Igor Shesterkin had to retreat to the locker room with 40 seconds left in overtime, but he was able to get back in time for the shootout that the New York Rangers won in 9and round to beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers keeper came into contact with Craig Smith in extra time, before making some important saves. During a stoppage in play, Shesterkin retired to the locker room to undergo concussion protocol.
Alexandar Georgiev then came into the game. The backup goaltender did not receive a shot before the end of overtime. Shesterkin then came out of the locker room to the applause of the crowd to initiate the shootout in front of his net.
Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin scored with magnificent fakes against Jeremy Swayman, but Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle provided the lines in the first three rounds.
All the other players were unable to score, until K’Andre Miller made the difference in the 9and round.
Charlie Coyle opened the scoring for the Bruins with his 11and goal of the season at 3:39 of the 1D period.
Filip Chytil gave the cue during the 3and period to force the extension.
The Bruins were without injured Patrice Bergeron and suspended Brad Marchand.
The Rangers thus sign a third victory in a row. They’ll be back in action Thursday night when the Detroit Red Wings visit.
Ovechkin scores twice, 700th victory for Laviolette
Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, including his 30th of the season, to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators.
Joe Snively and Nick Jensen have also threaded the needle for the Capitals, who have won two of their last three games.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 33 shots for the Washington squad.
Michael McCarron was the lone scorer for the Predators, who suffered a third straight loss. Juuse Saros made 24 saves.
With this victory, the Capitals offered their head coach, Peter Laviolette, his 700th career win.
Only two active coaches have more NHL wins than him: Barry Trotz (894) of the New York Islanders and Lindy Ruff (772) of the New Jersey Devils.
Ovechkin reached 30 goals in a season for the 16th time. He is the only player in history to have 16 30-goal seasons with the same team.
5 unanswered Lightning goals ruin Mercer’s performance
The Tampa Bay Lightning scored five unanswered goals to win 6-3 over the New Jersey Devils.
Victor Hedman gave the defending champions a 4-3 lead at 7:17 of the third period with a slapshot from the top of the circle.
Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Patrick Maroon and Pierre-Édouard Bellemare all had a goal and an assist, as did Jack Hughes in the case of the Devils.
Dawson Mercer also stood out with a goal and two assists in the loss.
Devils goaltender Jon Gillies gave up six times on 30 shots before giving way to Nico Daws who made two saves.
The Devils led 3-1 after Hughes’ goal, but Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn scored before the end of the 2and period to create equality.
The Lighning then scored three goals in three minutes and four seconds midway through the final period to secure victory.
It’s the fourth time this season that Tampa Bay has come back from a deficit of more than one goal to sign the victory.
Olofsson finally ends his streak
Victor Olofsson snapped a 30-game scoreless streak as the Buffalo Sabers beat the New York Islanders 6-3.
A shot from Olofsson’s right circle gave the Sabers a 4-3 lead. The striker hadn’t scored since October 30.
Olofsson completed his brace in an empty net.
Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist, while Dylan Cozens had three assists for the Sabers (16-24-8).
Dustin Tokarski earned the win with a 30-save performance.
The Islanders (17-20-6) have now lost three straight.
Kyle Palmieri distinguished himself with two goals, while Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves.
Tage Thompson scored the first shorthanded goal of his career in the win.
Stars end 19-game streak with at least one Avalanche point
The Dallas Stars ended the Colorado Avalanche’s 19-game point streak with a 4-1 win.
The Avalanche hadn’t lost in regulation since Dec. 16, when the Predators beat them 5-2 in Nashville.
The streak finally ended at 19 games (17-0-2), which is a team record.
The Avalanche sit atop the overall NHL standings with 72 points in 47 games.
Joe Pavelski scored twice for the Stars, while Jake Oettinger made 46 saves. Jason Robertson and Tyler Seguin were the other scorers for the Texas squad.
Nathan MacKinnon was the only one to find the back of the net for the Avalanche. The team was already trailing 2-0 at the time.
Pavel Francouz stopped 16 shots.
Oilers remain undefeated under Woodcroft
Kailer Yamamoto scored the game-clinching goal with 4:46 remaining in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers kept their perfect record under Jay Woodcroft to a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
Both Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit the mark for the Oilers, who are 3-0-0 since Woodcroft replaced Dave Tippett as head coach last Thursday.
Zach Hyman and Evander Kane added empty-net goals, while Mike Smith stopped 30 shots.
Phillip Danault and Arthur Kaliyev provided the reply for the Kings, who saw their streak of at least one game stop at six.
Cal Petersen conceded three goals on 27 shots.
Prior to the game, the Kings held a ceremony to honor Drew Doughty’s 1,000th career game. The defender was joined on the ice by his wife and their daughter to mark this achievement which occurred on January 27.
