Coach Alain Vigneault chose not to use his timeout after the Rangers iced the puck with 54 seconds left in regulation and the Capitals skating six-on-five, with goalie Braden Holtby pulled. Nash was denied off an offensive-zone faceoff, then center Derek Stepan had his rebound chance stopped by the stick of Capitals defenseman Nate Schmidt.
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Ovechkin got an extended standing ovation and took a skate around the rink, acknowledging the cheering crowd that included his parents.
Ovechkin will attempt to become the first Russian and fifth-fastest to score 500 goals when the Capitals host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
The Capitals jumped to a 2-0 lead on a pair of odd goals.
Trotz said Michael Latta will move up to take Johansson’s spot as the center on the third line between Chimera and Wilson.
Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings, whose lead atop the Pacific Division was trimmed to nine points.
Lightning 3, Canucks 2: VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Nikita Kucherov scored 3:50 into overtime to lift Tampa Bay. He returned from a concussion to make 23 saves in last month’s matchup. 295 hitter who can help the Nationals fill a void after they lost center fielder Denard Span to free agency January 7. They attempted only two shots in the first period and had eight shots in the second. Patric Hornqvist and Eric Fehr also scored.
The Rangers, for two periods, played one of their best defensive games of the season against the NHL’s best team (the Capitals are 31-7-3 and haven’t even had a hint of a slump) – except for two big blunders that the Caps turned into a 2-0 lead.
Late in the second, a mind-numbingly careless change by Derick Brassard, with McDonagh in deep, resulted in a Williams breakaway goal that snuck off the post and off Lundqvist.
Steve Mason stopped 20 shots for his third shutout of the season and led Philadelphia to a win over NY. Mason, a former Blue Jackets goalie, has 29 career National Hockey League shutouts. David Pastrnak scored and Tuukka Rask made 38 saves for Boston.
Vanek and Ryan Carter had goals in the second period for the Wild. Jamie Benn scored the lone goal for Dallas. This marked the second time of the season that Backstrom tied a game in the final seconds, the first coming at home against Toronto earlier in the season. He’s 19-0-2 with a 1.89 goals-against average since a 1-0 defeat at Detroit on November 10. I don’t think we had a ton of opportunities, but with that said I don’t think we played all that well last game either. Niemi made 23 saves. Tomas Hertz had two goals and an assist for the Sharks, who did not have a power-play goal in their most lopsided shutout victory since 2001.
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Tomas Hertl scored twice and was joined on the scoresheet by Brent Burns, Matt Nieto, Joe Pavelski, Malker Karlsson and Joonas Donski.
