Alex Ovechkin scored two more goals to continue his surge and the red-hot Washington Capitals cruised to a 4-0 victory over the visiting New Jersey Devils on Friday.
The two-goal night gave Ovechkin 10 goals in his past 10 games as the Capitals improved to 9-1-0 over their past 10 contests and beat the Devils for the sixth time in as many meetings this season.
Nicklas Backstrom scored in the first period for the Capitals. Connor Sheary added a goal and an assist while Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov collected two assists apiece in Washington’s second shutout of the season. Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves and notched his second career shutout.
The Devils dropped their second straight after winning four of their previous five games, and they were blanked for the first time this season. New Jersey goaltender Scott Wedgewood allowed four goals on 31 shots.
Ducks 4, Blues 1
John Gibson made 33 saves and visiting Anaheim defeated St. Louis for its first regulation victory since Feb. 11.
Sam Steel, Max Jones, Derek Grant and Rickard Rakell scored as the Ducks beat the Blues for the first time in five tries this season. The result was just Anaheim’s second victory in the past nine games overall and snapped a three-game losing streak.
Ryan O’Reilly scored for the Blues, who have lost their past three games by the combined score of 11-2.
Jets 3, Flames 2
Blake Wheeler, Paul Stastny and Kyle Connor each collected one goal and one assist to lead visiting Winnipeg to a victory over Calgary.
Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the Jets, who won their third straight game and vaulted back into a tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the top spot in the North Division standings.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 shots for the Flames, who have lost four straight games and scored only four goals in the span. Milan Lucic and Matthew Tkachuk had Calgary’s goals, and Noah Hanifin assisted on both.
Coyotes 5, Sharks 2
Christian Dvorak tallied twice, snapping a 15-game goalless drought, as Arizona defeated San Jose in Glendale, Ariz.
Nick Schmaltz, Dryden Hunt and Phil Kessel also scored for the Coyotes, who won their second game in a row and third in the past four. Oliver Ekman-Larsson added two assists and goaltender Adin Hill made 20 saves.
Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Martin Jones stopped 23 of 28 shots.
–Field Level Media
