Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett will miss the final five games of the regular season with an upper-body injury but is expected to be ready for the start of the playoffs.

• Panthers coach Paul Maurice updated the veteran's status prior to the club's Tuesday home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The defending Stanley Cup champions play their final game of the regular season on April 15.

  Bennett, 28, last played Saturday in a 3-0 road loss to the Ottawa Senators. He was not on the ice for Sunday's 2-1 road setback to the Detroit Red Wings, which extended an 0-4-1 stretch for the Panthers.

  Bennett has a career-high 50 points (25 goals, career-high 25 assists) and 88 penalty minutes through 74 games this season.

  He has 335 points (162 goals, 173 assists) in 689 career games with the Calgary Flames (2014-21) and Panthers. The Flames drafted him with the No. 4 overall pick in 2014.

  --Field Level Media

Alex Iafallo broke a tie in the third period and the host Winnipeg Jets snapped the St. Louis Blues' franchise-record 12-game winning streak with a 3-1 decision on Monday.

• Morgan Barron and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets, who have the NHL's best record and have won five of their past seven. Connor Hellebuyck made 14 saves.

  Pavel Buchnevich produced the lone goal for the Blues and Joel Hofer stopped 23 shots. St. Louis holds the top spot in the Western Conference wild-card race by two points over the idle Minnesota Wild.

  Iafallo gave the Jets a 2-1 lead 7:05 into the third period when he put in the rebound of a shot by Kyle Connor. Lowry added an empty-net goal with nine seconds left.

  Lightning 5, Rangers 1

  Tampa Bay scored three goals in a 1:45 span in the first period and never looked back, cruising past host New York.

  Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point scored two of the goals on the power play -- part of three-point showings for both -- while Yanni Gourde tallied the middle goal of the flurry. The Lightning, who got 38 saves from Andrei Vasilevskiy, moved within two points of the idle Toronto Maple Leafs for the Atlantic Division lead.

  Mika Zibanejad scored a power-play goal for the Rangers, who are six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot. New York's Igor Shesterkin allowed four goals on 22 shots.

  Kraken 2, Kings 1

  Joey Daccord stopped 28 of 29 shots to lead visiting Seattle past Los Angeles for its third consecutive win.

  Matty Beniers and Brandon Montour scored goals for the Kraken. Daccord was aided by 30 blocked shots from his teammates.

  Quinton Byfield scored a goal for the Kings, who had a four-game win streak snapped. Darcy Kuemper finished with 26 saves. He extended his streak of allowing two goals or fewer to 14 games, tied for the second-longest since 1967-68 behind Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff's 16-gamer in 2003-04.

  Flames 3, Sharks 2

  Calgary used a three-goal, third-period comeback to keep its playoff hopes alive with a victory at San Jose.

  Adam Klapka, Jonathan Huberdeau and Matt Coronato all scored in the final frame for the Flames, who are 3-1-1 in their past five. Dustin Wolf made 29 saves.

  Will Smith scored both goals for the Sharks, who have lost six in a row. With his two assists, Macklin Celebrini set a franchise record for helpers by a rookie with 36. Georgi Romanov stopped 29 shots but was unable to earn his first NHL victory.

  Ducks 3, Oilers 2

  Mason McTavish scored the game-winner and Lukas Dostal tied his season high with 45 saves as Anaheim edged visiting Edmonton.

  Cutter Gauthier scored twice for the Ducks, who avoided a third straight loss.

  Adam Henrique had a goal and an assist and Jeff Skinner also tallied for the Oilers, who have lost back-to-back games. Olivier Rodrigue, in his first NHL start, stopped 18 shots in the loss.

  --Field Level Media

Meredith Gaudreau, widow of late NHL player Johnny Gaudreau, announced the arrival of the couple's third child.

• Carter Michael Gaudreau was born on April 1, seven months after Johnny and his brother, Matthew, suffered fatal injuries when they were struck while cycling by a suspected drunk driver.

  "I had our third baby! 4/1/25," Meredith posted Monday on Instagram, noting that the child has the same middle name and the "exact same" size and birthweight at 8 pounds, 3 ounces and 20.5 inches, as his father.

  "He looks exactly like his daddy too," she wrote alongside photos of her and the baby and their two other children, daughter Noa and son Johnny.

  "I love you so much my baby! We are going to have so much fun. I can't wait to give you the best life, my special boy forever."

  Meredith Gaudreau announced her pregnancy at her husband's memorial service on Sept. 9. The Gaudreau brothers were killed on Aug. 29 in Oldmans Township, N.J., where they had traveled to attend their sister Katie's wedding scheduled for the following day. Johnny was 31 and Matthew was 29.

  Johnny Gaudreau was a seven-time NHL All-Star who played 11 seasons, the first nine with the Calgary Flames and the last two with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He tallied 743 points (243 goals, 500 assists) in 763 games.

  --Field Level Media

Despite Alexander Ovechkin scoring career goal No. 895 to surpass Wayne Gretzky and become the all-time goals leader in NHL history, the New York Islanders came away with the 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday in Elmont, N.Y.

• Marc Gatcomb collected the first two-goal game of his career while Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for the Islanders, who won their second straight game.

  Goalie Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 of 29 shots -- all but Ovechkin's -- for New York, which sits five points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

  With the Islanders' Casey Cizikas off for tripping seven minutes into the second period, Ovechkin, skating up along the left side of the ice, took a pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a wrist shot from the faceoff circle that sailed past Sorokin's blocker.

  Wild 3, Stars 2 (OT)

  Marco Rossi's power-play goal 58 seconds into overtime gave Minnesota a come-from-behind win over Dallas in Saint Paul, Minn.

  Matthew Boldy had a goal and two assists, Rossi added an assist and Marcus Foligno also scored for the Wild, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots.

  Jason Robertson and defenseman Thomas Harley produced the goals for the Stars, who lost their second in a row following a seven-game winning streak. Jake Oettinger made 38 saves in the loss.

  Red Wings 2, Panthers 1

  Cam Talbot made 32 saves to lead Detroit past visiting Florida, handing the Panthers their fifth straight loss.

  The Red Wings won for the third time in four games and stayed in the hunt for the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, sitting six points behind Montreal.

  Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher scored for the Red Wings, who have won both regular-season meetings so far against the Panthers with one more to go on Thursday.

  Senators 4, Blue Jackets 0

  Linus Ullmark made 30 saves in his fourth shutout of the season and 12th of his career to help Ottawa beat visiting Columbus.

  Nikolas Matinpalo scored his first NHL goal while Adam Gaudette, David Perron and Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators, who have won three in a row and lead the league with 10 shutouts.

  Daniil Tarasov gave up two goals in the first 4:26 before he was replaced by Elvis Merzlikins, who finished with 22 saves for Columbus, which has lost three in a row.

  Blackhawks 3, Penguins 1

  Ilya Mikheyev scored two goals and Frank Nazar also scored to back a 28-save effort from Spencer Knight as host Chicago defeated Pittsburgh to stop a five-game losing streak.

  Chicago navigated a late charge from the Penguins, who tallied their lone goal when Rickard Rakell scored on the power play with 5:24 remaining.

  Pittsburgh was eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoff race with the loss. With the Montreal Canadiens winning later Sunday, the Penguins now trail the Canadiens by 11 points for the final wild-card spot in the East with four games remaining.

  Sabres 6, Bruins 3

  Tage Thompson netted his eighth hat trick as Buffalo rallied from an early two-goal deficit to log a home win over Boston.

  Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie scored in the first period to give the Bruins an early lead before the Sabres scored the final four goals of the game to pick up their fourth straight victory.

  Rasmus Dahlin notched the equalizer late in the second period before Zucker put in the go-ahead goal less than two minutes into the third. Thompson scored twice after that, including an empty-netter, to push Buffalo across the finish line.

  Canadiens 2, Predators 1

  Montreal strengthened its hold on the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot with a win over host Nashville, which is 0-6-0 in its last six.

  Cole Caufield and Patrik Laine scored second-period goals to lead the Canadiens to their fifth consecutive victory and stretch their lead over the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings to six points.

  Montreal has five games remaining in the regular season and the pursuers have six contests on the docket. Steven Stamkos opened the game's scoring for the Predators.

