Ovechkin plays in 1st preseason game for Capitals; Hagel leaves Lightning win
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Alex Ovechkin played his first game of the preseason for the Washington Capitals, who lost 3-1 to the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena in Washington on Thursday.
Ovechkin, who had 21:07 of ice time, including 7:54 on the power play, had been recovering from a lower-body injury that caused him to leave practice a few minutes into the first day of training camp on Sept. 18. The 40-year-old left wing resumed skating last week and was cleared for full contact in practice on Monday.
Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary also played his first game of the preseason and had a team-high five hits in 19:40 in ice time. The Capitals have been taking a cautious approach with Fehervary since he had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee on April 21.
“I thought they were good,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said of Ovechkin and Fehervary. “They accomplished what they needed to accomplish. They needed to get through a game and get some game reps. ‘Ovi’ did that. ‘Marty’ did that, (and he) had a couple real good plays, kills a couple rushes with a good stick on puck, physical play. I thought he looked good for having not played in a game yet.”
Brett Harrison scored twice, and Riley Tufte also had a goal for the Bruins (3-1-1). Joonas Korpisalo made 33 saves.
Ryan Leonard scored, and Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves for the Capitals (4-1-0).
Leonard gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 9:42 of the first period, swatting in a rebound in front.
Tufte tied it 1-1 at 16:16 of the second period. Lindgren stopped a puck that had been dumped the length of the ice, but the goaltender hesitated on how to play it, and Tufte lunged with his stick and knocked it five-hole into the net.
Harrison gave Boston a 2-1 lead at 19:11. He drove hard to the net along the goal line and had his shot deflect in off the skate of Capitals defenseman Vincent Iorio.
Harrison then scored his second of the game into an empty net at 18:46 of the third period for the 3-1 final.
Bruins at Capitals | Recap
Lightning 5, Panthers 2: Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning remained undefeated with a win against the Florida Panthers at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov had three assists for the Lightning (6-0-0). Darren Raddysh had two assists, and Brandon Halverson made 16 saves.
Tampa Bay forward Brandon Hagel did not play after the first period. When asked for an update after the game coach Jon Cooper just said “it’s preseason.”
Eetu Luostarinen and Seth Jones scored, and Daniil Tarasov made 28 saves for the Panthers (2-4-0).
Luostarinen made it 1-0 with a short-handed goal at 11:52 of the first period. Halverson came far out of his crease in pursuit of a loose puck, but Luostarinen beat him to it, chipped the puck to himself and scored into an empty net.
Guentzel tied it 1-1 on the power play at 19:19. He finished off a quick pass from Kucherov from below the left circle.
Jones put Florida back in front 2-1 just 57 seconds of the second period, scoring his own power-play goal with a point shot through traffic.
Point tied it 2-2 on a rush at 18:55. He knocked in the puck from just above the crease with Tarasov out of position after Kucherov’s pass deflected off Guentzel’s skate.
Guentzel then scored his second of the game to make it 3-2 at 1:05 of the third period. While on the power play, he beat Tarasov to the far post with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Conor Geekie pushed it to 4-2 at 6:27, scoring again to the far side after putting a spin move on Jones in the right circle.
Anthony Cirelli scored from the slot after Declan Carlile sent him in alone on Tarasov to make it 5-2 at 15:11.
Panthers at Lightning | Recap
Islanders 4, Flyers 3: Anders Lee scored in his return for the New York Islanders, who defeated the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
Lee was playing in his first preseason game since sustaining an upper-body injury on Sept. 24. At the time of the injury, he was expected to be out 1-2 weeks.
Adam Pelech, Maxim Shabanov and Emil Heineman also scored for the Islanders (2-2-2). Maxim Tsyplakov had two assists, and Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves.
Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny and Noah Cates scored for the Flyers (2-4-0). Samuel Ersson made 23 saves.
Sanheim gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 1:46 of the first period. He buried a shot from the low slot after skating into a drop pass from Christian Dvorak, who left the puck for him on a breakaway.
Shabanov, who signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the Islanders on July 2, tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 3:45 of the second period.
Konecny put the Flyers back in front 2-1 at 11:10 with a one-timer from just inside the blue line.
Lee responded 15 seconds later with a shot from the top of the right circle to tie it 2-2.
Pelech put the Islanders ahead 3-2 with a short-handed goal at 17:12, but Cates answered right back with a goal on the same power play to tie it 3-3 at 18:05.
