UNDATED (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes gave the Washington Capitals something to think about if the division rivals meet in the playoffs. Martin Necas scored twice to help the Hurricanes rout the Capitals 6-1 in a potential first-round preview. It was Carolina’s first victory in four meetings this season. Beating Washington allowed Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina to keep pace with Florida atop the Eastern Conference.
Elsewhere on the ice:
— Alex Wennberg scored 14 seconds into the game, Jared McCann got his team-leading 24th goal and the Seattle Kraken dominated on both ends of the ice in a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Chris Driedger stopped 36 shots for the expansion Kraken, who have four wins in their last six games. Seattle had 14 of its 18 skaters record a point. Adam Larsson, Victor Rask, Jordan Eberle and Daniel Sprong also scored, and Vince Dunn added two assists. Arthur Kaliyev scored and Cal Petersen made 32 saves for Los Angeles, which had earned points in four of its last five. It was the 1,000th NHL regular-season game for coach Todd McLellan.
—Ryan McLeod had two goals and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Arizona Coyotes 6-1. Connor McDavid, Warren Foegele, Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers, who have won seven straight home games. Mikko Koskinen finished with 31 saves. Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, who lost their sixth straight and were officially eliminated from playoff contention with a record of 20-41-5. Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves. Josef Korenar came out to start the third in the Arizona net and finished with six saves.
—Tage Thompson scored the tiebreaking goal on a fortunate bounce with 10.6 seconds left and the Buffalo Sabres rallied from four down to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-5. Victor Olofsson had two goals and an assist to help the Sabres win for the first time in three games. Kyle Okposo, Vinnie Hinostroza and Alex Tuch also scored for Buffalo.
—Vladimir Tarasenko had two goals and an assist, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Tarasenko has 23 goals this season, and the three-point game gave him 500 points in his NHL career. David Perron and Marco Scandella also scored for the Blues, who had lost of three of four.
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk dies
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Team officials say Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has died from an illness. Melnyk was 62.
A team statement did not explain what the illness was. Melnyk had a liver transplant in 2015 after a public campaign for a donor. He had owned the Senators since 2003, when he bought the NHL club for $92 million.
The Toronto native was involved in other businesses around Canada and in 2010 had an estimated net worth of $1.21 billion.