  Golden Knights 3, Canucks 2

  Victor Olofsson scored the go-ahead goal with 3:14 remaining to lead Vegas past host Vancouver.

  William Karlsson set up the game-winner when he carried the puck behind the net and then backhanded a pass to Olofsson alone in the low slot. Olofsson snapped a wrist shot past the glove side of Kevin Lankinen and inside the right post.

  Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy also goals for Vegas, which increased its Pacific Division lead to five points over second-place Los Angeles. Adin Hill made 19 saves. Nils Hoglander and Aatu Raty scored for Vancouver, which fell eight points behind Minnesota for the final wild-card spot in the West. Lankinen finished with 32 saves.

  --Field Level Media

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Marc Gatcomb outscored Alex Ovechkin on Sunday.

• "Probably going to be the last time I'll be able to say that," Gatcomb, the New York Islanders rookie center, said after his first career two-goal game.

  After Sunday, no one may ever be able to say it again.

  Ovechkin snapped a tie with Wayne Gretzky for the most goals scored in NHL history Sunday afternoon, when the Washington Capitals left winger scored a power play goal with 12:34 left in the second period of a 4-1 loss to the Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.

  The goal was the 895th of Ovechkin's career, breaking the record held by Gretzky since 1994.

  "I still can't believe it," Ovechkin said at a press conference afterward. "It was so emotional. It was such a great night. This is something crazy. I'm probably going to need a couple more days, maybe a couple weeks, to realize what it does mean to be number one."

  The milestone goal capped an impressive sprint to the record by Ovechkin, who turned 39 in September but has 42 goals this season despite missing almost six weeks with a broken leg. He has at least one goal in 24 of his last 43 games, including each of the last four.

  "At 39 years old, to be scoring at a clip that he is, almost as high as he's ever scored, even at 25, 27, 28 -- broken leg, all the stuff, it's unbelievable," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said as he shook his head.

  Oveckin's historic goal likely began a lengthy tenure atop the all-time list. Sidney Crosby, who is 37 years old and entered the league with Ovechkin in 2005, ranks second behind Ovechkin among active players with 622 goals entering Sunday.

  Only five 20-somethings -- Leon Draisaitl (399 goals), Auston Matthews (398 goals), David Pastrnak (388 goals), Nathan MacKinnon (367 goals) and Connor McDavid (361 goals) -- are within 50 goals of reaching the 400-goal milestone.

  "I mean, it's insane when you put into perspective how many goals that is and how many little games he's done it in," Gatcomb said. "He's the greatest goal-scorer ever. That shot today was just textbook. So it's awesome to see and it's cool to be a part of."

  Ovechkin completed his pursuit of Gretzky in doubly appropriate fashion by scoring the record-breaker in his 1,487th game -- the same number of NHL games played by Gretzky -- and doing so with his 325th power play goal, adding to his NHL record.

  The sellout crowd of 17,255 -- featuring thousands adorned in Capitals uniforms -- buzzed as Ovechkin hit the ice after the Islanders' Casey Cizikas was whistled for tripping seven minutes into the second.

  A TV timeout allowed the anticipation to build before Ovechkin, skating up along the left side of the ice, took a pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a slap shot from the faceoff circle that sailed over Sorokin's stick shoulder.

  "I don't even know how it went in -- I don't know how it got through all the different bodies and the screen," Carberry said. "I saw it right behind the puck and it finds a way through and beats him short side. It's the ultimate goal-scorer's goal for the greatest of all-time."

  The goal unleashed a 20-minute celebration that began with Ovechkin raising his arms and skating a few steps before he belly-flopped on the ice as the crowd roared. John Carlson was the first teammate to reach Ovechkin, who was mobbed at center ice before the momentum of the celebration carried everyone to the boards along the right side of the ice.

  The scoreboard displayed a graphic reading "895 NHL ALL-TIME GOALS LEADER ALEX OVECHKIN." A montage of Ovechkin's earlier milestone goals aired as a blue carpet was rolled on to the ice next to a commemorative painting of Ovechkin showing him raising the Stanley Cup in 2018.

  "They say records are made to be broken," Gretzky said during an on-ice ceremony. "But I'm not sure who's going to get more goals than that."

  The scoreboard tribute ended with messages from his wife Anastasia, their two children and Ovechkin's mother Tatyana, all of whom joined him at center ice with teammates as well as Gretzky -- who wore a No. 9 pin in honor of Gordie Howe, whose goal-scoring record he broke -- and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

  "We have all witnessed history," Bettman said.

  The Islanders remained on the ice and tapped their sticks before Ovechkin exchanged handshakes with the skaters and hugged goalie Ilya Sorokin. After the game, Sorokin -- a native of Russia like Ovechkin -- presented Ovechkin with the stick he used Sunday. Ovechkin later hugged New York coach Patrick Roy, the former all-time NHL wins leader.

  After Bettman and Gretzky spoke, Gretzky and his wife Janet Jones presented Ovechkin's wife with a gift -- just as Howe's wife presented Jones with a gift when Gretzky surpassed Howe.

  Ovechkin hugged and kissed the members of his family before taking a mic adorned with an "895" microphone cube. Later, the scoreboard aired a video of fellow superstars -- including all-time NBA scoring leader LeBron James, 23-time gold medal-winning swimmer Michael Phelps and eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer -- offering their congratulations.

  "What a day, huh?" Ovechkin said on the ice.

  Ovechkin still seemed overwhelmed afterward.

  "I'm very proud of myself, I'm very proud for my family, for all my teammates that helped me to reach that milestone and to all my coaches," Ovechkin said with a tired grin. "It's huge. Unbelievable. Unbelievable moment."

  --Jerry Beach, Field Level Media

Washington Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury, head coach Spencer Carbery announced Sunday.

• Protas sustained the injury when a skate cut into his foot during the third period of the Capitals' 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Friday. He has been ruled out of Washington's game against the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y., on Sunday.

  The 24-year-old Belarus native has recorded career-high totals in goals (30), assists (36) and points (66) in addition to his team-best plus-40 rating.

  Protas has totaled 119 points (43 goals, 76 assists) in 245 career games since Washington selected him in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft.

  --Field Level Media

Robert Thomas had a goal and three assists as the St. Louis Blues edged the visiting Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Saturday night for their team-record 12th straight victory.

• Zack Bolduc scored twice for the Blues, who improved to 19-2-2 in their last 23 games. Jake Neighbours and Pavel Buchnevich also scored, Cam Fowler had three assists and Jordan Binnington made 35 saves.

  St. Louis holds the top spot in the Western Conference wild-card chase, four points ahead of the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota has a game in hand on St. Louis.

  Ross Colton, Miles Wood, Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Malinski scored for the Avalanche, who suffered just their second regulation loss in their last nine games (6-2-1). Mackenzie Blackwood made 17 saves.

  Golden Knights 3, Flames 2 (OT)

  Reilly Smith's second goal of the night was the overtime winner to lift visiting Vegas over Calgary.

  Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for the Golden Knights, who snapped a two-game skid and have a three-point lead on the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division. Vegas clinched a playoff spot as well. Goaltender Akira Schmid made 21 saves in his first start of the season, and Shea Theodore collected three assists.

  Joel Hanley and Matt Coronato scored for the Flames, who erased a two-goal deficit to gain a valuable point. Goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 31 shots in another strong performance. The Flames are four points back of the Minnesota Wild for the Western Conference's second wild-card spot with six games remaining. Calgary has one game in hand on the Wild.

  Kings 3, Oilers 0

  Host Los Angeles Kings increased its chances of securing home-ice advantage in the playoffs after blanking undermanned Edmonton.

  Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves to earn his fifth shutout of the season as the Kings moved four points ahead of the Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division. Los Angeles is within three points of the first-place Vegas Golden Knights, who defeated the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.

  Kevin Fiala, Andrei Kuzmenko and Trevor Lewis scored for Los Angeles, while Calvin Pickard stopped 26 shots for the Oilers, who were without superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

  Devils 4, Rangers 0

  Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt scored on special teams 87 seconds apart in the second period as New Jersey beat New York in Newark, N.J.

  Meier's power-play goal and Bratt's short-handed marker gave the Devils their third win over the Rangers in four matchups this season. Meier added his second goal of the contest with 4:59 remaining to effectively seal matters for the Devils. Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves, including four on New York's first power play in the second period shortly before New Jersey went ahead.

