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NHL roundup: Nikita Kucherov leads Lightning past Blue Jackets for sixth straight win

Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov breaks through the defense of Dallas Stars' Andrew Cogliano, left, Tyler Seguin and Brett Ritchie, right, during the second period on Monday night in Tampa, Florida. (Mike Carlson / AP)
Associated Press

Nikita Kucherov had two goals and three assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 Monday night in Columbus, Ohio, for their sixth straight win.

Brayden Point scored twice and Steven Stamkos also had a goal for the Lightning, who are 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 40 shots and got his 26th win. Kucherov now has 99 points to lead the league, with seven goals in the last five games.

Lukas Sedlak scored and Joonas Korpisalo finished with 15 saves for the Blue Jackets, who had won four straight.

Columbus outshot the Lightning 19-6 in the first period, but Kucherov scored twice. Stamkos made it 3-0 with just 28.1 seconds left in the second, and Point scored twice in the third.

Sedlak spoiled Vasilevskiy’s bid for a third consecutive shutout with 1:45 remaining.

Senators 8, Blackhawks 7: In Chicago, Alex DeBrincat had three goals and two assists, and Chicago held on to beat Ottawa for its ninth win in 11 games.

Patrick Kane scored his 36th goal and added two assists to extend his point streak to 18 games – with 14 goals and 26 assists during the stretch– the longest by a player in the NHL this season. Dylan Strome also had a goal and two assists in his fourth three-point game since joining the Blackhawks on Nov. 25, and Brandon Saad, Gustav Forsling and Jonathan Toews also scored.

The 21-year-old DeBrincat’s five points set a career high. His fourth NHL hat trick gives him 32 goals in his second season.

Colin White had two goals and an assist, Thomas Chabot scored twice, and Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan and Rudolfs Balcers also had goals for NHL-worst Ottawa, which lost for the eighth time in its last 11.

Avalanche 3, Golden Knights 0: In Denver, Andrew Agozzino scored his first NHL goal, Semyon Varlamov stopped 40 shots for his second shutout of the season and Colorado ended a six-game home skid by beating Vegas.

Tyson Jost and Matt Calvert also scored as the Avalanche won their first game at the Pepsi Center since Jan. 19. Agozzino also added an assist.

Malcolm Subban had 35 saves for a Golden Knights team that’s now dropped eight of their last 11 games. Subban started back-to-back games for the first time all season with Vegas electing to rest Marc-Andre Fleury.

Flames 5, Coyotes 2: In Calgary, Alberta, Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund each had a goal and an assist in the third period to help Calgary beat Arizona.

Mark Giordano also had a goal and an assist, and Derek Ryan and Austin Czarnik had the other goals for the Flames, who won their second straight to improve to 3-3-2 since the All-Star break. Elias Lindholm assisted on both third-period goals, Rasmus Andersson also had two assists, and Mike Smith stopped 27 shots in his third straight start (2-0-1).

Conor Garland and Jordan Weal scored for the Coyotes. Calvin Pickard finished with 29 saves in his third start for Arizona since being claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Nov. 29.

Capitals 3, Kings 2: In Los Angeles, Alex Ovechkin scored two power-play goals, and Washington beat Los Angeles.

It was the 10th multi-goal game this season for Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 42 goals. He has scored a goal in three straight games and has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the past eight games. He is on pace for 57 goals, which would be the second-most in his 14-year career. He scored 65 goals in 2007-08.

Brett Connolly scored Washington’s other goal and John Carlson had two assists to go over 300 for his career. Pheonix Copley made 26 saves for his third straight win.

Alex Iafallo and Ilya Kovalchuk had third-period goals for Los Angeles, which is 0-3-2 in its last five. Dustin Brown had an assist for his 600th point. Jack Campbell made 18 saves.

Bruins 6, Sharks 5 (OT): In San Jose, California, Charlie McAvoy scored the game-winning goal in overtime and Boston beat San Jose.

McAvoy’s fourth goal of the season came with 1:01 left in overtime.

After blowing an early three-goal lead, the Bruins trailed 5-4 with 1:49 left in the game when Chris Wagner tied it with his eighth goal of the season.

The Bruins won their season-best sixth straight game and extended their point streak to 11 games (8-0-3).

Boston moved to three points ahead of Toronto for second place in the Atlantic Division.