Ovechkin leads Capitals, becomes 50th-leading scorer in NHL history

Alex Ovechkin cracked the Top 50 scoring list in NHL history, and passed a Hall of Fame icon to get there.

The Washington Capitals forward scored two goals in a 4-2 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday to give him 1,171 points (639 goals, 532 assists), one more than Bobby Hull, who had 1,170 points (610 goals, 560 assists), for 50th place on the NHL all-time list.
Ovechkin, who leads the League with 32 goals this season, aims to break a tie with Hull for most seasons as the NHL's goal-scoring leader; each has led the League in goals seven times.

Ovechkin is eight points behind Sergei Fedorov (1,179 points) for 49th place all-time and the title of the highest-scoring Russia-born player in NHL history.
The Washington captain also moved past Mike Bossy (127) and Jaromir Jagr (127) for the ninth-most multigoal games in NHL history with 128, three behind Teemu Selanne (131) for eighth. Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record for multigoal games with 189.

Barzal, Lehner sparkle for Islanders

Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists to power the New York Islanders to a 4-3 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It was the center's 12th NHL game with at least three points, and he became the sixth player in Islanders history with at least that many three-point games before his 22nd birthday. Bryan Trottier leads the list with 34, followed by John Tavares (18), Denis Potvin (16), Mike Bossy (14), Pat LaFontaine (12) and Barzal.

Goalie Robin Lehner, with 27 saves against the Rangers, won his eighth straight game and is tied with Mark Fitzpatrick (Dec. 16, 1989-Jan. 17, 1990) for the third-longest winning streak by an Islanders goaltender. Jaroslav Halak won 11 straight from Nov. 5-Dec. 4, 2014 and Billy Smith won 10 in a row from Jan. 23-Feb. 25, 1982.

Lightning strike again on home ice

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 at Amalie Arena for their ninth straight victory at home, one shy of the longest home winning streak in their history, a 10-game run from Dec. 11, 2014-Jan. 31, 2015.
The win against the Hurricanes gave Tampa Bay 70 points in 44 games, marking the fewest games in Lightning history to reach that plateau; it took them 49 games to get to 70 points last season.

Tortorella reaches milestone for Blue Jackets

John Tortorella, the winningest United States born coach in NHL history, won his 600th game when the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 in overtime at Nationwide Arena.

Tortorella, born in Boston, is the 19th coach to reach 600 NHL victories and has the sixth-most wins among active coaches, behind Ken Hitchcock (835), Barry Trotz (786), Paul Maurice (675), Mike Babcock (673) and Claude Julien (606).
Predators coach Peter Laviolette, born in Franklin, Massachusetts, has 598 NHL wins.

Tavares of Maple Leafs scores 300th goal

With two goals in the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center, Tavares became the first player from the 2009 NHL Draft Class to reach 300 goals. Two players have scored more goals since the center entered the League in 2009-10: Ovechkin (420) and Lightning center Steven Stamkos (348). Hurricanes forward Justin Williams also reached the 300-goal milestone in Carolina's loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday.