Facts and Figures: Ovechkin scores 45th, Capitals climb in division

Alex Ovechkin scored his 45th goal of the season at 4:34 of the third period to help the Washington Capitals defeat the New York Islanders 3-1 at Nassau Coliseum on Friday. The victory was the third straight for the Capitals (37-21-7) and gave them 81 points, tied with the Islanders (37-20-7) for most in the Metropolitan Division; New York holds first place because it has a game in hand.

The forward has points in eight straight games (11 points; seven goals, four assists) and could break Bobby Hull's NHL record to become the first player in history to win the Rocket Richard Trophy for the eighth time as the top goal-scorer in the League. The Capitals captain has scored at least 45 goals 10 times, which breaks the record held by Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy (nine each) for most in NHL history.

Hurricanes take over third in Metropolitan

The Carolina Hurricanes (35-23-6) won their fourth consecutive game by defeating the St. Louis Blues 5-2 at PNC Arena and moved past the Columbus Blue Jackets into third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Center Sebastian Aho scored his fourth shorthanded goal for Carolina to tie Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli, Calgary Flames forward Mark Jankowski (Calgary Flames) and Arizona Coyotes forward Michael Grabner for most in the NHL. It's the second-most in a season by a Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers player, one behind Kevyn Adams in 2003-04.

Price closing in on Plante

Carey Price made 28 saves for the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-2 victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Price won his 313th regular-season game, one behind Jacques Plante (314) for most in Canadiens history.

Forward Joel Armia scored three goals for the first hat trick of his NHL career for Montreal (35-23-7), which holds the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Blue Jackets. The Canadiens have had a hat trick in each of their past two games and three in their past five (Forward Andrew Shaw at the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 26 and forward Brendan Gallagher against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 21). It's the first time they've done it in consecutive games since Dec. 27-29, 2008 (Andrei Kostitsyn and Maxim Lapierre) and first time they've had three in five games since Feb. 10-19, 1992 (Denis Savard, Stephan Lebeau and Brent Gilchrist).

Jets reclaim top spot in Central

The Winnipeg Jets (38-22-4) moved one point ahead of the Nashville Predators (37-25-5) for first place in the Central Division with a 5-3 win at Bell MTS Place.

Center Mark Scheifele had three points (one goal, two assists) to become the second Jets player to pass the 70-point mark this season (72 points; 32 goals, 40 assists). Forward Blake Wheeler also had three points (one goal, two assists) against the Predators and has 76 (13 goals, 63 assists) this season to give Winnipeg multiple players with at least 70 points for the first time since Atlanta Thrashers forwards Marc Savard (74 points; 24 goals, 50 assists in 59 games) and Ilya Kovalchuk (73 points; 37 goals, 36 assists in 55 games) in 2005-06.
The original Jets have had two players with at least 70 points through games played March 1 four times, most recently Teemu Selanne and Phil Housley in 1992-93.