Heineman gave New York a 4-3 lead at 17:06 of the third period. He got behind the defense on a rush, knocked down a saucer pass from Anthony Duclair, and slid a backhand five-hole on Ersson.
Islanders at Flyers | Recap
Devils 3, Rangers 1: The New Jersey Devils scored twice in the third period to defeat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Ondrej Palat and Dawson Mercer scored in the third, and Paul Cotter also had a goal for the Devils (3-2-1). Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.
New Jersey defenseman Brett Pesce did not play in the third period. There was no update from coach Sheldon Keefe postgame.
Adam Edstrom scored for the Rangers (2-2-1). Jonathan Quick made 10 saves.
Cotter gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 16:58 of the first period. Following a Rangers turnover at center ice, Arseny Gritsyuk led a 2-on-1 rush and sent a cross-ice pass to Cotter, who finished the play with a wrist shot from the left circle.
The Rangers tied the game 1-1 at 13:30 of the second period when Devils defenseman Simon Nemec‘s clearing attempt from in front of the crease struck Edstrom’s left skate and deflected back in past Markstrom.
Palat gave the Devils a 2-1 lead at 2:44 of the third period. He set up in the slot and redirected Dougie Hamilton‘s shot five-hole on Quick for a power-play goal.
Mercer scored an empty-net goal from center ice at 18:37 for the 3-1 final.
Devils at Rangers | Recap
Red Wings 3, Maple Leafs 1: The Detroit Red Wings rallied with three goals in the third period to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Emmitt Finnie had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat also scored for the Red Wings (4-3-0). Cam Talbot made 18 saves.
Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs (2-2-1). Anthony Stolarz made 40 saves.
Matthews gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 2:08 of the first period. He scored on a one-timer from a sharp angle from low in the right circle.
Larkin tied it 1-1 at 5:04 of the third period, deflecting Ben Chiarot‘s point shot before getting the rebound and scoring from the slot.
DeBrincat put the Red Wings in front 2-1 at 12:28, poking the puck in from just outside the left post after the Maple Leafs failed to clear the zone.
Finnie scored an empty-net goal at 18:37 for the 3-1 final.
Red Wings at Maple Leafs | Recap
Blues 7, Senators 1: Philip Broberg scored two goals in 27 seconds and also had an assist for the St. Louis Blues, who got their first win of the preseason by defeating the Ottawa Senators at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
Robert Thomas had a goal and two assists, Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves for the Blues (1-3-1). Nick Bjugstad and Jimmy Snuggerud each had two assists.
Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Senators (2-3-0). Leevi Merilainen allowed six goals on 19 shots before being replaced by Mads Sogaard (six saves) late in the second period.
Mathieu Joseph scored on a breakaway to put St. Louis ahead 1-0 at 3:53 of the first period.
Oskar Sundqvist made it 2-0 at 5:59, scoring from low in the left circle after receiving Nathan Walker’s backhand feed from along the end boards.
Thomas pushed the lead to 3-0 at 7:37. He converted from in front after Snuggerud got the rebound of Justin Faulk’s shot off the glass and fed Thomas from below the goal line.
Buchnevich increased the lead to 4-0 at 1:15 of the second period with a one-timer from low in the right circle.
Broberg made it 5-0 at 16:32 by intercepting a clearing attempt in the slot and tucking the puck around Merilainen at the left post. He then extended it to 6-0 at 16:59 with a wrist shot glove side from the left circle.
Zetterlund scored 45 seconds into the third period to cut it to 6-1.
Dylan Holloway scored at 19:14 for the 7-1 final. He reached behind Sogaard to poke in the puck after Bjugstad’s point shot trickled through the goalie’s pads.
Senators at Blues | Recap
Mammoth 2, Kings 1: Vitek Vanecek made 31 saves for the Utah Mammoth, who got their first win of the preseason against the Los Angeles Kings at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Lawson Crouse had a goal and an assist, and Kevin Stenlund also scored for the Mammoth (1-4-1).
Alex Turcotte scored, and Anton Forsberg made 17 saves for the Kings (4-2-0).
Stenlund gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 15:12 of the first period. He skated to the net on a rush and redirected Crouse’s centering pass five-hole on Forsberg.
Turcotte tied it 1-1 at 3:09 of the second period, roofing a one-timer from the edge of the left circle.
Crouse put the Mammoth back in front 2-1 at 6:11 with a shot from above the left circle that trickled five-hole on Forsberg.
Kings at Mammoth | Recap
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