Capitals overcome Penguins, clinch division title

The Washington Capitals clinched the top spot in the Metropolitan Division for the third consecutive season, scoring a single goal in each period en route to a 3-1 victory over the host Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.

Capitals goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 36 shots for the win, but Alex Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet in his 1,000th NHL game. Washington won for the sixth time in seven games.

The second-place Penguins are trying to hold off the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New Jersey Devils in the Metropolitan. Pittsburgh holds a two-point lead on Columbus and Philadelphia, and a three-point lead on New Jersey. However, the Blue Jackets, Flyers and Devils all have three games remaining, one more than the Penguins.

In other NHL action, Ondrej Kase scored 1:34 into overtime as the Anaheim Ducks rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the visiting Colorado Avalanche 4-3 to move past the Los Angeles Kings into third place in the Pacific Division. "OESFX $PHMJBOP IBE B HPBM BOE BO BTTJTU BOE 3ZBO ,FTMFS and Adam Henrique also scored for Anaheim. Tyson Jost scored two goals and Alexander Kerfoot had a goal and an assist for Colorado, which gained a point to move into the second wild card spot ahead of the St. Louis Blues.

Meanwhile, Taylor Hall’s short-handed breakaway goal at 15:31 of the third period gave the New Jersey Devils a 2-1 road victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Hall netted the first short-handed goal of his NHL career, beating Canadiens goaltender Carey Price with a quick shot to the stick side. The goal extended his points streak to eight games.

The Devils moved closer to making the playoffs for the first time since 2011-12. They now have eight wins in their past 11 games. New Jersey is in contention for either third place in the Metropolitan Division, which guarantees postseason participaUJPO PS BO &BTUFSO $POGFSFODF XJME DBSE TQPU