  New York was denied its first three-game winning streak since Nov. 14-19. The Rangers failed to win three straight for the eighth time since mid-November, and their path to the postseason has become murkier, as they trail the Montreal Canadiens by four points for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

  Penguins 5, Stars 3

  Sidney Crosby posted his 14th career hat trick as Pittsburgh rallied with a four-goal third period to defeat Dallas on the road.

  Crosby's second goal of the game evened things up 2-2 just 20 seconds into the third. After the Stars' Evgenii Dadonov netted a score less than three minutes later, Bryan Rust and Blake Lizotte scored to push the Penguins in front. Crosby tallied an empty-netter soon after to ice the win.

  Dadonov finished with a hat trick of his own, the second of his career. His first also came against Pittsburgh in 2018.

  Sabres 3, Lightning 2 (SO)

  Tage Thompson scored his 40th goal and James Reimer made 22 saves and stopped both shootout attempts to lead host Buffalo past Tampa Bay for its third straight win.

  Jason Zucker also scored for Buffalo, which extended its home win streak to five games. Jack Quinn and Alex Tuch each scored in the shootout to give the Sabres their sixth win in the last seven games.

  Brayden Point and Gage Goncalves scored for Tampa Bay, which increased its second-place lead in the Atlantic Division to two points over the Florida Panthers. Ex-Sabre Jonas Johansson made 36 saves for the Lightning, who clinched a playoff spot for the eighth consecutive season earlier Saturday when the New York Rangers lost 4-0 to the New Jersey Devils.

  Senators 3, Panthers 0

  Anton Forsberg made 40 saves for his third shutout of the season and eighth of his career as host Ottawa defeated Florida.

  Defenseman Jake Sanderson had a goal and an assist and Drake Batherson and Matthew Highmore also scored for the Senators, who won their second straight and lead the Eastern Conference wild-card race. Ottawa led 2-0 after the first period and is 32-6 when they score the first goal.

  Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots for the Panthers, who have lost four in a row (0-3-1) and are two points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division. Florida's Aleksander Barkov missed his second game and also won't play Sunday at the Detroit Red Wings. Panthers coach Paul Maurice remains fourth all-time among coaches with 913 wins. He is one shy of tying Barry Trotz for third place.

  Canucks 6, Ducks 2

  Brock Boeser had a goal and an assist as Vancouver scored five straight goals to erase an early deficit to visiting Anaheim.

  Elias N. Pettersson scored his first NHL goal, Filip Hronek, Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua and Max Sasson also scored, Quinn Hughes had two assists and Thatcher Demko made 30 saves for the Canucks, who ended a three-game skid (0-2-1). Vancouver is six points back of the second Western Conference wild-card spot.

  Troy Terry and Trevor Zegras scored and Lukas Dostal made 20 saves for the Ducks, who have dropped three of four.

  Bruins 5, Hurricanes 1

  David Pastrnak recorded a hat trick and season-high five points as Boston ended its 10-game losing streak with an emphatic win over visiting Carolina.

  Pastrnak had points in each period, reaching the 40-goal and 90-point plateaus on the night. Pastrnak, Geekie (one goal, three assists) and linemate Elias Lindholm (one goal, one assist) combined for 11 of Boston's 13 points.

  Jeremy Swayman made 14 of his 39 stops in the middle frame to help the Bruins to their first win since March 11. Carolina broke Swayman's shutout bid when Justin Robidas scored his first NHL goal with 54.2 seconds left in the third. Frederik Andersen stopped 21 shots for the Hurricanes.

  Maple Leafs 5, Blue Jackets 0

  Nicholas Robertson and William Nylander each scored twice, Anthony Stolarz earned his 10th career shutout and Toronto Maple defeated visiting Columbus.

  Stolarz made 27 saves to earn his second shutout of the season as the Maple Leafs tightened their grip on first place in the Atlantic Division. They lead the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning by four points. Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto, and Morgan Rielly added two assists.

  Elvis Merzlikins stopped 22 shots for Columbus. The Blue Jackets trail the Montreal Canadiens by six points for the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.

  Canadiens 3, Flyers 2

  Nick Suzuki scored and added an assist as Montreal erased a third-period deficit to edge the visiting Philadelphia.

  The victory, coupled with the New York Rangers' loss earlier Saturday, gave the Canadiens a four-point advantage toward the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot. Brendan Gallagher and Lane Hutson also scored for Montreal, and Sam Montembeault made 21 saves.

  Ryan Poehling had a goal and an assist and Tyson Foerster also scored for Philadelphia, which had its three-game win streak snapped. Samuel Ersson stopped 23 shots.

  Utah 4, Jets 1

  Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton and Kevin Stenlund each had a goal and an assist as the Utah Hockey Club defeated visiting Winnipeg.

  Nick Bjugstad also scored for Utah, while Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino, and Olli Maatta provided assists. Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka made 32 saves.

  In the net for Winnipeg, Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots.

  Kraken 5, Sharks 1

  Jared McCann scored two goals and added an assist as Seattle defeated host San Jose.

  Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist and Chandler Stephenson and Jaden Schwartz also tallied for the Kraken, who have won their past two games by a combined score of 10-1. Goaltender Joey Daccord made 23 saves.

  Rookie Will Smith scored for the Sharks, who are winless in their past five games (0-4-1) and remained last in the NHL's overall standings. Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 11 shots before being pulled at 11:36 of the second period. Georgi Romanov stopped 10 of 11 shots the rest of the way.

  --Field Level Media

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has finally caught up to Wayne Gretzky, tying him for the most goals scored in an NHL career.

• While they each have 894 goals, the eras in which they played were far from equal.

  Ovechkin tied Gretzky's 31-year-old record by scoring twice in a 5-3 win against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

  The 39-year-old Russian scored 3:52 into the game on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a feed from behind the net, and tied the record at 6:13 of the third with his patented one-timer from the left circle while on a power play.

  Gretzky will be back in attendance on Sunday afternoon when Ovechkin goes for No. 895 against the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.

  "He's been supportive all the time to me," Ovechkin said. "It's a fun time right now. We'll see what's going to happen, but right now it's all attention to a hockey game. It's a pretty cool moment."

  Gretzky had held the record since surpassing Gordie Howe's previous mark of 801 goals while playing for the Los Angeles Kings on March 23, 1994.

  "It's really been a wonderful journey for everyone," said Gretzky, who went on to play five more seasons after breaking Howe's record. "It's great for hockey. I'm so happy for the league. I'm so proud of Alex. ... Great for the people in Washington and hockey fans all over the world."

  The paths Ovechkin and Gretzky took to 894 were both long and varied.

  Gretzky became the NHL's all-time goals leader while also serving as the league's premier playmaker. He totaled more than twice as many assists (1,963) as goals during his 20-year career.

  Ovechkin, on the other hand, has been a prototypical goal scorer ever since notching a pair in his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005, less than a month after his 20th birthday.

  He has 724 assists in his career, producing more assists than goals only five times in his 20 seasons, most recently in 2023-24, when he totaled 31 goals and 34 assists.

  Ovechkin's blistering one-timer has also made him one of the league's biggest threats on the power play throughout his career.

  Ovechkin has an NHL-record 324 power-play goals, more than a third of his goal total.

  Gretzky amassed 204 power-play goals in his career, which is 18th on the NHL's all-time list, but he holds the NHL record with 686 assists with the man-advantage.

  Gretzky also didn't have the benefit of playing 4-on-4 or 3-on-3 overtime during his career, thus he only tallied two overtime goals, compared to 27 for Ovechkin, which is another NHL record.

  Overtime was added prior to Gretzky's fifth season in the league in 1983-84 and remained 5-on-5 until it was changed to 4-on-4 in the 1999-2000 season, one season after Gretzky retired.

  Ovechkin joined the NHL the first season the shootout was added after five minutes of overtime, which was later changed to 3-on-3 prior to the 2015-16 season.

  Ovechkin had an opportunity to break Gretzky's record when Chicago pulled its goalie in the waning minutes on Friday, but Ovechkin opted to stay on the bench.

  "I said, 'Let's wait,'" Ovechkin said.

