Caps’ Alex Ovechkin records 1,000th career goal in 3-2 OT loss to Avalanche

By Canadian Press on March 22, 2026.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 1,000th career NHL goal combining the regular season and playoffs, but the league-leading Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime on Sunday.

Ovechkin’s goal, his 26th of the season, came from his traditional spot on the power play and tied the score with 5:43 left in regulation. He extended his career record to 923, nearly a year since passing Wayne Gretzky for the most in league history.

Gretzky has NHL 1,016 goals: 894 in the regular season and 122 in the playoffs, the latter being a record the “Great One” still holds.

U.S. Olympic gold medal winner Brock Nelson scored 82 seconds into 3-on-3 OT off a pass from Martin Necas, his 32nd goal of the season. Gabriel Landeskog and Nicolas Roy scored earlier for the Avalanche, who have won back-to-back games and on Friday became the first team this season to clinch a playoff spot.

Justin Sourdif also scored for the Capitals, whose two-game winning streak came to an end. It was Sourdif’s 14th goal of his first season with Washington following a late-June trade from back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida.

JETS 3, RANGERS 2, SO

NEW YORK (AP) — Gabriel Vilardi tied his career high with his 27th goal of the season and won the game in a shootout, captain Adam Lowry ended his lengthy scoring drought and Winnipeg ended its three-game losing streak by beating the New York.

Vilardi and Kyle Connor scored in the shootout to spoil the NHL debut of Rangers goaltending prospect Dylan Garand. The 23-year-old impressed by stopping 35 of the 37 shots he faced in regulation and overtime and was arguably one of the best players on the ice.

Garand’s biggest save came midway through the second period when he denied Connor on a shorthanded 2-on-0 breakaway. He was fortunate minutes later when Cole Perfetti’s shot from in tight clanked off the crossbar and out.

Lowry scored on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Perfetti and Lowry 13 minutes in that Garand had little chance of preventing. Lowry’s goal was his first since Jan. 13, which was 25 games ago.

HURRICANES 5, PENGUINS 1

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Seth Jarvis scored on a power play and assisted on two other man-advantage goals as Carolina beat Pittsburgh.

Sebastian Aho and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored on power plays for the Hurricanes, who beat the league’s best penalty kill team for three goals.

Aho, who scored his 25th goal of the season, became the first player in Hurricanes or Hartford Whalers history with eight 25-goal seasons.

Jalen Chatfield and Mark Jankowski also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won seven of their last 10 games. Carolina has points in 24 of its last 29 games. Frederik Andersen made 18 saves for his fifth straight win. He’s 6-1 in his last seven starts.

Jarvis has a goal and six points in his last three games. Ehlers has six goals and 14 points in his last 11 games.

PREDATORS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, OT

CHICAGO (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored his second goal of the game at 1:05 of overtime to lift Nashville to a win over Chicago.

Forsberg stole the puck from Andre Burakovsky behind the Chicago net, skated to the left side and fired a high shot past Spencer Knight for his 32nd goal, giving the Predators their longest winning streak of the season at four games.

Forsberg also set up Steven Stamkos’ team-leading 34th goal that tied it at 2 at 9:43 of the third period, about 11 seconds after a high-sticking penalty to Connor Bedard expired. Stamkos notched his third goal in two games by redirecting Forsberg’s pinpoint pass off the right post and in.

Bedard scored his team-leading 29th goal and Nick Lardis connected as the Blackhawks lost their second straight.

ISLANDERS 1, BLUE JACKETS 0

NEW YORK (AP) — Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves for his NHL-leading seventh shutout of the season, Bo Horvat scored the only goal on the first shot of the game and New York moved back into a playoff spot with a victory over Columbus.

Sorokin bounced back a night after he allowed six goals on 32 shots before being pulled in New York’s 7-3 loss at Montreal. The shutout was his franchise-record 29th and Sorokin tied his single-season high set in 2021-22.

Horvat scored 1:25 into the game, taking a pass from Anders Lee and beating Jet Greaves with a snap shot. It was the earliest goal scored in an Islanders 1-0 victory in franchise history.

The Islanders snapped a two-game skid that knocked them briefly out of a playoff spot. With 85 points, they’re in the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference and tied with the Blue Jackets. Columbus is in third place in the Metropolitan Division because it has played one fewer game than New York.

Greaves finished with 21 saves for Columbus, which had its four-game winning streak and 12-game points streak stopped.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, STARS 2

DALLAS (AP) — Reilly Smith scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:38 left in the third period and Vegas beat Dallas, denying the Stars’ bid to clinch a playoff berth.

Vegas’ Mitch Marner skated into the high slot and his shot ricocheted off two Dallas players and landed near Smith, who scored from close range past a defenseless Casey DeSmith. The deciding goal came after the teams played more than seven minutes without a whistle.

Brayden McNabb and Ivan Barbashev also scored for Vegas, which snapped a three-game skid and won for just the third time in nine games. Adin Hill made 13 saves for the Golden Knights, who outshot Dallas 33-15.

Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston set a franchise single-season record with his NHL-leading 23rd power-play goal. Johnston held the mark for the most in a season since the Stars moved to Dallas in 1993-94. His latest moved him past Dino Ciccarelli (1986-87) for the most for the Minnesota-Dallas franchise.

The Associated Press