It wasn't the most exciting showdown between the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators, but instead, a goalie duel between rising starter Logan Thompson and rookie Leevi Meriläinen. Then, Alex Ovechkin did what he does best: steal the show.

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Washington Capitals found a strong opponent in the Ottawa Senators as both teams failed to score any goals during the first three periods. Alex Ovechkin broke the tie in overtime. His goal came off a pass from Rasmus Sandin during a 2-on-1. He fired a snap shot past Senators goalie Leevi Merilainen.

Alex Ovechkin is closing in on Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record. Ovechkin has scored 872 goals in 1,451 games. He is just 23 goals away from breaking Gretzky's tally of 894 goals in 1,487 games.

One night after getting a goalie goal, the Pittsburgh Penguins (19-21-8) struggled to get a skater to score. The revamped and increasingly dominant Washington Capitals (31-10-5) smothered the Penguins’ every offensive hope and got just enough offense to pin down the Penguins for a 4-1 at Capital One Arena Saturday.

Pittsburgh’s game at Washington on Saturday night will be the 71st regular-season meeting of the team’s superstar captains, the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby and the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin. The pair have developed an intense rivalry and at the same time become good friends since both began their NHL careers in 2005-06.

Pittsburgh's game at Washington on Saturday night will be the 71st regular-season meeting of the team's superstar captains, the Penguins' Sidney Crosby and the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin.

Artemi Panarin scored twice, Chris Kreider got the go-ahead goal with 9:38 left and the New York Rangers rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night. Reilly Smith tied it 3-all with a short-handed goal 28 seconds into the third period for the Rangers,

It took a great goal scorer to end the impasse between the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators on Thursday.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored two goals and the surging Detroit Red Wings beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 on Thursday night. Larkin, Jonatan Berggren and Patrick Kane had power-play goals for Detroit, which also got a goal from Marco Kasper. Cam Talbot stopped 40 shots for the Red Wings, who have won eight of their last nine games.