  Ovechkin has taken advantage of previous opportunities to shoot into an unguarded net. Eight of his 41 goals this season have been scored into an unoccupied net, and he owns an NHL record 65 empty-netters for his career.

  Gretzky took advantage of empty nets in his career as well, scoring 56, which is second most in NHL history.

  There's no doubt that today's rules have also made it easier for speedy players to weave from zone to zone, something Gretzky was not always afforded.

  One particular rule that was set aside just as Ovechkin's career was starting in an effort to open up the ice for more scoring was the elimination of a stoppage for a two-line pass.

  Previously, teams were not permitted to pass the puck over both their blue line and the red line, preventing long stretch passes.

  One of Ovechkin's favorite hangouts is along the wall at the opponent's blue line, where he waits for stretch passes to spring him loose.

  The goalies who tried to stop Gretzky and Ovechkin have also gone through a makeover.

  Netminders today are bigger and more technically sound than during Gretzky's era, and their equipment also fills up more of the cage.

  Ovechkin will try to break Gretzky's record against one of the best goalies in the NHL, five-time All Star Ilya Sorokin.

  Gretzky will be ready to congratulate Ovechkin if he does.

  "When I broke Gordie's record my dad told me that same night, 'Be as proud of the guy that breaks your record,' " Gretzky said. "When I was breaking Gordie Howe's record, he was there. And I said two years ago that if Alex gets close to my record, I'll be here."

  --Dan Arritt, Field Level Media

Nashville Predators head coach Andrew Brunette is away from the team while addressing personal matters.

• Assistant coach Todd Richards led the team's on-ice activities during Saturday's practice.

  The Tennessean reported Richards would handle the head coaching responsibilities on Sunday should Brunette be unable to attend Nashville's home game against the Montreal Canadiens.

  Brunette, 51, has guided the Predators to a 27-41-8 record this season.

  A finalist for the 2024 Jack Adams Award, Brunette owns a 125-89-19 coaching record with the Florida Panthers (2021-22) and Predators.

  --Field Level Media

Alex Ovechkin caught Wayne Gretzky for the all-time NHL goal-scoring record on Friday, with his two-goal performance also lifting the host Washington Capitals to a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

• The pair gives the Capitals captain 894 goals, matching Gretzky's mark. A capacity crowd, including Gretzky and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, was on hand. Ovechkin's second goal came from the left faceoff circle off a pass from John Carlson that beat sliding goalie Spencer Knight to the lower left on a power play at 6:13 of the third period, giving the Capitals a 4-3 lead.

  Dylan Strome scored and assisted on Ovechkin's first goal. Martin Fehervary also scored for Washington, and Ryan Leonard notched his first career goal. Carlson tied his season high with three assists. Charlie Lindgren stopped 19 shots as Washington won for the second time in three games.

  Frank Nazar finished with a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks. Philipp Kurashev and Tyler Bertuzzi also scored. Oliver Moore earned his first NHL points with a pair of assists, and Landon Slaggert posted two as well. Knight made 25 saves but could not keep Chicago from its fifth straight defeat.

  Red Wings 5, Hurricanes 3

  Alex DeBrincat had a goal and an assist to lead Detroit to a win over visiting Carolina.

  Ben Chiarot, Marco Kasper, Patrick Kane and Michael Rasmussen also scored for Detroit. Dylan Larkin logged two assists, and Cam Talbot made 30 saves. The Red Wings moved within four points of the Montreal Canadiens for the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot and snapped a six-game losing streak against the Hurricanes.

  Carolina got goals from Jackson Blake, Eric Robinson and Brent Burns but lost for just the third time in 15 games. Jaccob Slavin notched two assists while Pyotr Kochetkov turned aside 16 shots.

  Islanders 3, Wild 1

  Defenseman Noah Dobson had a goal and an assist to lead New York to a win over Minnesota in Elmont, N.Y.

  Casey Cizikas and Simon Holmstrom also scored for the Islanders, who snapped a six-game losing streak (0-4-2). Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves.

  Mats Zuccarello provided the offense for the Wild, who lost their fourth in a row (0-2-2). Filip Gustavsson stopped 24 shots.

  --Field Level Media

Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky for the NHL's all-time scoring mark Friday night when the Washington forward netted his second goal of the game in the Capitals' 5-3 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.

• Ovechkin scored the historic goal with 13:47 left in regulation to give the Capitals a 4-3 lead. The power-play tally came from the left faceoff circle. The capacity crowd at Capital One Arena gave him a standing ovation that lasted a couple of minutes as he and his teammates celebrated.

  Ovechkin's teammates later mobbed him as the horn sounded to end the game. Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno led his team to congratulate the Capitals legend before heading off the ice.

  Ovechkin also skated around the ice and pounded his chest as he looked out at the fans.

  "It means a lot," he said on the team's postgame show. "Right now, I'm so emotional. You never (think) you can reach that milestone."

  Ovechkin scored his first goal with 16:08 remaining in the first period, blasting a shot from just inside the right faceoff circle that beat Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight in the upper left corner. That goal, his 40th this season, extended his record of 40-goal seasons to 14. Gretzky is second with 12.

  Ovechkin remains an elite scorer in the league even at 39 years old. Only two players (Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl with 52 and Toronto's William Nylander with 42) entered Friday with 40 or more goals this season. Ovechkin also has played in just 60 games this season, having missed 16 contests in November and December due to a broken leg.

  Ovechkin has a history of reaching historic milestones against the Blackhawks. On Dec. 13, 2022, his hat trick in Chicago gave him 800 goals, making him only the third NHL player to reach that plateau.

  Gretzky, considered the greatest hockey player of all time, held the record for 31 years since scoring his 802nd goal, breaking Gordie Howe's mark, against the Vancouver Canucks on March 23, 1994. In 20 NHL seasons, Gretzky needed 1,487 games to tally 894 goals. Ovechkin matched the Great One in the 1,486th game of his career.

  Gretzky and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended the Friday game in Washington. They will travel along with the team until the Capitals icon breaks the record.

  --Field Level Media

Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov will miss the team's four-game road trip with an undisclosed injury.

• Head coach Rod Brind'Amour said Friday that Svechnikov's absence is for precautionary reasons.

  Svechnikov, 25, missed seven games last month with an upper-body injury.

  He ranks fourth on the team with 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists) in 66 games this season.

  The Hurricanes (46-24-4, 96 points) already have clinched a playoff berth entering the road trip that begins Friday night in Detroit before heading to Boston, Buffalo and Washington.

  Svechnikov's earliest return would be an April 12 home date against the New York Rangers. The regular season ends on April 17 for the Hurricanes.

  --Field Level Media

Robert Thomas' power-play goal 2:12 into overtime helped the host St. Louis Blues tie a franchise record with their 11th straight victory, 5-4 over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

• Thomas added an assist for the Blues. Jake Neighbours collected two goals, and Jordan Kyrou scored a goal and assisted on the game-winner. Joel Hofer made 24 saves to earn his fifth straight victory.

  Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and Rutger McGroarty all tallied a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who have lost four of their last five (1-2-2).

  Connor Dewar also scored for Pittsburgh, which got the tying goal from McGroarty (his first in the NHL) with 25 seconds left in regulation. Sidney Crosby notched his 55th assist of the season to earn a point for the 11th straight game. Tristan Jarry stopped 14 shots.

  Flames 4, Ducks 1

  Blake Coleman scored a pair of special-teams goals to lead host Calgary to an important victory over Anaheim.

  Nazem Kadri and Kevin Rooney also scored for the Flames, who helped their playoff hopes. Calgary's Yegor Sharangovich collected a pair of assists, and Dustin Wolf made 26 saves. The Flames are five points behind the Wild for the Western Conference's second wild-card spot. Calgary has seven games remaining, and Minnesota has six games to go.

  Olen Zellweger tallied for the Ducks, who were officially eliminated from postseason contention. John Gibson left the game after two periods due to a lower-body injury, having stopped 23 of 26 shots he faced. Lukas Dostal turned aside 7 of 8 shots in relief.

  Oilers 3, Sharks 2

  Jeff Skinner scored the deciding goal and added an assist as Edmonton beat host San Jose.

  Connor Brown and Viktor Arvidsson also tallied for the Oilers, who won their third straight game. Defenseman Evan Bouchard had two assists, and Calvin Pickard made 27 saves. NHL goal-scoring leader Leon Draisaitl left in the middle of the second period with an undisclosed injury.

