WASHINGTON (AP) – Braden Holtby made 38 saves, Jay Beagle and Nicklas Backstrom scored second-period goals, and the Washington Capitals extended their point streak to nine games with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
Washington has won three in a row and is 7-0-2 in its past nine games. Holtby has been in net for all of them.
Backstrom broke a 1-1 tie with 35 seconds left in the second period during a power play. He has 11 goals this season, including six in his last five games. Beagle made it 1-0 at 13:59.
Mike Green assisted on both Capitals goals.
Erik Condra scored his third goal of the season to tie it 1-1 in the second period, and Craig Anderson stopped 21 shots for Ottawa. The Senators are 3-3-1 since Dave Cameron replaced Paul MacLean as head coach.
PREDATORS 5, BLUE JACKETS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Craig Smith scored two goals, Pekka Rinne made 30 saves to earn his NHL-leading 22nd win, and Nashville routed Columbus.
Colin Wilson had a goal and an assist, and Seth Jones and Mike Fisher also scored for Nashville, which has won five of six. Victor Bartley added two assists.
Rookie Alexander Wennberg scored his first NHL goal late in the third period to spoil Rinne’s shutout bid. Columbus had its nine-game point streak (8-0-1) snapped, losing for the first time in December.
The Blue Jackets rode goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who seemed to tire in the third period. He was pulled after the fourth goal and finished with 26 saves on 30 shots.
PANTHERS 4, PENGUINS 3, SO
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Aleksander Barkov scored the lone goal in the shootout, and Florida edged Pittsburgh.
Barkov skated in on Marc-Andre Fleury in the seventh round of the tiebreaker, moved left, and lifted in a one-handed shot to win it.
Florida’s Roberto Luongo made a sprawling glove save, among his seven, on Chris Kunitz in the fourth round.
Jimmy Hayes scored twice in the third period to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.
Nick Spaling deflected in a shot for a power-play goal with 4:52 remaining to bring the Penguins within 3-2, and Evgeni Malkin jammed a puck past Luongo to tie it with 3:10 left.
Patric Hornqvist had given Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the first period. Jussi Jokinen tied it in the final minute of the second.
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