NHL Daily Recap: Kings defeat Washington in OT

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KINGS DEFEAT CAPITALS IN OT

The Capitals erased a three-goal deficit in the third period, but Jeff Carter (1-1—2) scored at 2:50 of overtime to lift the Kings to their seventh victory in their past nine games and back into first place in the Pacific Division.

At 40-22-4 (66 GP), Los Angeles reached the 40-win milestone in the fewest games in franchise history, besting the previous mark established in 2009-10 (67 GP).

Head coach Darryl Sutter recorded his 178th win with the Kings to tie Bob Pulford for second place in franchise history.

Capitals forward T.J. Oshie (1-1—2) reached the 20-goal milestone for the second time (also 2013-14 w/ STL: 21 G).

The Kings honored Capitals teammates Justin Williams and Mike Richards in their returns to STAPLES Center.

VARLAMOV, AVALANCHE SNAP DUCKS’ POINT STREAK AT 14

Semyon Varlamov stopped all 37 shots he faced to lead the Avalanche to their second straight win and snap the Ducks’ point streak at 14 games (12-0-2), two shy of the franchise record established Oct. 6 – Nov. 9, 2006 (12-0-4).

At 35-30-4 (74 points), the Avalanche leapfrogged the idle Wild (31-26-10, 72 points) for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Colorado owns the ROW tiebreaker (COL: 32, MIN: 30), but Minnesota holds two games in hand.

Varlamov earned his 20th career shutout and second of the season (also Dec. 15 at CHI: 29 SV). He improved to 10-4-1 when facing 35 or more shots on goal in 2015-16.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS (Home Team in Caps)

TORONTO 4, NY Islanders 3 (SO)
ST. LOUIS 3, Chicago 2 (SO)
CALGARY 3, Nashville 2 (OT)
VANCOUVER 3, Arizona 2 (OT)
COLORADO 3, Anaheim 0
LOS ANGELES 4, Washington 3 (OT)

THURSDAY’S ACTION (All Times Eastern)

Carolina @ Boston, 7:00 p.m., TVAS, FS-CR, NESN
Buffalo @ Montreal, 7:30 p.m., SN, SN360, MSG-B, RDS
Winnipeg @ Detroit, 7:30 p.m., NHLN-US, TSN3, FS-D
Ottawa @ Florida, 7:30 p.m., TSN5, RDS2, FS-F
Edmonton @ Minnesota, 8:00 p.m., SNW, FS-N
New Jersey @ San Jose, 10:30 p.m., MSG+, CSN-CA

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services