BOSTON (AP) 鈥� Alex Ovechkin , moving him four away from passing Wayne Gretzky鈥檚 NHL record, and Dylan Strome broke a third-period tie on Tuesday night to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 National Hockey League victory over the Boston Bruins.
Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington. Charlie Lindgren made 21 saves to help the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals snap a three-game losing streak.
David Pastrnak had two goals, Vinni Lettieri scored one and Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for Boston, which lost its ninth in a row.
Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead with about four minutes left in the first period, pushing a cross-crease pass from Strome into an open net. He has 12 goals in his last 18 games and eight games remaining this season to catch Gretzky.
The 39-year-old Russian also shot wide on an empty net in the final minutes.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:
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CANADIENS 3 PANTHERS 2 (OT)
MONTREAL (AP) 鈥� Nick Suzuki scored his second of the game 29 seconds into overtime as Montreal came back for a dramatic 3-2 victory over Florida in the second game of a home-and-home.
Suzuki also tied the game with 8.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
Josh Anderson also scored for Montreal (35-30-9) and Sam Montembeault stopped 25 shots.
Lane Hutson earned three assists to pad that total to 57 this season, passing Chris Chelios for second-most by a rookie defenceman in NHL history.
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SABRES 5 SENATORS 2
OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) 鈥� Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist, and Buffalo swept its season series against Ottawa with a 5-2 win.
Buffalo outscored the Senators 17-5 in their four meetings this season.
The Senators were without captain Brady Tkachuk, who is sidelined with an upper-body injury from a hit by Ryan Graves in Sunday鈥檚 game against Pittsburgh. This marks only the fourth game Tkachuk has missed in the past three years.
The Sabres jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first scoring twice on five shots.
Linus Ullmark made a save on Mattias Samuelsson but lost sight of the rebound, providing Tuch with an easy tap in.
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BLUE JACKETS 8 PREDATORS 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) 鈥� Kirill Marchenko scored three goals for his third career hat trick and added an assist, and Columbus beat Nashville 8-4.
Sean Monahan had two goals and two assists, Adam Fantilli had two goals and an assist, Dante Fabbro had a goal and an assist, and Zach Werenski and Kent Johnson each had two assists for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 24 shots.
Filip Forsberg, Michael Bunting, Justin Barron and Jordan Oesterle scored for Nashville, and Luke Evangelista had two assists. Juuse Saros gave up a season-high seven goals on 26 shots through two periods, and Justus Annunen had 10 saves in the third.
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LIGHTNING 4 ISLANDERS 1
NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots, and Tampa Bay beat New York 4-1 for the Bolts fourth straight win to inch closer to clinching a playoff spot.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 20th of the season, Victor Hedman also scored and Nick Paul added an empty-netter for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point each added two assists.
Bo Horvat scored a short-handed goal for New York and Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves as the Islanders lost their sixth straight (0-4-2), further diminishing their slim playoff hopes.
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BLUES 2 RED WINGS 1 (OT)
ST. LOUIS (AP) 鈥� Cam Fowler scored with 1:34 remaining in overtime and St. Louis won its 10th straight game, 2-1 over Detroit.
Jordan Kyrou also scored and Jordan Binnington made 20 saves for St. Louis, which moved into a tie with idle Minnesota for the first Western Conference wild-card spot with 88 points. Minnesota holds the tiebreaker with one more regulation and overtime win.
J.T. Compher scored and Cam Talbot made 35 saves for Detroit, which is four points behind Montreal and two points behind Columbus and the New York Rangers in the race for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Fowler scored his ninth goal of the season on a feed from Robert Thomas, who has 11 assists in his last five games.
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UTAH 3 FLAMES 1
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) 鈥� Kevin Stenlund and Barrett Hayton scored for Utah in a 3-1 win over Calgary.
Clayton Keller had an empty-netter and Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots to help Utah get its second straight win.
Rasmus Andersson scored for Calgary and Dustin Wolf finished with 25 saves. The Flames lost for the third time in four games (1-2-1).
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OILERS 3 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) 鈥� Leon Draisaitl added to his NHL-leading goal total by scoring on a 5-on-3 power play to put Edmonton ahead for good, but Vegas clinched a playoff berth despite the loss.
The Golden Knights, who had their season-high six-game winning streak snapped, were assured a playoff spot when the by the Utah Hockey Club.
Edmonton kept its slim hopes alive for the Pacific Division title, pulling to within seven points of the first-place Golden Knights. Both teams have eight games left.
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DUCKS 4 SHARKS 3 (SO)
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) 鈥� Mason McTavish scored the only goal in the shootout, and Anaheim beat San Jose 4-3.
Trevor Zegras and Sam Colangelo each had a goal and an assist, Jackson LaCombe also scored for Anaheim, and McTavish had three assists. Lukas Dostal stopped 28 shots as the Ducks won for the fourth time in six games.
Alexander Wennberg, Shakir Mukhamadullin and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored for San Jose. Alexandar Georgiev finished with 34 saves as the Sharks lost their third straight (0-2-1).
McTavish scored in the third round and Tyler Toffoli鈥檚 attempt went wide right on the Sharks鈥� last try to give the Ducks the win.
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KINGS 4 JETS 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Andrei Kuzmenko, Adrian Kempe and captain Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist in Los Angeles鈥� 4-1 victory over NHL-leading Winnipeg.
Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings, who moved two points ahead of Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division.
Darcy Kuemper made 18 saves as Los Angeles earned its 11th victory in 14 games while dominating this meeting of the NHL鈥檚 top two defensive teams.
Cole Perfetti scored his 17th goal and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 16 shots for the Jets, whose three-game winning streak ended in the opener of a three-game road trip.
The Associated Press
