WASHINGTON — Nicklas Backstrom had three points and Alex Ovechkin continued to climb the NHL’s goal-scoring charts as the Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins 5-3 Wednesday night.
The Bruins’ winning streak ended at three, and they got a scare when center Patrice Bergeron took a slap shot off his right leg. League-leading Washington extended its winning streak against Boston to eight.
Backstrom had a goal and two assists, setting up T.J. Oshie and Ovechkin, who passed Ron Francis for 27th on the all-time list. Brett Connolly and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for the Capitals, who got 30 saves from Braden Holtby.
Despite allowing two power-play goals to fellow All-Star Brad Marchand and a late goal to David Krejci, Holtby improved to 11-2-0 against the Bruins in the regular season.
Kings 5, Avalanche 0
Jeff Carter scored two goals and Peter Budaj earned his sixth shutout of the season in Los Angeles’ fourth consecutive victory.
Marian Gaborik also scored during Los Angeles’ three-goal first period, and Dustin Brown and Dwight King added third-period goals in the Kings’ first win over the Avalanche in four tries.
Budaj made 22 saves in the longtime Avalanche goalie’s 17th career shutout for Los Angeles, which has ramped up its playoff push with back-to-back victories after hosting the All-Star Game.
Spencer Martin stopped 35 shots in the 21-year-old prospect’s third NHL appearance for the league-worst Avalanche, who have lost nine straight and 19 of 21.
Flames 5, Wild 1
Sean Monahan scored twice to lead Calgary over Minnesota.
Deryk Engelland had a goal and an assist, and Alex Chiasson and Micheal Ferland also scored to help the Flames win consecutive games after losing four straight. Brian Elliott stopped 28 shots.
Jason Zucker scored and Devan Dubnyk finished with 31 saves for the Wild, who had won three straight and five of their previous six overall. Minnesota was also 12-0-2 in its last 14 road games.
St. Louis Blues sack Hitchcock
The St. Louis Blues sacked coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday, a day after a 5-3 defeat to the Winnipeg Jets that marked their fifth defeat in their past six NHL games.
But general manager Doug Armstrong decided it was time to make a move after the Blues endured their fourth straight home defeat in regulation — a defeat that dropped them to 24-21-5 for the season.
“We don’t lose with pride. It just felt like we were hit and miss night in and night out,” Armstrong said at a news conference Wednesday. “We need to demand more of ourselves. Our record is not indicative of what we thought.”
Armstrong said he expected the season to be “a rebuilding year” but even so, he said, “I don’t think we’ve given our best effort”.
He did acknowledge that Hitchcock “is paying the price for all our failures”.
The 65-year-old coach was hired by the Blues in November 2011 and has the second-most career wins by a St. Louis coach. He has won 781 games in his 20 years of coaching.
Hitchcock led the Blues to the Western Conference final last year, the first time the franchise reached that round since 2001.
When he announced prior to the season that this would be his last campaign, former Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo was brought in as his expected heir, and Yeo will be taking over as head coach beginning with Thursday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Yeo, 43, had a 173-132-44 record in five seasons as the coach of the Wild, guiding them to three post-season appearances. — Agencies
