Capitals 6, Lightning 3

Alex Ovechkin reached 50 goals — again. And, then he added another for good measure while leading the Washington Capitals to a big victory.

The Washington star scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season in a win over Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

He has 658 career goals, moving past Brendan Shanahan for 13th on the all-time list. Ovechkin also hit the 50-goal mark for the eighth time in his career — a total surpassed only by Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy, who had 50 or more nine times.

"I've had a couple of chances in previous years to score 50, but I didn't," Ovechkin said. "You always want to do something special, obviously, but sometimes it's hard. I'm happy to get it done."

T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom also scored twice, while Braden Holtby finished with 28 saves as the Capitals won their fourth consecutive game and hold a three-point lead over the New York Islanders for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.

Nikita Kucherov scored his 39th goal of the season to increase his league-leading points total to 122. Tyler Johnson and J.T. Miller also scored for Tampa Bay, which played its final home game of the regular season. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots as the Lightning suffered their 15th regulation loss of the season.

Ovechkin hit the 50-goal mark at the 14:35 mark of the third period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Oshie at the bottom of the right circle past Vasilevskiy. He added his second of the game 1:40 later on the power play, hammering a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a feed from John Carlson for his 247th career power play goal to tie Luc Robitaille for fourth most in league history.

With a four-goal lead on Edmonton's Leon Draisatl for the Rocket Richard Trophy as the league's leading goal scorer, Ovechkin is attempting to top the NHL in that category for the eighth time in his career — which would be an NHL record.

"I think it goes under the radar a little bit how many games he's played," Washington right wing Tom Wilson said. "He's always in. He's always playing hard. They haven't been easy miles on him. He's done it hard and he's played that way for a long time and he's continues to just blow the roof off with his goal scoring. We're pretty lucky to have him around and he deserves it for sure."

At the age of 33, Ovechkin is also on pace to be the oldest player since Phil Esposito in 1974-75 to lead the league in goals.

"It's been, obviously, a phenomenal milestone year for him and it's going to continue to be for the next few years as well," Washington head coach Todd Reirden said. "We're so fortunate to have this player in Washington and playing for the Capitals. A generational talent. And, you know, the NHL is fortunate to have a guy like this. We're spoiled in Washington for sure, but the whole National Hockey League is spoiled to have a guy like this. I'm happy for him because he put the work in. He put the work in, and he deserves it."

Washington had a 3-0 lead after the first period on Backstrom's first of the night and a pair from Oshie. Backstrom became the seventh player on Washington to reach the 20-goal mark this season. Backstrom made it 4-0 7:53 in to the second before Miller scored for Tampa Bay.

Johnson converted a breakaway 3:36 into third before Ovechkin put the game out of reach with his 50th and 51st.

"It's the milestone as a goal scorer," said Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who has reached the 50-goal mark twice in his career. "He's done it plenty of times. That's why he's been the best goal scorer in the last 10, 15 years for a reason and he did it again tonight."

Islanders 5, Sabres 1

Jordan Eberle continued his scoring surge with another goal, Anthony Beauvillier added two of his own and New York beat Buffalo to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2016.

Michael Dal Colle and Ryan Pulock also scored for the Islanders. They have 99 points in their first season under coach Barry Trotz and secured a postseason spot in March for the first time since 1990.

The Islanders have won four of their last five games.

Buffalo's Victor Olofsson spoiled Robin Lehner's shutout bid with his first NHL goal on the power play at 13:28 of the third period. Lehner made 31 saves.

Blues 3, Devils 2 (OT)

Defenseman Vince Dunn scored in close with 2.8 seconds left in overtime and St. Louis beat New Jersey for the 11th straight time.

Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak also scored for the Blues, and Jake Allen made 25 saves. St Louis is 27-10-4 since the turn of the year. Drew Stafford and Joey Anderson scored for the Devils.

Sharks 4, Golden Knights 3 (OT)

Brent Burns scored on a power play at 22 seconds of overtime and San Jose beat Vegas to snap a seven-game losing streak.

The Sharks clinched second place in the Pacific Division and home ice in the first round of the playoffs, ending their longest skid of the season and sending Vegas to its franchise-worst fifth straight loss.

Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for San Jose, and Martin Jones made 23 saves.

William Karlsson had a goal and had an assist for the Golden Knights. Cody Eakin and Shea Theodore also scored.

Hurricanes 5, Flyers 2

Teuvo Teravainen and Dougie Hamilton scored 21 seconds apart in the first period, and Carolina beat Philadelphia to boost its playoff hopes and eliminate the Flyers from contention.

Justin Faulk, Jaccob Slavin and Brock McGinn and Petr Mrazek made 30 saves for Carolina. The Hurricanes are in position for the first Eastern Conference wild card.

Claude Giroux and Oskar Lindblom scored for Philadelphia.

Blue Jackets 5, Predators 2

Cam Atkinson scored twice and Artemi Panarin had four assists to lead Columbus past Nashville for its fourth straight victory.

David Savard, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Boone Jenner also had goals, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves for Columbus. The Blue Jackets maintained their hold on the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg scored for Nashville.

Canadiens 3, Jets 1

Joel Armia, Jeff Petry and Jordan Weal scored, and Montreal beat Winnipeg to improve its playoff hopes.

Carey Price made 23 saves for the Canadiens. They are fighting Carolina and Columbus in the race for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. Mathieu Perreault scored for Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck made 40 saves.

Senators 4, Maple Leafs 2

Anthony Duclair scored twice, and Craig Anderson made 42 saves to help last-place Ottawa beat Toronto.

Toronto missed a chance to clinch a playoff berth, falling to 3-5-2 in its last 10 games.

Magnus Paajarvi and Cody Ceci also scored for the Senators. Auston Matthews and Connor Brown scored for Toronto.

Kings 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)

Drew Doughty scored a power-play goal with 11.6 seconds remaining in overtime for the Kings.

Michael Amadio and Austin Wagner each had a goal in regulation, and Jack Campbell made 33 saves for Los Angeles.

Erik Gustafsson and Alex DeBrincat scored for Chicago, which pulled within six points of Colorado for the second wild card in the Western Conference with four games remaining. Corey Crawford made 26 saves.

Canucks 3, Stars 2 (SO)

Markus Granlund scored in the eighth round of the shootout, leading the Canucks over the Dallas Stars.

Tim Schaller and Sven Baertschi scored in regulation for the Canucks, who were officially eliminated from the playoff race on Friday. Jacob Markstrom made 38 saves. Granlund's goal was the only score in the shootout, which ended when Mattias Janmark missed for Dallas.

Andrew Cogliano and Alexander Radulov had goals for the Stars, who fell short of pulling off a playoff spot-clinching win after erasing a 2-0 deficit in the third period.

Ducks 5, Oilers 1

Rickard Rakell scored three goals in the second period, powering Anaheim to the victory.

Corey Perry and Devin Shore also scored for the Ducks, who have won two of their last three.

Edmonton ended John Gibson's shutout bid with 6:51 left in the game on Sam Gagner's goal. Gibson finished with 30 saves while sending the Oilers to their second loss in a row.