WASHINGTON (AP) - Justin Schultz scored the go-ahead goal with 26.4 seconds left, Vitek Vanecek made 32 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Tuesday night despite another injury to a key player.
Schultz’s goal allowed the Capitals to narrowly avoid a fifth consecutive overtime game, which has never happened in franchise history.
Capitals defenseman John Carlson had a power-play goal, and Daniel Sprong scored his first with Washington.
Noah Dobson and Mathew Barzal scored for the Islanders, who got 33 saves from leading NHL goalie Semyon Varlamov in his first loss of the season after starting 3-0.
BLUES 5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, SO
LAS VEGAS (AP) - David Perron and Brayden Schenn scored in a shootout to lift St. Louis over Vegas.
Max Pacioretty got his seventh career hat trick for the Golden Knights, who were missing their entire coaching staff because of COVID-19 concerns. General manager Kelly McCrimmon took over head coaching duties and was assisted by staff from the team’s minor league affiliate in the AHL, the Henderson Silver Knights.
Perron scored twice in regulation, and Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Kyrou also had goals for St. Louis.
Jordan Binnington was brilliant in net for the Blues, making 42 saves.
Alex Tuch added a goal for Vegas. Shea Theodore scored during the shootout, and Robin Lehner made 21 saves.
PANTHERS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3, SO
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Patric Hornqvist scored the tying goal with 3 seconds left in regulation and had the game winner in a shootout as Florida beat Columbus.
Hornqvist beat Joonas Korpisalo in the fifth round of the shootout to end it after Columbus’ Mikhail Grigorenko’s try went into the pads of Panthers’ stopper Sergei Bobrovsky.
Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov also scored in regulation, and Bobrovsky, the former Blue Jacket, stopped 19 shots for Florida.
Kevin Stenlund, Alexandre Texier and Cam Atkinson scored, and Joonas Korpisalo - formerly Bobrovsky’s backup - had 28 saves.
SABRES 3, RANGERS 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Jack Eichel, Dylan Cozens and Tobias Rieder scored and Buffalo rallied to beat New York.
Chris Kreider and K’Andre Miller scored first-period goals for the Rangers.
Linus Ullmark finished with 28 saves, and Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 22 saves.
The Rangers and Sabres faced each other as divisional opponents for the first time since March 24, 1974, when both were part of the East Division.
FLYERS 5, DEVILS 3
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Nolan Patrick, Joel Farabee and Ivan Provorov scored third-period goals, and Philadelphia beat New Jersey for its first road win.
James van Riemsdyk scored two power-play goals and Brian Elliott made 23 saves as the Flyers came back to win after blowing an early two-goal lead. Provorov, who had an empty-net goal, and Claude Giroux each had two assists.
Michael McLeod and Travis Zajac scored for the Devils, who hit a crossbar and a post early in the third period with the score tied at 2. Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves for New Jersey. Pavel Zacha closed out the scoring with 1:08 to play.
BRUINS 3, PENGUINS 2, OT
BOSTON (AP) - Craig Smith scored with 11 seconds left in overtime, and Boston recovered after blowing a two-goal lead to beat Pittsburgh.
Brad Marchand had a short-handed goal and assisted on Nick Ritchie’s goal to help the Bruins earn their third straight victory. Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots, giving up both Pittsburgh goals after he injured himself midway through the third period.
The Penguins rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third, with Jason Zucker making it 2-1 midway through the period and Kasperi Kapanen tying it with 3:16 to go.
PREDATORS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, OT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Roman Josi scored at 2:57 of overtime to give Nashville a victory over Chicago.
Yakov Trenin and Mikael Granlund had the other goals for Nashville, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
Dylan Strome and Mattias Janmark scored for the Blackhawks, who won their previous two games.
JETS 6, OILERS 4
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) - Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and three assists and Winnipeg rallied from a two-goal deficit and beat Edmonton.
Andrew Copp added two goals, including one into an empty net, and had two assists. Adam Lowry scored and set up two others for Winnipeg (5-2-0). Paul Stastny, with a goal and an assist, and Mathieu Perreault completed the scoring for the Jets, who got 22 saves from Connor Hellebuyck.
Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist. Leon Draisaitl and Adam Larsson also scored for Edmonton (3-5-0). Mikko Koskinen made 27 saves, and Darnell Nurse added three assists.
KINGS 2, WILD 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Carl Grundstrom and Kurtis MacDermid scored, and Calvin Peterson made 32 saves as Los Angeles held on to beat Minnesota.
Los Angeles has won three of four after starting the season 0-2-1.
Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season just 1:09 into the third to tie the game. Kaapo Kahkonen made 19 saves for Minnesota, which has lost two in a row.
STARS 2, RED WINGS 1, OT
DALLAS (AP) - Jason Dickinson scored 1:32 into overtime and Dallas won a third straight home game to start its delayed season, beating Detroit.
The Red Wings controlled the puck for the first minute-plus of the 3-on-3 period before the Stars gained control and moved into the offensive zone. John Klingberg, who scored the other Dallas goal, passed up a couple of opportunities to shoot and sent the puck to Dickinson, who beat Thomas Greiss from the high slot.
The former longtime Central Division rivals played as division foes for the first time since 1997-98, again in the Central.
Detroit, which got a goal from Vladislav Namestnikov, dropped a fifth straight game in Dallas but gained a point for the first time that stretch. The Red Wings are winless in four of their past five games this season.
Anton Khudobin stopped 20 shots to improve to 3-0. Greiss also had 20 saves.
DUCKS 1, COYOTES 0
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - John Gibson stopped 31 shots for his second shutout in four starts, Danton Heinen scored and Anaheim edged Arizona.
Heinen scored his first goal of the season in the opening period and Gibson was sharp all night for his 21st career shutout. Gibson stopped 34 shots in a shutout against Minnesota on Jan. 18.
Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his 100th game with Arizona, but the Coyotes missed on numerous good chances and lost 1-0 for the second straight game. Arizona has dropped four of five overall.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, FLAMES 3
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Mitch Marner’s goal midway through the third period was the winner, and Toronto beat Calgary.
Auston Matthews also had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (6-2-0). Wayne Simmonds and Travis Boyd also scored. Defenseman Morgan Rielly had a pair of assists.
Frederik Andersen stopped 23 of 26 shots for the win.
Johnny Gaudreau scored twice for Calgary (2-2-1). Milan Lucic also scored and Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 shots in the loss.
AVALANCHE 7, SHARKS 3
DENVER (AP) - Brandon Saad scored twice, one in a three-goal flurry at the end of the first period, and Colorado defeated San Jose.
Mikko Rantanen scored a goal for the sixth straight game to tie an Avalanche record, and Valeri Nichushkin added a short-handed goal and an assist in the rout. Joonas Donskoi, Devon Toews and Samuel Girard also scored.
Ryan Donato and Logan Couture had a goal and an assist each for the Sharks. Noah Gregor also scored.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.