  Jack Thompson and Tyler Toffoli produced the goals for the Sharks, who lost their fourth game in a row (0-3-1). Mario Ferraro had two assists, and Georgi Romanov stopped 35 shots in an emergency start.

  Stars 5, Predators 1

  Dallas scored four times in the third period to extend its winning streak to seven games with a victory against visiting Nashville.

  Mason Marchment had a goal and an assist, and Jason Robertson, Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen each had two assists for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 28 saves. Dallas captain Jamie Benn sat out due to a lower-body injury, ending his consecutive-games streak at 371.

  Steven Stamkos scored, and Justus Annunen stopped 22 shots for the Predators, who have lost five straight.

  Canadiens 4, Bruins 1

  Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki each registered a goal and an assist as Montreal beat Boston.

  Montreal never looked back after taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Christian Dvorak and Cole Caufield in the second period. Sam Montembeault made eight of his 18 saves in the third period for the Canadiens, who are on a three-game winning streak and earned just their second victory in their past 17 games against the Bruins.

  Elias Lindholm scored and Jeremy Swayman stopped 28 shots for Boston, which is winless in its past 10 games (0-9-1).

  Avalanche 7, Blue Jackets 3

  Colorado got goals from seven players as it clinched a playoff berth with a dominating win at Columbus.

  Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews, Cale Makar and Charlie Coyle each scored a goal and added two assists for the Avalanche, who have points in 16 of their last 18 (14-2-2). Miles Wood added a goal and an assist, while Brock Nelson and Parker Kelly also scored for Colorado. Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves.

  Sean Monahan, Zach Aston-Reese and Boone Jenner scored for the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins allowed seven goals on 28 shots, and Daniil Tarasov stopped four shots in relief.

  Jets 4, Golden Knights 0

  Backup goaltender Eric Comrie turned away 26 shots for his second shutout of the season and Winnipeg tied a team record with its 52nd victory, blanking Vegas in Las Vegas.

  Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry, Colin Miller and Cole Perfetti scored goals and Nino Niederreiter added two assists for Winnipeg. It marked the third time that the Jets, who lead the NHL in points, have won 52 games in a season -- joining the 2017-18 and 2023-24 teams. Comrie posted the fourth shutout of his career.

  Adin Hill, pulled after two periods for Akira Schmid, recorded 16 saves for the Golden Knights.

  Kings 4, Utah Hockey Club 2

  Kevin Fiala and Trevor Moore scored 44 seconds apart in the third period to help visiting Los Angeles to a win against Utah in Salt Lake City.

  Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist, Adrian Kempe also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves for Los Angeles, which has won three in a row to help hold off the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division.

  Jack McBain had a goal and an assist, Lawson Crouse also scored and Karel Vejmelka stopped 15 shots in his 19th consecutive start for Utah, which had won two in a row.

  Senators 2, Lightning 1

  Defenseman Jake Sanderson hit double figures in goals for the second straight season, and Ottawa bolstered its playoff chances by ousting visiting Tampa Bay.

  Ottawa holds the No. 1 wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and maintained a five-point lead over the No. 2 Montreal Canadiens. The Senators earned a 2-2-0 split in the season series with Tampa Bay. Sanderson tallied on the power play to score for the third time in four games, while Shane Pinto snapped the net for the 17th time. Ridly Greig posted two assists as the club improved to 10-4-1 in the past 15 games.

  Defenseman Artem Zub skated in his 300th game, but the Senators were again without the services of dynamic captain Brady Tkachuk, who missed his second game with an upper-body injury. Brandon Hagel notched his 34th marker for Tampa Bay, which lost for the first time in five games.

  --Field Level Media

St. Louis Blues center Dylan Hollway will miss the remainder of Thursday's home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins after suffering a lower-body injury, the team announced on social media at the start of the second period.

• Holloway, 23, received a check into the corner boards from Penguins forward Rutger McGroarty with 2:51 to go in the first period. He had eight shifts in the opening period, spending 5:22 on the ice. He did not register a shot on goal.

  Holloway has played in all 77 of the Blues' games this season, including Thursday. With 26 goals and 37 assists, he entered the game tied with center Jordan Kyrou for the second-most points on the team, with 63.

  The Calgary native had 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in his last 11 games.

  --Field Level Media

New York Islanders forward Anthony Duclair will be taking time away from the team, head coach Patrick Roy said Thursday.

• The announcement comes two days after Roy told reporters that Duclair was "god-awful" in the Islanders' 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

  Roy addressed the elephant in the room with reporters after Duclair was not present at practice Thursday morning.

  "Obviously you saw that Anthony was not at practice today," Roy said. "This morning, Anthony and I had a very good conversation, a very positive one, and Anthony asked me to take some time off and reflect. So, I obviously agreed to that, and we'll give him all the time that he needs."

  Duclair, 29, was a minus-1 in 12:15 of ice time in Tuesday's loss on home ice.

  "He was god-awful," Roy said of Duclair following the game. "He had a bad game. That's why I didn't play him a lot. He is lucky to be in the lineup. Sorry if I lose it on him right now, but that's just how I feel.

  "He's not skating, he's not competing, he's not moving his feet. He's not playing up to what we expect from him. ... I think it's an effort thing."

  Signed to a four-year, $14 million contract in July, Duclair has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) with a career-worst minus-15 rating in 44 games this season.

  Duclair has totaled 314 points (153 goals, 161 assists) in 607 career games with nine different teams since being selected by the New York Rangers in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft.

  --Field Level Media

Artturi Lehkonen scored the decisive goal in a shootout and Cale Makar had a goal and assist in regulation as the visiting Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.

• Colorado forced overtime with 10.8 seconds left in regulation, as Martin Necas deflected in Cale Makar's shot from inside the right point with play at six-on-five. Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves for the Avalanche.

  Colorado (46-26-4, 96 points) remained in the No. 3 position in the Central Division, six points behind the second-place Dallas Stars and seven points clear of both the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues.

  Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon scored to cap the second round of the shootout, but Teuvo Teravainen answered for Chicago. Lehkonen ended the game moments later by beating Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight.

  Connor Murphy had a goal and assist for the Blackhawks, and Ilya Mikheyev also tallied. Knight stopped 29 shots.

  Rangers 5, Wild 4 (OT)

  Vincent Trocheck capped a back-and-forth game by scoring 24 seconds into overtime for host New York, which moved into a tie for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot by edging Minnesota.

  After the teams combined to collect four game-tying goals in regulation, the Rangers ended overtime quickly after JT Miller won the overtime faceoff with Marco Rossi and immediately headed off the ice in favor of Trocheck, who got a stick on Artemi Panarin's shot before the puck trickled into the net beyond Filip Gustavsson. Panarin, Braden Schneider, K'Andre Miller and Chris Kreider had a goal apiece for the Rangers, who are tied with the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card berth.

  Rossi, Gustav Nyquist, Brock Faber and Marcus Johansson scored for the Wild, who lost their third straight (0-2-1) but still climbed into a tie with the idle St. Louis Blues for the Western Conference first wild-card spot.

  Hurricanes 5, Capitals 1

  Alex Ovechkin scored his 892nd goal to move within three of breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record in Washington's loss to Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.

  Ovechkin scored during a five-on-three power play at 19:25 of the second period to pull the Capitals within 4-1. Jackson Blake scored two goals while Seth Jarvis had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who have won 12 of 14 games and clinched a Stanley Cup playoff berth with the victory.

  Ovechkin has 39 goals in 59 games this season for Washington, which has lost four of five (1-3-1) and was playing the second night of a back-to-back set.

  Maple Leafs 3, Panthers 2

  Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies each tallied a goal and an assist to help beat visiting Florida, allowing Toronto to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs and stretch its lead atop the Atlantic Division.

  John Tavares also found the net for the first-place Maple Leafs, who earned their seventh win over the past nine games (7-1-1). Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves against his former team.

  Sam Reinhart collected a goal and an assist and Gustav Forsling scored for the third-place Panthers, who are one point behind the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 23 shots.

  Kraken 5, Canucks 0

  Andre Burakovsky collected a goal and an assist and goaltender Joey Daccord recorded his second shutout of the season as visiting Seattle blanked Vancouver.

