WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin got his 26th goal of the season, Braden Holtby gave the Capitals another steady performance in net and Washington beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 on Tuesday night for its fourth straight victory.
Brett Connolly, Lars Eller, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson also scored for Washington, which picked up its second consecutive shutout. Holtby stopped 23 shots in an easy outing two days after backup Philipp Grubauer made 38 saves to shut out the Los Angeles Kings.
Holtby’s seventh shutout of the season ties him with the Kings’ Peter Budaj for the NHL lead. It’s his fourth in 12 games.
With goaltender Eddie Lack making his first start since Nov. 6 after being plagued by concussion problems, the Hurricanes couldn’t mount much of an attack to support him. Lack allowed five goals on 28 shots as Carolina’s winning streak ended at three.
The Capitals have scored four or more goals in 14 of their past 18 games and put up five or more in nine consecutive home games, the first team to do that since the 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup.
Washington has won 10 games in a row at home.
RANGERS 4, DUCKS 1: Henrik Lundqvist made a season-high 43 saves, Michael Grabner scored twice and New York won at home to give Coach Alain Vigneault his 600th career victory.
Jakob Silfverberg scored for Anaheim and John Gibson finished with 16 saves.
FLAMES 3, PENGUINS 2: Kris Versteeg scored the only goal in the shootout and as Calgary won at Pittsburgh.
SABRES 5, SHARKS 4: Evander Kane scored 1:05 into OT and Buffalo overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period to win at home.
LIGHTNING 5, KINGS 0: Ben Bishop made 28 saves, Nikita Kucherov scored twice during a three-goal second period and Tampa Bay won at home.
BLUE JACKETS 3, RED WINGS 2: Seth Jones took a drop pass from Brandon Dubinsky and wired a high slap shot past goalie Petr Mrazek 3:22 into overtime to give Columbus a win at Detroit.
The Blue Jackets ended an 0-1-1 skid and haven’t lost three straight games yet this season.
BLUES 6, SENATORS 0: Jake Allen made 30 saves, Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and St. Louis won at Ottawa.
Magnus Paajarvi, Patrik Berglund, Alex Steen and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Blues (27-22-5). It was Allen’s second shutout of the season.
Ottawa goaltender Andrew Hammond had 24 saves in his first start since Dec. 18. He had been sidelined by a high ankle sprain.
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