Defender Erik Gustafsson stole the show from teammate Alex Ovechkin, who is still looking for his 801e goal, scoring a hat trick in a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Washington.
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He is the second defender to achieve this feat this season. Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks was the first to do so on 1is November once morest the Anaheim Ducks.
Gustafsson completed the hat-trick midway through the third period with a magnificent wrist shot that ended up in the top corner using a small hole that Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov had failed to cover. This net allowed the “Caps” to breathe a little better, leading by three goals from that moment.
Other scorers for Washington were Trevor Van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway. For the Leafs, William Nylander and Austin Matthews surprised Charlie Lindgren, who earned a seventh victory this season.
Sixth straight win for Rangers
Without Kevin Hayes, left out by John Tortorella on Saturday, the Flyers lost 6-3 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers put their feet to the metal in the third period, with three goals, starting with the net of Jimmy Vesey, who took advantage of a bad exit from the zone of the Flyers to speed up goaltender Carter Hart. Pennsylvania forward Morgan Frost scored an important goal, bringing the score to just one goal, but Rangers captain Jacob Trouba scored the decisive shorthanded goal with three minutes remaining.
Artemi Panarin, K’Andre Miller, Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Lindgren have enriched the mark for the New York formation. For their part, goals from James Van Riemsdyk and Scott Laughton found the back of the net for the Flyers.
With this victory, the Rangers get their sixth in a row.
Ducks surprise Oilers
Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal muzzled the Edmonton Oilers offense by stopping 46 of 49 shots he faced and helped his team escape Alberta with a 4-3 victory.
The Californian team won two games in a row in regulation time for the first time this season, adding Thursday once morest the Canadiens in Montreal.
The decisive goal came from John Klingberg’s stick with just over six minutes remaining in the game.
Still, it was the Oilers who had taken the lead with a wrist shot from Darnell Nurse, which stunned Dostal in the first period. The Ducks replied with two goals in five minutes at the end of the first frame. Young forward Mason McTavish got creative with the puck to put it back on Sam Carrick’s paddle. He was also the one who set up Cam Fowler’s net to allow the Ducks to take the lead. Then Oilers big guns Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid tied the game.
McDavid continued his dream season with two more points; he now has 62 since the start of the season. He has amassed at least one point in his last 12 games.
