and Lars Eller also scored for Pittsburgh, which is 1-4-1 in its last six games. Nedeljkovic made 28 saves.
AVALANCHE 3, CANUCKS 1
DENVER (AP) — Ryan Johansen broke out of a scoring slump with two goals, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 24 shots and Colorado beat NHL-leading Vancouver.
Johansen tied the game in the second period and scored the go-ahead goal early in the third for his first goals since Dec. 29. Artturi Lehkonen sealed it with an empty-net goal with 27.6 seconds remaining.
Nathan MacKinnon had an assist on Lehkonen’s goal, giving him at least a point in all 27 home games this season.
J.T. Miller had a goal for a Canucks team that’s dropped three in a row for the first time this season and Thatcher Demko made 24 saves.
RANGERS 3, STARS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves and the Rangers beat the Stars for their eighth straight win.
Adam Fox, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers in the matchup of division leaders.
Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas, which lost for the second time in two days. The Stars lost to the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Monday in a shootout.
The Rangers are 9-1-1 in their last 11 contests. They were coming off a dramatic 6-5 overtime win against the Islanders in an outdoor game on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
CAPITALS 6, DEVILS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael each scored twice, and Washington beat New Jersey to boost the team’s playoff chances and deal its division rivals a tough blow in their pursuit.
Ovechkin’s goals give him 838 in his NHL career. He has 16 this season, eight in the past eight games to reignite talk of him breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Charlie Lindgren made 37 saves, and Dylan Strome and Michael Sgarbossa scored as Washington won a second consecutive game.
Alexander Holtz scored late in the first for New Jersey and Erik Haula added a goal late in the third. Nico Daws allowed six goals on 26 shots.
JETS 6, WILD 3
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Gabriel Vilardi scored twice and added an assist to lift Winnipeg to a victory over Minnesota, ending the Wild’s six-game point streak.
Kyle Connor had a goal and pair of assists, while Mason Appleton, Sean Monahan and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Jets, who rebounded from a 6-3 Monday loss to the Calgary Flames.
Adam Lowry and Dylan DeMelo each contributed a pair of assists. Laurent Brossoit made 36 saves for Winnipeg.
Marco Rossi scored twice and Kirill Kaprizov notched a goal and assist for the Wild. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 of the 29 shots he faced for Minnesota, which is 5-1-1 in its last seven games.
PREDATORS 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tommy Novak scored his fourth goal in five games and Nashville defeated Vegas.
Luke Evangelista, former Knight Cody Glass, Cole Smith and Gustav Nyquist also scored for the Predators. Roman Josi and Ryan McDonagh each had two assists for Nashville. In his first start since Jan. 27, Kevin Lankinen stopped 23 shots.
The victory marked the first time the Predators have won consecutive games since Jan. 12 and 13.
Alex Pietrangelo, William Karlsson and Michael Amadio scored for the Golden Knights. Adin Hill made 35 stops.
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