NHL Capsules: Viktor Arvidsson scores in OT and Nashville tops Washington

WASHINGTON – Viktor Arvidsson scored 1:05 into overtime and the Nashville Predators bucked their season-long trend of OT struggles by beating the Washington Capitals 2-1 on Thursday night.

Arvidsson’s goal improved the Predators to 4-7 in the 3-on-3 period this season and 7-19 over the past two years. Pekka Rinne made 22 saves but didn’t face a shot in overtime from the Capitals, who lost for just the eighth time in 36 home games.

James Neal also scored his 21st goal for Nashville, which extended its winning streak to three and its point streak to five.

Brett Connolly scored the Capitals’ regulation goal, and Braden Holtby stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced. Washington fell to 7-3 in overtime this season.

Blackhawks 2, Senators 1

OTTAWA, Ontario – Richard Panik scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, lifting Chicago over Ottawa.

Panik scored on the power play off a pass from Patrick Kane with 3:01 remaining. Duncan Keith also scored and Scott Darling made 33 saves to help the Blackhawks get their second straight win.

Kyle Turris scored for Ottawa, and Mike Condon finished with 26 saves as the Senators squandered a chance to move in to first place in the Atlantic Division.

The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead at 8:04 of the third as Keith’s shot eventually found its way across the goal line.

Blue Jackets 2, Panthers 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Zach Werenski and Josh Anderson scored 3:26 apart in the second period to lead Columbus over Florida.

Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 33 saves for his NHL-leading 38th win to help Columbus pull two points behind Washington in the Presidents’ Trophy race for the best record in the league. The Blue Jackets have won six of their last eight games.

Jonathan Marchessault scored with 1:45 left in the first period for Florida, which lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

Columbus tied it with 4:05 left in the second when Werenski’s shot from the far left side of the ice caught goalie James Reimer looking for his 11th.

Anderson, who had an assist on Werenski’s goal, then put the Blue Jackets ahead with 39 seconds remaining in the second when he knocked Jack Johnson’s blue-line shot down and into the net for his 15th.

Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 0

TAMPA, Fla. – Morgan Rielly and Matt Martin scored 15 seconds apart during Toronto’s four-goal second period, Frederik Andersen made 33 saves and the Maple Leafs moved into the lead for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

Roman Polak, Connor Brown and James van Riemsdyk also scored for Toronto, which was coming off a 7-2 loss Tuesday night at Florida. The Maple Leafs hold a one-point advantage over Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders.

Tampa Bay, 12-3-3 over its last 18 games, pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy six minutes into the second after he allowed four goals on 15 shots. The goalie had gone 6-0-1 over his previous seven games.

After Rielly scored 2:24 into the second, Martin made it 3-0 on the next shift. Brown, on the power play, and van Riemsdyk added goals later in the period.

Kings 2, Sabres 0

LOS ANGELES – Jarome Iginla and rookie Adrian Kempe scored in the third period and Jonathan Quick earned his first shutout of the season in Los Angeles’ victory.

Dustin Brown had two assists for the Kings, who haven’t given up on their playoff hopes despite sitting four points behind St. Louis for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Los Angeles wrapped up its seven-game homestand with four victories, but back-to-back losses earlier in the week allowed the Blues to surge ahead with just 11 games to play.

Robin Lehner stopped 34 shots for the Sabres, who have lost six of seven and 10 of 12. Buffalo was shut out for the first time since Nov. 7 at Boston.

Blues 4, Sharks 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals to give him 34 on the season and Zach Sanford added his first since joining St. Louis to help the Blues complete a regular season sweep of San Jose.

Scottie Upshall also scored and Carter Hutton made 19 saves as the Blues bounced back from a 2-1 loss the previous night in Anaheim with a crucial win over the team that beat them in the Western Conference final last season.

St. Louis remained two points behind Nashville for third place in the Central Division and four points up on Los Angeles for the second wild-card spot.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored the lone goal for the Sharks. Aaron Dell made 32 saves.

Hurricanes 3, Wild 1

RALEIGH, N.C. – Victor Rask scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:24 to play and Carolina beat Minnesota.

Teuvo Teravainen added an empty-net goal with 1:24 remaining. Derek Ryan also scored for the Hurricanes and Eddie Lack stopped 30 shots. Carolina has points in five straight games (3-0-2).

Mikael Granlund scored for Minnesota and Devan Dubnyk finished with 21 saves. The Wild had won six straight overall against the Hurricanes, who improved to 6-1-2 against Minnesota at home.

The Wild finished a 1-4 road trip to give them five losses in their last six.

Jets 4, Islanders 2

NEW YORK – Bryan Little scored twice, Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves and Winnipeg beat New York to snap a four-game skid.

Mathieu Perreault and Adam Lowry also scored for the rested Jets, who had their game Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey, against the Devils postponed because of a snowstorm.

Little scored twice in the first period after Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech opened the scoring 38 seconds in. Perreault and Lowry each scored in the second.

OILERS 7, BRUINS 4

EDMONTON, Alberta – Patrick Maroon scored twice, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists and Connor McDavid added three assists as Edmonton beat up on Boston.

Benoit Pouliot, Anton Slepyshev, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Milan Lucic also scored for the Oilers, who moved one point ahead of Calgary for third place in the Pacific Division.

David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Dominic Moore and David Krejci had a goal each for the Bruins, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.

STARS 4, CANUCKS 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Tyler Seguin scored on the power play in the third period and Dallas beat Vancouver.

Ales Hemsky, Esa Lindell and Radek Faksa had the other goals for Dallas, which got 26 saves from Kari Lehtonen. John Klingberg and Jason Spezza each added two assists.

Sven Baertschi and Ben Hutton scored for Vancouver. Ryan Miller stopped 32 shots in his 12th start in the last 13 games.

Devils 6, Flyers 2

NEWARK, N.J. – Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall scored two goals apiece and New Jersey snapped a 10-game winless streak.

Kyle Palmieri and Joseph Blandisi also scored as New Jersey set a season-high for goals and ended an 0-8-2 streak, its longest without a win since going (0-7-4) in 1990-91.

Keith Kinkaid made 17 saves for the Devils, who lost seven one-goal games during their skid.

Michael Del Zotto and Brayden Schenn scored the Flyers, who lost goaltender Steve Mason to an undisclosed injury on Hall’s first goal early in the third period, a spectacular one-handed shot on a breakaway that gave the Devils a 4-2 lead.

Red Wings 5, Coyotes 4 (SO)

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Gustav Nyquist’s shootout goal gave Detroit a victory over Arizona.

Petr Mrazek stopped all three Coyotes shots in the shootout and finished with 22 saves, and the Red Wings won for just the second time in seven games. Henrik Zetterberg, Mike Green and Tomas Tatar each had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings.

Alex Goligoski had a goal and an assist, and Vrbata, Lawson Crouse and Jakob Chychrun also scored for the Coyotes, who snapped a three-game win streak. Josh Jooris had two assists and Mike Smith had 29 saves.