NHL roundup: Capitals get franchise-record 8th straight road win with 3-1 victory over Maple Leafs

TORONTO (AP) — Connor McMichael scored in the third period, and the Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Friday night for their franchise-record eighth consecutive road win.

Nic Dowd had a goal and an assist for Washington, which has won five of six overall. Aliaksei Protas had an empty-net goal, and Charlie Lindgren made 20 saves.

The Capitals have outscored their opponents 42-18 during their road win streak.

John Tavares scored for Toronto, and Anthony Stolarz stopped 23 shots.

The Leafs, who had won 10 of 12, lost at Scotiabank Arena for the first time since Nov. 13. They have the NHL’s best home record at 12-4-0.

Washington captain Alex Ovechkin skated in full gear before Thursday’s practice — just 2 1/2 weeks after breaking his left fibula.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Friday:

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DEVILS 3 KRAKEN 2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Timo Meier scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Seattle Kraken 3-2.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist in his 500th career game, Luke Hughes scored his first goal of the season and Jack Hughes had two assists for the Devils. Jacob Markstrom had 17 saves as New Jersey won for the sixth time in eight games.

Shane Wright and Andre Burakovsky scored for the Kraken, who snapped a two-game win streak and lost for the fourth time in six games. Philipp Grubauer had a season-high 34 saves.

Meier put the Devils ahead on a rebound 53 seconds into the third with his ninth goal of the season and 200th of his career.

Burakovsky got the Kraken on the scoreboard first midway through the first period. He has 10 goals and 13 points in 22 career games against the Devils.

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RANGERS 4 PENGUINS 2

NEW YORK (AP) — Reilly Smith scored the go-ahead goal and Artemi Panarin scored twice as New York beat Pittsburgh.

Smith put New York ahead with his fourth goal this season at 9:53 of the third period in a game played hours after the Rangers traded their captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks.

New York responded by winning on home ice as goaltender Igor Shesterkin snapped a personal five-game losing streak with 18 saves.

Vincent Trocheck also scored for the Rangers and had two assists. Alexis Lafreniere had two assists.

Blake Lizotte and Philip Tomasino scored for Pittsburgh, which had its four-game winning streak stopped.

After Lizotte opened the scoring with his fifth goal at 6:19 of the second, Panarin tied it at 7:28.

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GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 STARS 2

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vegas scored two power-play goals in captain Mark Stone’s return from injury, and they got some measure of revenge with a victory over Dallas.

Tomas Hertl and Jack Eichel scored with the man advantage for the Golden Knights, and Nicolas Roy had an even-strength goal. Shea Theodore had two assists, and Adin Hill made 37 saves to improve to 6-1-1 over his past eight starts.

Mavrik Bourque and Mason Marchment scored for the Stars, and Jake Oettinger made 25 stops.

Vegas has won three games in a row and is 7-1-1 over its past nine.

Stone played for the first time since Nov. 6 at Edmonton. Stone, who had been out with a pulled muscle, rejoined the top line of Eichel and Ivan Barbashev and had the primary assist on Hertl’s goal.

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WILD 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Marco Rossi had two goals and an assist, Kirill Kaprizov added a goal and two assists, and Minnesota beat Anaheim for their season-high fifth straight win.

Matt Boldy also had a goal and two assists, Yakov Trenin scored into an empty net and Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves for the Wild.

Brock McGinn had a goal and John Gibson made 28 saves for the short-handed Ducks, who were without forwards Trevor Zegras (lower body) and Leo Carlsson (upper body).

Rossi opened the scoring on a power play when he delivered from near the right post at 4:22 of the second period. He added his second of the game and ninth of the season less than four minutes later to make it 2-0.

Boldy scored less than three minutes later off a pass from Rossi.

Kaprizov pounced on a loose puck in front of the Ducks’ goal early in the third period to score his team-leading 17th for a 4-0 lead. McGinn scored for the Ducks with under three minutes remaining to spoil the shutout.

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CANUCKS 5 BLUE JACKETS 2

VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — Pius Suter scored twice and Vancouver rallied from two goals down to beat Columbus 5-2.

Brock Boeser, Kiefer Sherwood and Jake DeBrusk also scored for the Cancuks, and Quinn Hughes had two assists. Kevin Lankinen had 30 saves as Vancouver improved to 3-0-1 in its last four games.

Mathieu Olivier and Damon Severson scored in the first period for Columbus, which has lost three straight. Elvis Merzilikins finished with 12 saves.

Olivier and Severson scored 5:08 apart to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead with 7:42 left in the opening period.

Boeser and Sherwood scored in the second period to tie it for the Canucks. Suter gave Vancouver the lead early in the third and DeBrusk made it 4-2 with a power-play goal midway through the period. Suter added an empty-netter with 65 seconds left to seal the win.

The Associated Press