  Michael Eyssimont, Chandler Stephenson, Shane Wright and Adam Larsson also scored for the Kraken, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Jared McCann collected three assists, Vince Dunn posted a pair of helpers and Daccord made 25 saves to post his fifth career shutout.

  The Kraken, who won three of four meetings with the Canucks this season, have already been eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention. The Wednesday result puts Vancouver's hopes in jeopardy. The Canucks, who are winless in three games (0-2-1), sit eight points back of a playoff position with seven games remaining.

  --Field Level Media

Alex Ovechkin scored his 891st career goal to move within four of breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL record, helping the Washington Capitals defeat the host Boston Bruins 4-3 on Tuesday night.

• Washington scored twice in both the first and third periods en route to breaking a three-game skid (0-2-1). Goals from Nic Dowd and Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead. Boston came back to tie before Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson scored in the third.

  David Pastrnak scored twice, Morgan Geekie had two assists and Vinni Lettieri also found the net for Boston, which has lost nine straight (0-8-1).

  With Washington up 1-0, Ovechkin scored on the power play with 4:17 left in the first. John Carlson's initial shot from the high slot took a deflection off the skate of Strome in front and right to Ovechkin, who settled the puck and scored it into an open side of the net.

  Blues 2, Red Wings 1 (OT)

  Defenseman Cam Fowler's goal with 1:33 left in overtime gave host St. Louis its 10th straight victory, a come-from-behind win over Detroit.

  Jordan Kyrou got the other Blues' goal, assisted by Fowler, and Jordan Binnington stopped 20 shots. Binnington was the NHL's Third Star for the month of March after going 8-2-0 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .910 save percentage.

  J.T. Compher scored for the Red Wings, who are struggling to stay alive for an Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot. Cam Talbot made 35 saves.

  Canadiens 3, Panthers 2 (OT)

  Nick Suzuki scored twice, the tying goal with 8.4 seconds left in regulation and the overtime winner, as Montreal edged visiting Florida.

  Suzuki beat Vitek Vanecek with a wraparound 29 seconds into the extra period for his 25th of the season. In the last seconds of the third period, Suzuki, the Canadiens' captain, tapped in a Lane Hutson feed to force overtime.

  Hutson added three assists, giving him 57 on the season, passing Chris Chelios (55, 1984-85 Canadiens) for the second-most assists by a rookie NHL defenseman. Hutson now trails only Larry Murphy (60, 1980-81 Los Angeles Kings). Niko Mikkola and Mackie Samoskevich scored for the Panthers.

  Ducks 4, Sharks 3 (SO)

  Mason McTavish scored the only goal of the shootout and added three assists in regulation as Anaheim edged visiting San Jose.

  Trevor Zegras and Sam Colangelo each had a goal and an assist and Jackson LaCombe scored for Anaheim, which wrapped up a 3-2-0 homestand by completing a three-game season sweep of the Sharks. Lukas Dostal made 28 saves.

  Shakir Mukhamadullin, Alexander Wennberg and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored goals and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 34 shots for the Sharks, who have lost three straight.

  Oilers 3, Golden Knights 2

  Leon Draisaitl scored his league-leading 52nd goal to highlight a three-goal second period for Edmonton, which held on for a win in Las Vegas.

  Jake Walman and Viktor Arvidsson also scored and Evan Bouchard had two assists for the Oilers, who extended their third-place lead in the Pacific Division to nine points over the Calgary Flames. Edmonton's Calvin Pickard stopped 20 of 22 shots.

  Nicolas Roy and Pavel Dorofeyev each scored for Vegas, which had a six-game winning streak snapped. Adin Hill, making his fourth straight start, finished with 17 saves. The Golden Knights officially clinched a playoff spot midgame when Calgary lost in regulation at Utah.

  Sabres 5, Senators 2

  Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist for visiting Buffalo, which completed a season sweep of its four games with Ottawa.

  Mattias Samuelsson had two assists, and James Reimer made 33 saves for the Sabres.

  Claude Giroux and Jake Sanderson tallied for the Senators, who have lost five of their past eight games (3-4-1). Linus Ullmark turned aside 17 shots.

  Lightning 4, Islanders 1

  Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman scored the game-winning and insurance goals in the second period for Tampa Bay during a victory in Elmont, N.Y.

  Oliver Bjorkstrand opened the scoring in the first and Nick Paul added an empty-netter late in the third for the Lightning, who have won four straight. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point had two assists apiece, Guentzel added an assist, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.

  Bo Horvat scored in the first for the Islanders, who lost their sixth straight game (0-4-2). Ilya Sorokin recorded 20 saves.

  Blue Jackets 8, Predators 4

  Kirill Marchenko's third career hat trick and career-best four points sparked a big night for Columbus en route to an easy win over visiting Nashville.

  The three-goal, one-assist night also allowed the Russian forward, 24, to post his first 30-goal season. Marchenko was one of seven players who recorded multiple points for the Blue Jackets, who logged a third win in four games.

  Filip Forsberg, Michael Bunting, Justin Barron and Jordan Oesterle all scored and Luke Evangelista assisted on two for the Predators, who took their fourth consecutive loss.

  Kings 4, Jets 1

  Anze Kopitar, Andrei Kuzmenko and Adrian Kempe each had a goal and an assist as Los Angeles defeated visiting Winnipeg, completing a three-game season sweep.

  Trevor Moore scored the other goal for the Kings, who logged their second victory in a row. Darcy Kuemper stopped 18 of 19 shots.

  Cole Perfetti scored the lone goal for the Jets, whose three-game winning streak ended. Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves.

  Utah Hockey Club 3, Flames 1

  Barrett Hayton's early-second-period goal held up as the winner thanks to stellar goaltending by Karel Vejmelka as Utah held on for a victory over Calgary in Salt Lake City.

  Vejmelka, who made his 18th consecutive start between the pipes, stopped 33 shots. Kevin Stenlund and Clayton Keller also scored for Utah, which has won two straight.

  Rasmus Andersson replied for the Flames, whose playoff hopes took a huge hit. Dustin Wolf stopped 25 shots.

  --Field Level Media

Casey DeSmith made 35 saves to help the visiting Dallas Stars win their sixth game in a row, a 3-1 decision against the Seattle Kraken on Monday night.

• DeSmith, the No. 2 goalie for Dallas behind Jake Oettinger, stretched his point streak to nine games (8-0-1).

  Matt Duchene, Wyatt Johnston and Mikael Granlund scored for the Stars (49-21-4, 102 points), who moved within four points of the first-place Jets in the Central Division with eight games remaining for both. The Stars' Esa Lindell and Mason Marchment recorded two assists apiece.

  Kaapo Kakko scored and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for the Kraken (31-38-6, 68 points), who have lost five of six (1-4-1).

  Flyers 2, Predators 1

  Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny had two assists each, Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals, and Philadelphia defeated Nashville for its third straight win.

  Ivan Fedotov made 28 saves in the victory to snap a six-game personal losing streak.

  The Predators' Zachary L'Heureux scored his side's lone goal, with assists coming from Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei. Justus Annunen stopped 16 shots but dropped his fifth straight start.

  Devils 3, Wild 2 (SO)

  Nico Hischier scored his fourth goal in two games and New Jersey defeated Minnesota in a shootout at Newark, N.J., to sweep a home-and-home set.

  Luke Hughes had a goal and an assist for the Devils, and Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves. Paul Cotter and Jesper Bratt scored for New Jersey in the shootout.

  Vinnie Hinostroza and Matt Boldy scored for the Wild, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 26 shots. Mats Zuccarello and Boldy were unsuccessful on shootout attempts for Minnesota.

  Flames 3, Avalanche 2 (SO)

  Ryan Lomberg and Adam Klapka scored 32 seconds apart in the third period, Yegor Sharangovich had the only goal in the shootout and Calgary rallied to beat Colorado in Denver.

  Lomberg and Klapka added an assist each and Dan Vladar made 28 saves through overtime and another in the shootout for Calgary, which is five points back of the Western Conference's second wild-card spot.

  Cale Makar and Logan O'Connor each netted a goal, Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to stretch his home point streak to 25 games and Scott Wedgewood turned away 25 shots for Colorado. The Avalanche have dropped two straight.

