WASHINGTON — Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots, Jason Chimera had a goal and an assist and the Washington Capitals beat the struggling Montreal Canadiens 3-1 Saturday night for their seventh straight victory.
Off to the best start in franchise history, Washington leads the Eastern Conference with a 26-6-2 record and has won eight straight at home. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jay Beagle also scored for the Capitals.
Holtby allowed only a second-period goal to Daniel Carr in earning his NHL-leading 22nd victory. He’s 8-0-2 lifetime against Montreal with a goals-against average well under 2.
Montreal has been outscored 22-6 while losing its last six games and has dropped 10 of 11 since Dec. 1.
Montreal’s collapse coincides with the absence of top goaltender Carey Price and star right wing Brendan Gallagher. Price has been sidelined since Nov. 25 with a lower body injury and Gallagher missed his 15th straight game with broken fingers.
Blues 3, Stars 2 (SO): Center David Backes scored in the ninth round of the shootout to give the St Louis Blues a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars.
Goalie Jake Allen stopped a shot by center Vernon Fiddler after Backes’ goal to end the long shootout.
Rookie left winger Robby Fabbri tied the game for the Blues with just 1:50 to go in the third period with his eighth goal of the season, converting a pass from defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games.
Kings 4, Coyotes 3 (OT): The Los Angeles Kings finally broke through against the Arizona Coyotes when center Anze Kopitar scored on a partial breakaway 36 seconds into overtime for a 4-3 victory at Gila River Arena.
The win was the Kings’ first against the Coyotes (16-15-3) in three meetings this season and handed Arizona its first loss in six games against southern California teams, Anaheim and L.A.
Canucks 2, Oilers 1 (OT): Right winger Jannik Hansen scored two goals, including the overtime winner, as the Vancouver Canucks edged the Edmonton Oilers 2-1.
Hansen whipped home a slapshot from the right wing with 59 seconds left in the sudden-death session after taking a pass from defenseman Matt Bartkowski.
Sabres 6, Bruins 3: Rookie center Jack Eichel scored twice and set up another goal in a five-goal barrage in the final 9:39, finishing with four points as Buffalo stormed from behind to defeat Boston.
Eichel tied the game 3-3 with nine minutes left and then scored from his own end into an empty net for his first two-goal game in the NHL. He then assisted on center Ryan O’Reilly’s empty netter.
Red Wings 3, Predators 2: The Detroit Red Wings started a stretch of nine road games in their next 10 contests by getting a fourth-line goal to break a third-period tie and earn a win.
Luke Glendening’s deflection of a shot by Brendan Smith at 6:45 gave Detroit the win over Nashville at sold-out Bridgestone Arena.
The goal was just the second of the season for Glendening, enabling the Red Wings to sweep the season series from Nashville.
Penguins 3, Wild 1: Sidney Crosby made an impressive return from an injury, scoring a goal and adding an assist in Pittsburgh’s win over Minnesota.
Eric Fehr and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the Penguins, who won their second game in a row. They got 25 saves from Matt Murray and improved to 2-4-0 since Mike Sullivan took over as coach on Dec. 12.
Other results: Hurricanes 3, Devils 1; Lightning 5, Blue Jackets 2. — Agencies
