NEW YORK — Alexis Lafreniere and Mika Zibanejad each had a goal and an assist, and the New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Thursday night.
Chris Kreider and Barclay Goodrow also scored and Igor Shesterkin stopped 36 shots to help New York win for the fifth time in six games. The Rangers have won 8 of 11 overall (8-2-1) and 9 of 12 (9-1-2) at home.
Alex Ovechkin scored and Ilya Samsonov had 17 saves for Washington, which had won three of its last four but was playing for the first time since beating Philadelphia a week earlier.
DEVILS 6, PENGUINS 1: Jesper Bratt scored twice in the first six minutes, rookie Nico Daws made 37 saves and last-place New Jersey won at Pittsburgh.
Bratt tapped in a loose puck just 1:16 into the game for his 15th goal of the season and followed with his 16th less than five minutes later to give the Devils a jolt in his return after missing two games with an upper-body injury. Yegor Sharangovich made it 3-0 just 57 seconds after Bratt’s second goal and the Devils cruised from there.
BLUE JACKETS 6, PANTHERS 3: Cole Sillinger and Justin Danforth scored 10 seconds apart in the third period and Columbus won at Sunrise, Florida.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, Gabriel Carlsson, Boone Jenner and Patrik Laine also scored to help Columbus beat the Panthers for the first time in nine games and extend their winning streak to a season-best four games.
Jakub Voracek had two assists, and J-F Berube stopped 39 shots.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist for Florida, and Sam Bennett and MacKenzie Weegar also scored, and Aleksander Barvov had two assists.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, WILD 1: Auston Matthews scored his 35th and 36th goals to take the NHL lead and host Toronto broke a three-game losing streak.
Matthews broke a tie midway through the third period. He stripped Wild fourth-line right wing Brandon Duhaime of the puck outside the Minnesota blue line and turned the other way for a give-and-go goal with Mitch Marner.
Matthew moved a goal ahead of Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for the NHL lead.
Alex Kerfoot added an empty-netter in the final minute.
NOTES
PREDATORS: Pekka Rinne, who led the Nashville Predators to their lone Stanley Cup final in 2017, is adding another first to his long list of accomplishments.
The longtime goaltender becomes the first player to have his jersey retired by the organization when the Predators raise Rinne’s No. 35 to the rafters before Thursday night’s game against Dallas.
HURRICANES: Coach Rod Brind’Amour said defenseman Tony DeAngelo could miss a month due to an injury.
Brind’Amour didn’t specify the nature of the injury, saying only that he “did something in his midsection.”
DeAngelo, who left the Hurricanes’ victory Monday night win at Philadelphia early, has nine goals and 40 points this season to lead Carolina’s defensemen.
Fellow defenseman Brendan Smith is recovering after taking a puck to the ear while sliding to block a shot Sunday in a win at Pittsburgh. He was taken to a hospital afterward for evaluation but was released to travel with the team for the Philadelphia win, though he didn’t play.
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