  --Field Level Media

The NHL has reached a 12-year, $7.7 billion deal with Rogers Communications to broadcast games on Canadian television, Sportico reported Monday.

• The deal is pending owner approval.

  Should the owners vote to approve the new deal for Rogers' broadcast rights at the recommendation of NHL executives, an official announcement could land this week.

  The agreement would be a contract extension for the Canadian telecom company, which is approaching the end of its 12-year deal originally inked in 2013. The new deal would begin for the 2026-27 season and its per-year totals are worth more than double those of the previous contract.

  American television rights are split between ESPN and TNT. That $600 million annual deal lasts through the conclusion of the 2027-28 season.

  --Field Level Media

Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola was fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct on Monday.

• The fine is in response to a slapshot Mikkola sent down the ice with two seconds remaining on the game clock with the Panthers down 4-2 to the Canadiens on Sunday. The puck almost hit Montreal's players, with some Canadiens expressing their displeasure.

  Mikkola was assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct as well as a 10-minute game misconduct, despite there being no time left on the clock.

  The fine, announced by the NHL Department of Player Safety, is the maximum allowed by the collective bargaining agreement.

  Mikkola, a 28-year-old from Finland, is in his second season with the Panthers after four with the St. Louis Blues and one with the New York Rangers.

  On the season, he has set career season highs for goals (five), assists (16) and points (21) to go along with his 62 penalty minutes in 68 games.

  --Field Level Media

The Avalanche signed Taylor Makar, younger brother of Colorado star Cale Makar, to a one-year deal on Monday.

• Taylor Makar, a seventh-round pick by Colorado in 2021, inked an entry-level contract for the 2025-26 season.

  The 24-year-old forward will report to the AHL's Colorado Eagles on an amateur tryout for the rest of this season.

  Taylor Makar scored 30 points (18 goals, 12 assists) in 38 games for the University of Maine in 2024-25.

  Cale Makar, 26, ranks second on the Avalanche with 84 points (27 goals, 57 assists) in 74 games this season.

  The three-time All-Star and 2022 Stanley Cup winner has 420 points (113 goals, 307 assists) in 389 career games.

  Cale Makar won the Calder Trophy in 2019-20 and the Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy in 2021-22.

  --Field Level Media

With his 890th goal, Capitals sniper Alex Ovechkin moved within five goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time record, but host Washington lost to the Buffalo Sabres 8-5 on Sunday.

• Ovechkin, who also collected a pair of assists, will resume his pursuit of the record on Tuesday in Boston against the Bruins. Washington has nine games left in the regular season.

  Buffalo's Alex Tuch had two goals and an assist, Tage Thompson scored twice and Jack Quinn added a goal and two assists. Connor Clifton, JJ Peterka and Jason Zucker had two assists each, and James Reimer made 24 saves for the Sabres, who picked up their sixth win in the last nine games.

  For Washington, Jakob Chychrun scored twice to hit the 20-goal mark for the first time, Dylan Strome notched two helpers and Logan Thompson made 15 saves in the loss.

  Penguins 1, Senators 0 (OT)

  Sidney Crosby scored a power-play goal at 1:16 of overtime and Tristan Jarry made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead Pittsburgh past visiting Ottawa.

  Crosby, who drew a hooking penalty on Ridly Greig with three seconds left in regulation, roofed a one-timer off an Erik Karlsson pass from the center of the right circle past the glove side of Anton Forsberg for the game-winner. The Penguins snapped a three-game winless streak (0-2-1).

  It was the 97th career game-winning goal for Crosby, passing Mats Sundin for 12th in NHL history. It was Jarry's 20th career shutout. Forsberg stopped 34 of 35 shots for Ottawa.

  Jets 3, Canucks 1

  Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist, Mason Appleton and Cole Perfetti each tallied, and Winnipeg pulled away with a home win over Vancouver.

  Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for the Jets, who picked up their third straight win. Nikolaj Ehlers, Adam Lowry and Vladislav Namestnikov each had an assist.

  Pius Suter netted the lone Cancucks goal that put Vancouver on top 1-0 with just over a minute left in the opening period. Thatcher Demko recorded 24 saves.

  Maple Leafs 3, Ducks 2

  Steven Lorentz scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Toronto extended its lead in the Atlantic Division to three points with a win over host Anaheim.

  Max Domi and Mitch Marner added goals for the Maple Leafs, who have points in four straight games (3-0-1). Joseph Woll made 29 saves in the win.

  After Toronto built a 2-0 lead, Leo Carlsson and Sam Colangelo responded with the Ducks' goals. Lukas Dostal made 20 saves in the defeat.

  Utah Hockey Club 5, Blackhawks 2

  Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and Alexander Kerfoot scored 31 seconds apart late in the second period, fueling Utah's victory over host Chicago.

  Kerfoot had two assists, Sergachev added one and Kailer Yamamoto, Logan Cooley and defenseman Nick DeSimone also scored a goal to help Utah snap its three-game skid (0-2-1). Defenseman John Marino notched two assists and Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves while appearing in his 17th consecutive game.

  Joe Veleno and Ryan Donato each scored a goal and Arvid Soderblom turned aside 26 shots for the skidding Blackhawks, who have lost 10 of their last 11 games (1-9-1). Chicago defenseman Sam Rinzel and forward Oliver Moore made their respective NHL debuts after signing their entry-level contracts on Saturday.

  Hurricanes 6, Islanders 4

  Dmitry Orlov netted the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, Seth Jarvis added the second of his two scores, and Carolina held off New York for its 11th win in 13 games in Raleigh, N.C.

  Mark Jankowski, Logan Stankoven and Sebastian Aho all scored for the Hurricanes, while Pyotr Kochetkov was credited with 27 saves -- including 12 in the third period.

  Pierre Engvall had two goals to lead the Islanders, who have lost five straight. Kyle Palmieri and Anders Lee each tallied, while Bo Horvat dished out two assists. Marcus Hogberg recorded 24 saves for New York.

  Canadiens 4, Panthers 2

  Nick Suzuki had a goal and two assists for Montreal in a win against Florida in Sunrise, Fla.

  Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist, Patrik Laine and Brendan Gallagher also scored, Lane Hutson totaled three assists and Sam Montembeault made 24 saves for the Canadiens, who moved into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. In the finale of a four-game trip, Montreal snapped a five-game skid (0-3-2).

  Sam Reinhart and Seth Jones scored, Aleksander Barkov had two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves for the Panthers (44-26-3, 91 points), who missed a chance to retake first place in the Atlantic Division.

  Kings 8, Sharks 1

  Adrian Kempe and Warren Foegele each netted two goals as Los Angeles routed visiting San Jose.

  Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and two assists for the Kings, who ended a two-game skid, while Trevor Moore recorded a goal and an assist. Phillip Danault and Trevor Lewis also scored for Los Angeles, which set a franchise record with its 27th home win of the season.

  Cam Lund tallied the lone score for the Sharks, assisted by Mario Ferraro. Georgi Romanov was credited with 28 saves for San Jose, which allowed four goals in the second period, including two within 35 seconds of each other.

  --Field Level Media

Leon Draisaitl's second goal of the night -- his 51st of the season -- in a three-point game was the overtime winner to give the host Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 comeback victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

• Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Oilers, who snapped a two-game skid. Goaltender Calvin Pickard made 26 saves for Edmonton, who are even with the Los Angeles Kings in points for second place in the Pacific Division but have played one more game.

  Draisaitl, the first NHL player to score 50 goals this season, returned after missing four games due to injury, but Edmonton was without fellow superstar Connor McDavid for a fourth consecutive outing. No. 1 goaltender Stuart Skinner and defenseman Mattias Ekholm are also out.

  Yegor Sharangovich and Brayden Pachal each scored goals, with Pachal also collecting one assist for the Flames. Calgary is seven points outside a playoff position but has three games in hand on the St. Louis Blues, who hold the Western Conference's second wild-card spot. Goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 26 shots.

  Stars 5, Kraken 1

  Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, while Jason Robertson added one of each as Dallas clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs by beating host Seattle.

  Rantanen scored an empty-net goal to earn his first three-point game since coming to Dallas at the trade deadline It was his fourth straight game with a point, and Robertson notched his third consecutive multi-point game. Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, while Mason Marchment and Wyatt Johnston scored as well. Jake Oettinger stopped 35 shots.

