NHL roundup: Auston Matthews, Leafs crush Caps

Field Level Media|published: Thu 21st March, 02:39 2024

Mar 20, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) celebrates with Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll (60) after a goal against the Washington Capitals during the third period at Capital One Arena. credits: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

Auston Matthews had two goals and three assists to match his career-high point total and Max Domi contributed a career-best four assists to lead the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-3 win against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

John Tavares and William Nylander each had a goal and two assists for the Maple Leafs (39-20-9, 87 points), who avoided what would have been their first three-game losing streak since mid-January. Jake McCabe, Bobby McMann and Tyler Bertuzzi also scored and Joseph Woll made 18 saves for Toronto.

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals to pull within 50 of surpassing Wayne Gretzky for the all-time NHL lead and Charlie Lindgren stopped 22 shots for the Capitals (33-26-9, 75 points), who came up short in a bid to win four in a row for the first time since mid-November.

Ovechkin has five goals in the past three games, 23 on the season and 845 in his NHL career. Washington also got a goal from Connor McMichael.

Stars 5, Coyotes 2

Jamie Benn scored in his 1,100th career game, highlighting Dallas' three-goal second period during a victory over visiting Arizona.

Goals by Logan Stankoven and Tyler Seguin sandwiched Benn's score as Dallas overcame a 1-0 deficit and won for the seventh time in nine games. Jason Robertson (two points) and Craig Smith added goals 1:13 apart early in the third period for the Stars, and Jake Oettinger stopped 23 shots.

Connor Ingram made 28 saves while Clayton Keller and John Leonard scored for the Coyotes, who entered after back-to-back victories following a 1-4-0 rut.

Kings 6, Wild 0

Anze Kopitar collected one goal and one assist to surpass 1,200 points in his career and David Rittich posted his career-high third shutout of the season as host Los Angeles trounced Minnesota.

Phillip Danault, Kevin Fiala and Viktor Arvidsson each also netted one goal and one assist while Matt Roy and Jordan Spence added one goal apiece for the Kings. Rittich made 31 saves to record his seventh career shutout. Adrian Kempe, Trevor Moore and Drew Doughty each collected two assists.

Wild starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled after surrendering five goals on 16 shots. Filip Gustavsson stopped 10 of 11 shots in relief.

—Field Level Media

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