Defenseman Erik Gustafsson stole the show from teammate Alex Ovechkin, who is still awaiting his 801st goal, by scoring a hat-trick in Washington’s 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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He’s the second defender to do that feat this season. The San Jose Sharks’ Erik Karlsson was the first to do so on November 1 against the Anaheim Ducks.
Gustafsson completed the hat-trick midway through the third period with a great wrist shot that ended in the top corner, using a small hole that Leafs goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov failed to cover. That goal allowed the “Caps” to breathe a little better at this point in front of three goals.
Other scorers for Washington included Trevor Van Riemsdyk and Garnet Hathaway. For the Leafs, William Nylander and Austin Matthews surprised Charlie Lindgren, who had his seventh win this season.
Sixth straight win for Rangers
Without Kevin Hayes, who was left out by John Tortorella on Saturday, the Flyers lost 6-3 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Rangers put the gas on in the third period with three goals, starting with the net from Jimmy Vesey, who took advantage of a poor exit from the Flyers’ zone to speed up goaltender Carter Hart. Pennsylvania forward Morgan Frost scored an important goal to bring the score down to just one goal, but Rangers captain Jacob Trouba scored the decisive goal with three minutes to go while shorthanded.
Artemi Panarin, K’Andre Miller, Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Lindgren completed the standings for the New York team. Goals from James Van Riemsdyk and Scott Laughton scored for the Flyers.
The win marks Rangers’ sixth straight win.
Ducks surprise Oilers
Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal muzzled the Edmonton Oilers offense by stopping 46 of 49 shots he faced and helped his team escape from Alberta in a 4-3 win.
The California team won two straight regular-time games for the first time this season, adding against the Canadiens in Montreal on Thursday.
The goal that made the difference came from John Klingberg’s racquet with just over six minutes left in the game.
Still, it was the Oilers who took the lead with a wrist shot from Darnell Nurse, which stunned Dostal in the first half. The Ducks responded with two goals in five minutes at the end of the first period. Young forward Mason McTavish got creative with the puck to put it back on Sam Carrick’s stick. He was also the one who set up Cam Fowler’s net so the Ducks could take the lead. Then the Oilers’ big guns Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid leveled the game.
McDavid continued his dream season with two more points, he now has 62 since the start of the season. He has at least one point in his last 12 games.