WASHINGTON (AP) — Ryan Leonard scored a highlight-reel goal and the Washington Capitals beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Saturday afternoon.
asserted
Capitals → score → afternoon
Ilya Protas, Dylan Strome and Boone Jenner also scored and Vincent Desharnais had two assists for the Capitals, who have won back-to-back games.
asserted
who → score → games
Arsenal Gritsyuk and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who dropped to 4-4-0 to open the season.
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who → score → season
The Devils got on the board first roughly halfway through the first period, when Gritsyuk beat Logan Thompson through traffic at the end of New Jersey’s second power play of the period.
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Gritsyuk → get → period
With 3:18 to go in the first, though, Leonard would even the score and change the momentum with his spectacular goal.
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Leonard → go → goal
In the final seconds of Washington’s power play, Leonard took the puck up ice himself, going coast to coast before beating Luke Hughes, cutting to the inside and deking out Jake Allen for his third goal of the season.
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Leonard → take → season
From there, the Capitals took over the game, starting with back-to-back goals in a span of four minutes, 46 seconds to open the second period.
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Capitals → take → period
First, Protas buried a cross-zone feed from Alex Ovechkin to give Washington the 2-1 lead.
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Protas → bury → lead
Then, Strome finished off a passing play from Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou to put Washington up by two.
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Strome → finish → two
Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:
HURRICANES 3 JETS 2
WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nikolaj Ehlers scored a power-play goal 6:43 into the third period to lift Carolina to their seventh straight victory with a 3-2 decision over Winnipeg.
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Ehlers → score → Winnipeg
The former Jet fired a wrist shot past the glove of Clay Stevenson.
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Jet → fire → Stevenson
Mark Jankowski — also on the power play — and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored for Carolina as well.
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Jankowski → score → Carolina
Hurricanes defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists.
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Gostisbehere → have → assists
Pyotr Kochetkov made 21 saves and has posted victories in all five starts this season.
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Kochetkov → make → starts
With fewer than 40 seconds remaining, Kochetkov made a pad save on Cole Perfetti, following that up with a save on 18-year-old Viggo Bjorck off the helmet to preserve Carolina’s lead.
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Kochetkov → remain → lead
Mark Scheifele and Alex Iafallo scored for Winnipeg, which lost its first game this season on home ice in regulation.
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which → score → regulation
Stevenson stopped 34 shots.
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Stevenson → stop → shots
LIGHTNING 4 CANUCKS 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored twice, Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Dennis Hildeby stopped 12 shots as Tampa Bay defeated Vancouver 4-2.
Guentzel scored the winner in the third period as Tampa Bay came back from a two-goal deficit.
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Bay → lightne → deficit
Pontus Holmberg also scored and Brayden Point finished with two assists for Tampa Bay, which improved to 5-0 at home.
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which → score → home
Linus Karlsson and Elias Pettersson scored while Kevin Lankinen finished with 31 saves for the Canucks, who finished winless (0-4-1) on a five-game road trip.
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who → score → trip
Guentzel picked up the winner at 2:04 of the third after Charle-Edouard D’Astous slid a pass off the wall to Guentzel for the quick snap shot that deflected off the stick of Vancouver’s Liam Ohgren.
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that → pick → Ohgren
For the second consecutive game, the Canucks had a 2-0 lead they were not able to hold.
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they → have → lead
PANTHERS 8 KRAKEN 3
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe had a history-making natural hat trick, Sam Bennett scored his first three goals of the season and Florida rolled past Seattle 8-3.
The Panthers became the first team in NHL history with natural hat tricks in three consecutive games, after Brady Tkachuk had them in wins over Columbus on Tuesday and Vancouver on Thursday.
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Tkachuk → have → Thursday
Florida also became only the third team in 30 years to have a hat trick — of any variety — in three consecutive games.
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Florida → become → games
With four hat tricks already this season — all coming in the last three games — Florida has matched its total from the last three regular seasons combined.
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Florida → come → seasons
Niko Mikkola and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Panthers, and Matthew Tkachuk had three assists.
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Tkachuk → score → assists
Freddy Gaudreau, Shane Wright and Ryker Evans had goals for Seattle, while Kaapo Kakko and Berkly Catton both had two-assist games.
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Kakko → have → games
TORONTO (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the winner and added an assist to help the New York beat Toronto 4-1.
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York → score → Toronto
Simon Holmstrom scored twice, the second into an empty net, and Anthony Duclair also connected for New York (4-3-1).
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Duclair → score → York
Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves.
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Sorokin → make → saves
Colton Sissons replied for Toronto (3-4-2).
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Sissons → reply → Toronto
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 shots for the Maple Leafs.
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Bobrovsky → stop → Leafs
They have dropped three straight games and four of their last five.
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They → drop → five
The Islanders jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 8:18 of the first period when Duclair took a pass in the slot and changed the angle before firing through a partial screen on Bobrovsky.
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Duclair → jump → Bobrovsky
Coming off a hat trick Thursday in a 5-4 home shootout loss to Buffalo, Maple Leafs winger Kirill Marchenko had a couple of chances that Sorokin turned aside in the second.
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Sorokin → come → second
No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna, who was benched for the second half of Thursday’s contest, had an opportunity it late in the second period on a partial breakaway, but fired high and wide.
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who → bench → breakaway
The Islanders raced the other way, with Horvat eventually beating Bobrovsky with 1:27 to go.
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Horvat → race → 1:27
Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the game 54 seconds into overtime to lift Montreal over Buffalo.
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Caufield → score → Buffalo
Caufield had a breakaway after Josh Norris missed his shot on a 3-on-1 rush.
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Norris → have → rush
He ripped a shot into the top-left corner, extending his franchise record with his 14th regular-season overtime goal.
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He → rip → goal
…and 61 more, not listed.