  Eeli Tolvanen scored off assists from Jared McCann and Andre Burakovsky, but it was far from enough as Seattle lost for the fourth time in five games. Joey Daccord finished with 16 saves.

  Golden Knights 3, Predators 1

  Reilly Smith broke a third-period deadlock and Vegas ran its winning streak to six games with a road victory over Nashville.

  Jack Eichel and Brett Howden also scored for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who have only two regulation-time defeats in 15 games (11-2-2). Goaltender Adin Hill made 23 saves in a solid goaltending battle that capped his team's perfect three-game road trip.

  Ryan O'Reilly replied for the Predators, who have only two wins in nine outings. Goalie Justus Annunen stopped 26 shots for Nashville, which has been eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention.

  Rangers 6, Sharks 1

  Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox scored two goals apiece for visiting New York, which moved into the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot by routing San Jose.

  Jonny Brodzinski and Vincent Trocheck also scored for the Rangers, who won for just the second time in seven games (2-4-1). Goalie Jonathan Quick carried a shutout deep into the third and finished with 21 saves.

  Cam Lund scored his first NHL goal in his second game with 2:14 left for the league-worst Sharks, who had their two-game winning streak snapped. Alexander Georgiev, who opened his career by spending five seasons with the Rangers, recorded 27 saves.

  Lightning 5, Islanders 3

  Nikita Kucherov registered a goal and three assists as Tampa Bay rode a three-goal first period en route to a sweep of their three-game homestand in a win against New York.

  Kucherov, Nick Perbix and Brayden Point all potted first-period goals for the Lightning. Point added his team-high 38th tally in the second period off a pass from Kucherov, whose three points gave him 11 on the red-hot homestand and 109 overall. Backup Jonas Johansson made his first start since March 13 and stopped 35 shots.

  In dropping their fourth straight (0-2-2), the Islanders hurt their wild-card playoff chances and sit three points back of the New York Rangers, who hold the second wild-card spot. Ryan Pulock, Marc Gatcomb and Tony DeAngelo each scored, while goalie Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves.

  Blues 2, Avalanche 1

  Pavel Buchnevich scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and surging St. Louis beat Colorado in Denver.

  Zack Bolduc also scored, Robert Thomas had two assists and Jordan Binnington turned away 28 shots for St. Louis, which has won nine in a row -- the longest current streak in the NHL.

  Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and Mackenzie Blackwood had 25 saves for Colorado, which had its 11-game home winning streak snapped. MacKinnon's goal extended his home point streak to 24 games.

  Maple Leafs 3, Kings 1

  John Tavares' first of two third-period goals broke a tie and Toronto rallied with three goals in the period for a win over host Los Angeles.

  Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who won for the second time in four games (2-1-1). Anthony Stolarz stopped 35 shots.

  Alex Laferriere scored for the Kings, who lost their second straight. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.

  Devils 5, Wild 2

  Nico Hischier scored a hat trick to lift New Jersey to a win over Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minn.

  Paul Cotter and Tomas Tatar also scored for New Jersey, which bounced back from a shutout loss one night earlier. Jesper Bratt had two assists. Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom turned aside 22 of 24 shots to earn the win.

  Marcus Foligno had a goal and an assist for Minnesota. Ryan Hartman also scored a goal. Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson allowed five goals on 33 shots.

  Senators 3, Blue Jackets 2

  Jake Sanderson scored the eventual game-winner as Ottawa topped visiting Columbus to win for the ninth time in its last 12 games (9-3-0).

  Ridly Greig scored and added an assist, and Drake Batherson also tallied for the Senators. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves, and Shane Pinto added a pair of helpers as the Senators moved to 21-10-2 on home ice this season.

  Boone Jenner and Kirill Marchenko responded for Columbus, while Zach Werenski added a pair of assists. Daniil Tarasov stopped 24 shots for the Blue Jackets, who won just three of their last 12 games (3-8-1).

  Flyers 7, Sabres 4

  Ryan Poehling had two goals and one assist and Matvei Michkov also had two goals to help Philadelphia beat visiting Buffalo.

  Noah Cates had a goal and two assists, Tyson Foerster had a goal and an assist, Jakob Pelletier scored a goal while Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny had two assists for the Flyers, who have won their first two games under interim coach Brad Shaw. Samuel Ersson made 17 saves for Philadelphia.

  Jack Quinn had two goals and an assist, JJ Peterka had a goal and an assist, Alex Tuch had a goal and Ryan McLeod had three assists for Buffalo. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves for the Sabres.

  Red Wings 2, Bruins 1

  Marco Kasper scored an unassisted goal in the first period and Lucas Raymond scored in the second as host Detroit edged slumping Boston.

  Cam Talbot made 20 saves as the Red Wings won for just the fourth time in their last 15 games.

  Morgan Geekie scored the Boston goal and Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 shots. The Bruins have lost eight straight and 16 of their last 19. It's the longest slide for Boston since the 2009-10 season.

  --Field Level Media

Jake Sanderson scored the eventual game-winner as the Ottawa Senators topped the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Saturday night.

• Ridly Greig scored and added an assist, and Drake Batherson also tallied for the Senators (39-28-5, 83 points), who improved to an Eastern Conference-best 29-6-0 this season when scoring first.

  Linus Ullmark made 29 saves, and Shane Pinto added a pair of helpers as the Senators won for the ninth time in their last 12 games (9-3-0) and moved to 21-10-2 on home ice this season.

  Boone Jenner and Kirill Marchenko responded for Columbus (33-30-9, 75 points), while Zach Werenski added a pair of assists.

  Daniil Tarasov stopped 24 shots for the Blue Jackets, who won just three of their last 12 games (3-8-1).

  Trailing 3-1, Marchenko made it a one-goal game at 11:02 of the third, splitting a pair of Senators and snapping a shot far side past Ullmark for his team-leading 28th. Marchenko has goals in three straight games.

  Columbus out-shot Ottawa 12-8 in the first period, but the Senators had a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

  Greig opened the scoring, tipping a Thomas Chabot shot past Tarasov at 7:24 of the first period for his 12th of the season.

  Columbus responded 31 seconds later as Jenner banged home the rebound off Werenski's point shot past Ullmark for his fifth of the season. The Blue Jackets captain has points in four straight (five goals, one assist).

  Ottawa took a 2-1 lead at 14:08 as Batherson put home the rebound off Dylan Cozens' shot between the legs of Tarasov for his 21st. Batherson has points in four straight (two goals, two assists).

  Sanderson gave the Senators a two-goal lead at 9:17 of the second period, tipping home the Pinto rebound for his eighth of the season.

  Saturday was the first of three meetings between the Blue Jackets and Senators over the next 11 days. The teams will reconvene in Ottawa on April 6 before wrapping up the season series in Columbus on April 8.

  --Field Level Media

The Chicago Blackhawks signed first-round draft picks Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel to three-year, entry-level contracts through the 2026-27 season, with both expected to make their NHL debuts before the end of the season.

• The contracts carry a $950,000 cap hit.

  The players, both 20-year-old Minnesota natives, come to the Blackhawks from the University of Minnesota, which concluded its season Thursday with a 5-4 overtime loss to Massachusetts.

  Moore, a forward, was taken by the Blackhawks with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. In 76 career games with the Golden Gophers, Moore tallied 66 points (21 goals, 45 assists). He was a Big Ten All-Rookie Team selection in 2024 after his freshman season, and he won back-to-back gold medals for the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championships in 2024 and '25.

  Rinzel, a defenseman, was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for the 2024-25 season. His 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) this season put him sixth among blueliners in the NCAA.

  In his college career, he totaled 60 points (12 goals, 48 assists) in 79 games, and he also was a member of the 2024 IIHF World Juniors team. The Blackhawks selected him with the No. 25 overall pick of the 2022 draft.

  The Blackhawks (21-43-9, 51 points) have the second-worst record in the league entering play Saturday. Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2015, Chicago has made the playoffs just three times, losing in the first round every season. They will finish below .500 for five consecutive seasons.

  The Athletic reported that both players are expected to debut this season, which has 10 games remaining. Per The Athletic, Moore is expected to play Sunday against the Utah Hockey Club.

  --Field Level Media