Philipp Grubauer made 36 saves and the Washington Capitals celebrated star Alex Ovechkin’s 1
Zack Martin Cowboys Jersey ,000th career regular season game by clinching their third straight division title with a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.
Ovechkin was held without a point but it hardly mattered. T.J. Oshie, Dmitry Orlov and Tom Wilson scored for Washington while Grubauer kept the NHL’s best power play in check as the Capitals assured themselves home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the postseason.
The Penguins have the top power play in the league but went 0 for 5 with the man advantage. Patric Hornqvist picked up his 27th of the season late in the third period to avoid a shutout. Matt Murray stopped 31 shots but couldn’t quite match Grubauer.
A night after earning a playoff berth for a franchise-record 12th straight year, Pittsburgh lost at home in regulation for just the second time since Jan. 4.
Ovechkin downplayed his milestone game beforehand, half-jokingly saying it didn’t matter much. The 32-year-old knows his career has been equally defined by his 603 goals and his team’s inability to make a deep playoff run.
The Capitals have won 10 of 12 to create some breathing space in the cramped and crowded Metropolitan
DEVILS 2, CANADIENS 1
MONTREAL (AP) – Taylor Hall scored a short-handed goal late in the third period to lift New Jersey.
Nico Hischier tied the score early in the third and Keith Kinkaid stopped 25 shots in his sixth consecutive start for the Devils. New Jersey increased its lead to seven points on Florida for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Devils, vying for their first trip to the postseason since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, have three games remaining – two fewer than the Panthers.
Daniel Carr scored for the Canadiens, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention. Carey Price finished with 30 saves while playing his 556th game with Montreal, pulling into a tie with Jacques Plante for most games by a goaltender in franchise history.
PREDATORS 4, LIGHTNING 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Filip Forsbeg had two goals and an assist to lead the Nashville pastTampa Bay.
Forsberg returned to the Predators‘ lineup after being held out of Saturday’s loss to Buffalo for maintenance. Craig Smith and Ryan Johansen also scored to help Nashville move closer to clinching the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record. Juuse Saros finished with 29 saves.
Tampa Bay, which went 0 for 5 on the power play
Shaquem Griffin Jersey , played the final two periods without captain Steven Stamkos, who left the game with an undisclosed lower-body injury.
Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves while lost his third consecutive game.
The Lightning fell to 5-6-0 in the past 11 games and sit two points behind Boston for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
FLYERS 4, BRUINS 3, OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Claude Giroux scored his second goal with 1:21 left in overtime and Philadelphia Flyers recovered from blowing a late lead to inch closer to returning to the playoffs after a one-year absence.
Travis Konecny added a dazzling goal and an assist, Nolan Patrick also scored and Petr Mrazek made 36 saves for the Flyers. Philadelphia who opened an eight-point lead over idle Florida, the last team that can overtake it for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference – the Flyers have three games left and the Panthers five.
Patrice Bergeron tied it with 3.8 seconds left in regulation for the Bruins. With the goaltender pulled, Bergeron got his 30th goal on feed from Brad Marchand after the Flyers twice failed to clear the puck.
Noel Acciari and David Pasrnak scored and Anton Khudobin stopped 20 shots for the Bruins, who lost Brandon Carlo and Riley Nash to injuries a day earlier.
DUCKS 4, AVALANCHE 3, OT
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Ondrej Kase scored 1:34 into overtime to cap Anaheim’s comeback from a two-goal deficit.
Andrew Cogliano had a goal and an assist
Authentic Evander Kane Jersey , and Adam Henrique and Ryan Kesler also scored for the Ducks, who moved into third place in the Pacific Division. Anaheim is one point ahead of Los Angeles with three games remaining for both teams.
Kase was looking to shoot all the way on a 2-on-1 break and won it by going to the short side over Jonathan Bernier’s right shoulder.
Ryan Miller made 19 saves after replacing John Gibson at the start of the second period, helping the Ducks to their fifth straight home win. Gibson, who made 10 saves before departing, appeared to be shaken up late in the first when Gabriel Landeskog was cross-checked by Kesler into the goalie, who was being evaluated for an undisclosed injury.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals will try to build off an historic win when they host the Miami Marlins on Friday night.
Washington fell behind Miami 9-0 in the top of the fourth inning Thursday night but rallied for an improbable 14-12 victory, snapping a five-game losing streak one night after a players-only meeting.
The win marked the largest comeback in Nationals’ history (2005-present) and tied the Montreal/Washington franchise mark.
“This is what this team’s capable of,” Matt Adams, who went 4-for-5 in his return from a fractured index finger, told MASN.com. “Tonight, we never gave up. We got down big, and we just started chipping away. Put together some good ABs
Billy Price Jersey , pitchers started getting outs, and things just kind of fell in sync for us.”
Shortstop Trea Turner hit a grand slam, a solo homer, and finished with eight RBIs while raising his average to .280. He tied the MLB record for RBIs as a a leadoff hitter as the Nationals improved to 43-43 with their 12th straight defeat of the Marlins.
“Trea had an unbelievable day, so good for him,” manager Davey Martinez told MASN.com. “I’ve said this before, but for me, he’s an All-Star.”
The Marlins (36-53) got home runs from Brian Anderson, Justin Bour and Martin Prado, who was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, as they matched a record of their own — the largest blown lead in team history — after jumping on Nationals starter Jeremy Hellickson.
“We didn’t help ourselves,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly told the Miami Herald. “We played good defense. We didn’t make an error all night
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Anderson’s three-run homer pulled Miami within 14-12 in the eighth inning.
Rookie Pablo Lopez got a no-decision despite receiving nine runs of run support in his second career start. He tossed five innings and allowed five earned runs on five hits while striking out three and walking two.
“I didn’t have my best secondary stuff and they just started putting good swings on my fastball,” Lopez told the Herald. “Hitters make adjustments and I have to make mine trying to spin my breaking ball better and locate my changeup.”
Left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-5, 3.77) tries to turn Thursday’s win into a mini streak for Washington on Friday night. The Nationals have lost his last four starts with Gonzalez allowing 16 runs in 16 innings, though one start was shortened by a rain delay. He is winless in his last six outings.
In his last start, Gonzalez cruised through four innings of a no-decision against the Phillies before coming apart in the fifth, allowing three runs to tie the game in a 40-pitch fifth inning that included three walks.
“He fell behind that inning, and that’s what happens,” Martinez told the Washington Post. “When he falls behind and walks guys, bad things happen.”
Gonzalez is 10-3 with a 1.85 ERA in 16 starts versus Miami.
Marlins right-hander Dan Straily (3-4, 4.70) has allowed three or more earned runs in each of his last five starts. In a loss to the Mets on Sunday, he gave up three runs on five hits over seven innings.
Straily is 0-1 with a 4.03 ERA in five starts against the Nationals.
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