Devils top Vegas, help out Kings
Nathan Bastian had a goal and an assist, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Monday night.
The Golden Knights, playing at home, blew their chance to gain ground on the Kings in the Pacific Division, and their playoff hopes lessened severely with just five games left to play. Vegas is three points back of the Kings in the division and four points back of Dallas and Nashville for a wild-card berth.
In a rare win for the Devils — their 13th in their last 40 games — Andreas Johnsson and Jesper Boqvist also scored, while Andrew Hammond made 42 saves. It was Hammond's first win as a Devil; he's playing with his third organization this season and made just his eighth NHL appearance of the season.
Keegan Kolesar and Chandler Stephenson scored for Vegas and Robin Lehner stopped 25 shots.
CAPITALS 3, AVALANCHE 2 >> Marcus Johansson scored the go-ahead goal with 9:14 remaining, Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 shots and playoff-bound Washington snapped host Colorado's nine-game winning streak.
Alex Ovechkin and Garnet Hathaway also added goals for a Washington team that clinched an Eastern Conference playoff spot the night before, courtesy of Toronto beating the New York Islanders. The Capitals have qualified for the postseason in eight straight seasons. It's the second-longest active streak behind Pittsburgh (16).
FLAMES 5, BLACKHAWKS 2 >> Johnny Gaudreau, Dillon Dube and Blake Coleman scored in the first period, and Calgary beat the lowly Blackhawks at Chicago.
Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves as playoff-bound Calgary won for the seventh time in eight games. Gaudreau and Oliver Kylington tacked on long empty-netters for the Pacific Division leaders in the final 1:32.
Chicago lost for the 10th time in 11 games.
KRAKEN ADDING LYNCH, MACKLEMORE TO OWNERSHIP GROUP >> The expansion Seattle Kraken are adding some additional star power to their ownership group.
The Kraken announced Monday that Grammy winner Macklemore and former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch are joining the minority investor group.
The franchise is in the final weeks of its inaugural season after paying a $650 million expansion fee to join the NHL.
CANADIENS' PEZZETTA SUSPENDED 2 GAMES >> The NHL suspended Montreal Canadiens forward Michael Pezzetta two games on Monday for an illegal check to the head of Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie.
The incident occurred in the third period of Washington's 8-4 win in Montreal on Saturday. Pezzetta hit Oshie's head as he finished a check after the Capitals forward had made a play to move the puck out of Washington's zone.
Pezzetta was assessed a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head on the play.
RED WINGS' LARKIN OUT 8-10 WEEKS >> Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin had core muscle surgery on Monday, ending his second season as the team's captain. The Red Wings say his recovery is expected to last eight to 10 weeks. The 25-year-old Larkin leads the Red Wings with 31 goals and 69 points in 71 games.