UNDATED (AP) — Alexander Ovechkin matched Phil Esposito for sixth on the NHL’s career list with his 717th goal and the Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-0.
Ovechkin scored in the third period, helping send the Capitals to their fifth straight win with his 1,299th career point — one shy of becoming the 35th player to reach 1,300. He scored from the slot off a pass from former Sabre Conor Sheary, who found Ovechkin cutting toward the net.
Ovechkin snapped a quick shot past Carter Hutton, who was screened. Vitek Vanecek stopped 23 shots and improved to 4-0-1 against the Sabres.
Elsewhere on the ice on Monday:
— Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone each had a goal and an assist to help the Vegas Golden Knights beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1. Marc-Andre Fleury, making his 16th start in 17 games, finished with 23 saves to improve to 14-5-0 this season. Fleury earned his 481st career win, inching closer to Ed Belfour, who ranks fourth with 484. Pacioretty scored in the first period and delivered a perfect backhand pass early in the third to Stone, who one-timed a wrist shot to make it 2-0. It ended up being Stone’s sixth game-winning goal. Timo Meier scored late for San Jose, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 34 shots. The Golden Knights are 12-1-3 in 16 regular-season meetings with San Jose.
— Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist, Noah Hanifin also scored and the Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 for their third straight win under new coach Darryl Sutter. Mikael Backlund had two assists and Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 of 31 shots. Sutter replaced Geoff Ward, who was fired March 4. Leon Draisaitl, Josh Archibald and Adam Larsson scored for Edmonton, which played its third game in four days. Mike Smith had 23 saves.
— Tyler Toffoli had two goals, including an empty-netter in the final minute, and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-2. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Josh Anderson also scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price, playing in his 700th game, made 34 saves. Montreal ended its two-game slide and improved to 13-8-7. Kyle Connor scored two power-play goals for Winnipeg.
— Evgeni Malkin scored on a power play for his 1,100th career point and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Boston Bruins 4-1. Malkin is the third Russian-born player to reach 1,100 points in the NHL, joining Alex Ovechkin and Sergei Fedorov. Malkin has eight goals on the season and had an assist while extending his points streak to eight games. Tristan Jarry made a season-high 42 saves for Pittsburgh.
— J.T Miller scored in overtime and Thatcher Demko made 44 saves as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2. Miller beat a defenseman and then deked Joey Daccord before scoring the winner 1:40 into OT. Jayce Hawryluk and Tanner Pearson scored in regulation for Vancouver. Josh Norris and Colin White scored for Ottawa.
— Jakub Voracek scored at 3:47 of overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers. Claude Giroux, Joel Farabee and Ivan Provorov each had a goal and an assist, and James van Riemsdyk also scored for the Flyers, who won for the third time in eight games. Carter Hart finished with 20 saves. Keith Kinkaid stopped 25 shots.
— Aleksander Barkov scored a tiebreaking short-handed goal in the third period, and the Florida Panthers beat the slumping Chicago Blackhawks 6-3. Barkov poked in a loose puck from right in front with 6:34 left. It was the Panthers’ first short-handed goal this season. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots and won his sixth straight start. Down 3-1, the Panthers scored five unanswered goals to win their fourth straight game. Patrick Kane, Philipp Kurashev and Brandon Hagel scored for the Blackhawks, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves.
— Calle Jarnkrok had a short-handed goal and three assists, helping the Nashville Predators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1. Pekka Rinne stopped 38 shots and picked up his 14th career assist in Nashville’s first victory against Tampa Bay in six meetings on the season.
