Capitals Keep Rolling Along, NHL News

Print

Published on January 8 2016 6:25 am
Last Updated on January 8 2016 6:26 am

Alex Ovechkin moved closer to a major milestone, Braden Holtby kept up his stellar play and the Washington Capitals kept rolling.

Ovechkin scored his 497th goal, Holtby stopped 34 shots and the NHL-leading Capitals beat the New York Islanders 4-1 Thursday night.

Jason Chimera, Nate Schmidt and Nicklas Backstrom also scored to help Washington reach 63 points and become the first team with 30 wins.

Holtby improved to 26-4-2, including 18-0-2 in his last 21 games. He's the fourth goaltender in the past 20 seasons with an undefeated streak of at least 20 games.

"Our goal is to finish as high as we can in the standings to give us the best opportunity in the playoffs," Holtby said. "We were definitely tested, our blocking and our protection in front of the net."

Brock Nelson scored for New York and Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves in his first action in nearly three weeks. The Islanders had won four of six and fell to 7-2-2 against Metropolitan Division foes.

It was the teams' first meeting since the Capitals won a seven-game series with the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs last season.


Thursday, January 7 Scoreboard

Washington 4, NY Islanders 1

Florida 3, Ottawa 2

Philadelphia 4, Minnesota 3 (OT)

Dallas 2, Winnipeg 1 (SO)

Arizona 2, Calgary 1

Los Angeles 2, Toronto 1

Detroit 2, San Jose 1


Friday, January 8 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at New Jersey, 6 p.m.

Columbus at Carolina, 6 p.m.

Buffalo at Chicago, 7:30 p.m.

Nashville at Colorado, 8 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Edmonton, 8 p.m.

St. Louis at Anaheim, 9 p.m.


Saturday, January 9 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at NY Rangers, noon

NY Islanders at Philadelphia, noon

Pittsburgh at Montreal, 6 p.m.

Boston at Ottawa, 6 p.m.

Carolina at Columbus, 6 p.m.

Toronto at San Jose, 6 p.m.

Minnesota at Dallas, 7 p.m.

Nashville at Arizona, 8 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Vancouver, 9 p.m.

St. Louis at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.


Sunday, January 10 Schedule (All Times Central)

Buffalo at Winnipeg, 2 p.m.

Ottawa at Washington, 6 p.m.

Colorado at Chicago, 6 p.m.

New Jersey at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Detroit at Anaheim, 7 p.m.

Florida at Edmonton, 8:30 p.m.