WASHINGTON (AP) - Jay Beagle scored twice to lead a balanced blowout for the Washington Capitals as they won their eighth consecutive game, beating the Chicago Blackhawks 6-0 on Friday night in a matchup of the NHL’s hottest teams.
Nicklas Backstrom, Brett Connolly, Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie also scored for Washington, which snapped Chicago’s winning streak at four.
The Capitals have ended five different opposing win streaks of three games or more already in 2017 while playing their best hockey of the season.
With the victory, they reached 61 points and passed the Columbus Blue Jackets for the most in the league.
Braden Holtby stopped all 24 shots he faced and got the benefit of goaltender interference on Vinnie Hinostroza’s would-be goal for his fifth shutout in the past 14 games. The Vezina Trophy winner is 9-2-2 with a 1.34 goals-against average and .950 save percentage over that time.
BLUE JACKETS 3, LIGHTNING 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Joonas Korpisalo made 31 saves in his first game of the season, Nick Foligno had a go-ahead power-play goal in the third period and Columbus beat Tampa Bay.
Columbus, 2-3 since ending a 16-game winning streak, also got goals from Josh Anderson and Boone Jenner. Korpisalo played in place of Sergei Bobrovsky, who also missed Tuesday’s game at Carolina due to illness.
Jonathan Drouin scored for the Lightning, who have lost five of six. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots.
Tampa Bay retired Martin St. Louis’ No. 26 in a pregame ceremony. St. Louis was a key member of the Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup championship team that was coached by current Columbus coach John Tortorella.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, RANGERS 2
NEW YORK (AP) - William Nylander and James van Riemsdyk scored in the first period, Frederik Andersen stopped 34 shots and Toronto beat New York.
Connor Brown and Connor Carrick also scored to help the Maple Leafs win for the seventh time in nine games (7-1-1). Toronto moved four points behind Philadelphia for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Tyler Bozak and Mitch Marner had two assists each.
Chris Kreider and J.T. Miller scored for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 23 saves. New York had won five of six overall, and four in row against Toronto.
Toronto, which came in sixth in the league on the power play at 22 percent, were 2 for 4 and held the Rangers to 0 for 6.
HURRICANES 5, SABRES 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Jeff Skinner had two goals and an assist, Brock McGinn also scored twice and Carolina beat Buffalo.
Carolina swept its three-game series against Buffalo and won its third straight game overall. The Hurricanes are 14-4-1 at home, including 13-1-1 in the last 15 games in Raleigh.
Skinner scored two goals early in the second period, the first one giving him his 300th NHL point.
Carolina’s Cam Ward stopped 36 shots while playing in his 600th NHL game, all with the Hurricanes.
Buffalo’s Anders Nilsson had 33 saves.
Victor Rask scored Carolina’s other goal. William Carrier and Brian Gionta scored for Buffalo.
DEVILS 2, FLAMES 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist and New Jersey hung on to beat Calgary.
New Jersey snapped a four-game skid after Palmieri scored 6:22 into the game and then assisted on Taylor Hall’s goal with 1:29 left in the first period. Keith Kinkaid stopped 31 shots while filling in for Devils starter Cory Schneider.
It was the ninth goal for Palmieri, who had a career-high 30 goals last season to lead New Jersey. The 25-year-old has five goals in his last 12 games.
Sean Monahan scored in the second period and Chad Johnson made 34 saves for Calgary, which ended a four-game home winning streak.
ISLANDERS 5, PANTHERS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - John Tavares scored three goals for his sixth career hat trick and New York snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over Florida.
Nick Leddy had a goal and two assists, and Jason Chimera also scored for the Islanders. Thomas Greiss made 26 saves.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist for the Panthers. Reilly Smith also scored for Florida, Keith Yandle added a pair of assists and Jaromir Jagr recorded his 1,138th NHL assist. Roberto Luongo stopped 37 shots.
Tavares’ second goal gave the Islanders a 4-2 lead at 7:50 of the third for his 500th NHL point.
Tavares added an empty-net goal with 1:44 left for the hat trick.
COYOTES 4, JETS 3
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Rookie Brendan Perlini scored twice, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Radim Vrbata each had three assists and Arizona scored four first-period goals and held on for a win over Winnipeg.
Perlini’s fifth and sixth goals of the season came in the first, as did all three of Ekman-Larsson’s and Vrbata’s assists. Perlini had a hat trick Tuesday night in Tucson’s 5-2 victory over Manitoba - Winnipeg’s farm team - in the AHL.
The Coyotes chased Jets starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck before the midway point of the period.
The four goals were the most for Arizona in a period since scoring four second-period goals at Edmonton on Dec. 1, 2014. But Arizona had to hang on in the final seconds of the third period to win.
Peter Holland and Jamie McGinn also had goals for the Coyotes, who have five points from their last three games.
Shawn Matthias, Mark Stuart and Blake Wheeler scored for the Jets, who have lost three of four.
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