Auston Matthews had two goals and three assists to match a career high with five points and the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame two goals by Alexander Ovechkin in a 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
Matthews scored his first goal of the game just 16 seconds in and tallied his league-leading 57th with 7:01 left in the second to give the Maple Leafs a 3-1 lead.
Max Domi had a career-high four assists and John Tavares and William Nylander each added a goal and two assists as Toronto improved to 3-1-1 in its last five games.
Ovechkin’s two goals gave him 23 on the season and 845 for his career, 50 shy of passing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record that once seemed unapproachable.
Washington had a three-game winning streak snapped and remained one point behind Detroit for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Seguin scores in return as Stars beat Coyotes again
Tyler Seguin scored in his first game in almost a month and the Dallas Stars moved into a tie for the Central Division lead with a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
Jamie Benn, Seguin and Logan Stankoven scored second-period goals and Jason Robertson and Craig Smith also tallied for the Stars, who are 18-0-1 in their last 19 home games against the Coyotes. They lost last at home to the then-Phoenix Coyotes in regulation on Feb. 7, 2012.
Seguin scored his 21st of the season with 7:36 left in the second to extend Dallas’ lead to 3-1. It was his first game since Feb. 22 after he missed 11 with a lower-body injury.
Clayton Keller and John Leonard scored for the Coyotes, who were seeking their first three-game winning streak since December.
Kings chase Fleury, cool Wild
David Rittich stopped 30 shots for his second shutout in three games and the Los Angeles Kings had six different goal scorers in a 6-0 thrashing of the Minnesota Wild.
Kevin Fiala, Anže Kopitar, Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson each had a goal and an assist to help the Kings improve to 6-1-1 in their last eight home games. They moved four points ahead of fourth-place Vegas in the Pacific Division and within three points of second-place Edmonton.
Kopitar became the 52nd player in NHL history to reach 1,200 points with an assist on Fiala's goal in the first period.
The Wild were shut out for the fourth time this season and had an eight-game point streak snapped.
Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 16 shots. Filip Gustavsson turned aside 10 of 11 shots the rest of the way.
NHL: Oilers beat Stars for 3-2 lead in Western final
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice on the power play and Stuart Skinner took a shutout late into the third period as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the top-seeded Dallas Stars, 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference final on Friday night.
Philip Broberg had the other goal and Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists for the Oilers, who can advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2005-06 with a win at home in Game 6 on Sunday night.
Skinner was perfect until Wyatt Johnson’s goal with 5:51 remaining. He held the Stars scoreless the rest of the way to finish with 19 saves in his second straight win after losses in Games 2 and 3.
There hadn’t been a power-play goal by either team in this series until Nugent-Hopkins scored on a rebound 18 seconds after a penalty in the first period. He struck again just 16 seconds after the Stars took a penalty early in the second period for a 2-0 advantage.
Dallas was limited to six shots on goal halfway through the game and dropped to 4-6 at home this postseason. The Stars are 0 for 11 on the power play in this series.
NHL: Panthers hold off Rangers for 3-2 lead in East final
Anton Lundell snapped a tie midway through the third period and Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final on Thursday night.
Gustav Forsling also scored for the Panthers, who can book a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final with a win at home in Game 6 on Saturday.
If a seventh game is necessary, it will be at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
The Panthers, who got 25 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, lost to Vegas last year in the championship series.
Chris Kreider scored a short-handed goal and Alexis Lafreniere tallied in the final minute, but the Rangers couldn’t find the equaliser and lost their second straight.
New York is 3-5 in its last eight playoff games after opening with seven consecutive wins.
The go-ahead goal came after the Rangers lost the puck in the Florida end. Eetu Luostarien got the puck, found Lundell at the New York blue line. His shot from the right circle beat Igor Shesterkin, although it may have hit off the stick of Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider.
Bennett’s empty-net goal proved necessary when Lafreniere made it a one-goal game with 50 seconds left.
NHL: Oilers score 2 in 51 seconds to even Western Conference final
Mattias Janmark scored a short-handed goal in the second period to snap a tie and Leon Draisaitl tallied 51 seconds later as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars to even the Western Conference final at two games apiece on Wednesday night.
Ryan McLeod and Evan Bouchard had first-period goals and Connor McDavid set up three scores for the Oilers, who trailed 2-0 less than six minutes into the game.
The series shifts back to Dallas for Game 5 on Friday night.
Stuart Skinner bounced back from consecutive losses with 20 saves.
Wyatt Johnston staked the Stars to a lead just 58 seconds into the game and Esa Lindell made it 2-0 at 5:29 of the opening period.
Dallas had a power play with eight minutes left in regulation and a chance to make it a one-goal game, but Edmonton killed its 23rd straight penalty before Mattias Ekholm’s empty-netter sealed the win.
The Oilers made three lineup changes, inserting defenseman Philip Broberg along with McLeod and fellow forward Corey Perry for Vincent Desharnais, Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick.
Stars defenseman Chris Tanev left in the second period with a lower body injury and did not return.
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