Facts and Figures: Binnington gets 50th NHL win with Blues

Jordan Binnington earned his 50th NHL victory and second straight shutout by making 14 saves for the St. Louis Blues in their 1-0 victory against the Arizona Coyotes at Enterprise Center on Thursday. He also shut out the New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Tuesday.

It's the second time in the goalie's NHL career he has had shutouts in consecutive games; he also did it on Feb. 14-17, 2019.

Binnington is 50-16-8 in 77 NHL appearances, tying him with Chris Osgood, Michel Larocque and Clint Benedict for the seventh-fewest games needed to get to 50 wins. Bill Durnan holds the record, having won 50 of his first 68 appearances.

The victory put the Blues (34-17-10) two points in front of the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division; the teams play at American Airlines Center on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-SW+, FS-MW, NHL.TV).

Ovechkin one goal away from 700

Alex Ovechkin scored the 699th goal of his NHL career in the first period of the Washington Capitals' 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Capital One Arena, ending a season-high five-game scoring drought and moving the forward within one of becoming the eighth player in League history to reach 700.

It was Ovechkin's 41st goal of the season; he's two behind Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak and Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews for the NHL lead.
Ovechkin will try for his 700th goal on Saturday when the Capitals visit the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG+, NBCSWA, NHL.TV). Ovechkin has scored 29 goals in 56 regular-season games against the Devils, including 10 in 25 road games.
They're likely to face one of the NHL's hottest goalies, rookie Mackenzie Blackwood, who's 5-0-0 with an 0.99 goals-against average, .975 save percentage and two shutouts in that span. Ovechkin has one goal in three games against Blackwood; he scored on Dec. 20.

Lightning, Vasilevskiy streaks ended by Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights ended the NHL's longest winning streak this season at 11 games by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 at T-Mobile Arena. Vegas also ended Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's point streak at 21 games (19-0-2).
The Lightning (40-16-5) failed to win for the first time since Jan. 27, when they lost 3-2 in overtime at the Dallas Stars. They hadn't lost in regulation since a 3-2 defeat at the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 16.
Vasilevskiy, who made 28 saves, lost in regulation for the first time since a 5-2 defeat against the Capitals on Dec. 14.
The newest member of the Golden Knights, defenseman Alec Martinez, had a goal and an assist in his first game since being traded to Vegas by the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. The Golden Knights (32-22-8) won their fourth consecutive game and moved past the Edmonton Oilers (32-21-7) and Vancouver (32-22-6) into first place in the Pacific Division.

Forward Max Pacioretty had his team-leading 28th goal for the Golden Knights and can become the third different player to lead Vegas in goals since it entered the NHL in 2017, following center William Karlsson (43 in 2017-18) and center Jonathan Marchessault (25 last season). Three expansion teams since 1979-80, when four franchises merged from the World Hockey Association, have had a different goal-scoring leader in each of its first three NHL seasons: the San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers.

Flyers complete home-and-home sweep of Blue Jackets

Travis Konecny had a goal and two assists for his second straight three-point game, helping the Philadelphia Flyers complete a home-and-home sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 4-3 overtime victory at Nationwide Arena.
The Flyers (34-20-7) rallied after trailing by two goals twice to strengthen their hold on third place in the Metropolitan Division; they lead the Blue Jackets by two points.
The forward became the fourth player in Flyers history to have at least three points in consecutive regular-season games with each occurring against the same opponent. The others: Bill Barber against the New York Rangers (Feb. 12-13, 1976); Rick Tocchet against the Detroit Red Wings (Feb. 21-23, 1988); and Claude Giroux against the Capitals (March 2-5, 2014).