NHL MORNING SKATE FOR THURSDAY

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

Washington 5, PHILADELPHIA 3

VANCOUVER 3, Toronto 2 (OT)

St. Louis 5, ANAHEIM 4

VEGAS 2, Calgary 1

THREE HARD LAPS: QUICK HITS FROM WEDNESDAY

* Marc-Andre Fleury tied Jacques Plante for eighth place on the NHL’s all-time regular season wins list after his career-high shutout streak eclipsed 200 minutes.

* Alex Ovechkin recorded the 1,198th and 1,199th points of his NHL career as the Capitals reclaimed first place in the Metropolitan Division standings.

* The Blues and Canucks each staged third-period rallies to defeat the Ducks and Maple Leafs, respectively.

FLEURY TIES PLANTE FOR EIGHTH PLACE ON ALL-TIME WINS LIST

Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves to earn the 437th regular season win of his NHL career and tie Jacques Plante for eighth place on the League’s all-time list.

* Fleury saw his career-high shutout streak end at 200:41 when Flames defenseman Travis Hamonic scored at 11:54 of the second period. Vegas (37-26-5, 79 points), which occupies third place in the Pacific Division standings, went on to eventually defeat Calgary and extend its win streak to five games.

* It marked the 67th instance in NHL history of a goaltender recording a shutout streak of at least 200 minutes. The longest shutout streak in NHL history is 460:49, a mark set by Alec Connell from Jan. 28 – Feb. 22, 1928 with the original Ottawa Senators. Twenty-six of the 67 instances occurred before the 1929-30 season, when the League instituted rules permitting forward passing inside all three zones

OVECHKIN APPROACHES ANOTHER MILESTONE AS CAPITALS EXTEND WIN STREAK

Alex Ovechkin (46-31—77 in 66 GP) scored his League-leading 46th goal of the season and collected an assist to help the Capitals improve to 7-1-0 in their last eight games dating to Feb. 18, including five consecutive wins. Washington moved to 39-21-7 (85 points) overall this season and reclaimed first place in the Metropolitan Division standings.

* Ovechkin moved within one of reaching the 1,200-point milestone (653-546—1,199 in 1,069 GP), a feat accomplished by 48 players in NHL history including Penguins captain Sidney Crosby on Tuesday (441-761—1,202 in 927 GP). His 653 goals would be the second-most in NHL history by a player at the time of their 1,200th career regular-season point, behind only Brett Hull (656-544—1,200 in 1,039 GP).

* Ovechkin scored the 245th power-play goal of his NHL career to move within one of tying Phil Esposito (246) for fifth place on the League’s all-time list (since 1933-34). Esposito (33 years, 45 days as of April 6, 1975) was the last player to conclude a season leading the NHL in goals at age 33 or older – a feat that Ovechkin (33 years, 201 days as of April 6, 2019) can also accomplish this year. Ages based on final day of respective regular season

BLUES ERASE DEFICIT LATE IN REGULATION TO DEFEAT DUCKS . . .

Robert Thomas (2-0—2) tallied the tying goal at 18:56 of the third period and Alex Pietrangelo (1-1—2) scored the winner 12 seconds later as the Blues erased a 4-3 to defeat the Ducks. St. Louis improved to 35-25-6 (76 points) this season and occupies third place in the Central Division standings.

* The Blues overcame a deficit in the final 90 seconds of the third period to win a game in regulation for the first time in franchise history. St. Louis became the second team to accomplish the feat this season, joining Minnesota on Feb. 26 (3-2 W at WPG).

* Pietrangelo scored the 22nd game-winning goal of his NHL career (all w/ STL) to move into a tie with Al MacInnis for the most among defensemen in franchise history. His 92 career regular season goals overall (92-297—389 in 672 GP) trail only MacInnis (127-325—452 in 613 GP) for the most by a Blues blueliner.

CANUCKS ALSO RALLY PAST MAPLE LEAFS

Vancouver overcame a 2-0 deficit in the third period and Alexander Edler scored at 3:11 of overtime as the Canucks improved to 10-1-0 in their last 11 home games against the Maple Leafs dating to Jan. 10, 2006 (TOR: 1-8-2). Edler scored the fourth regular-season overtime goal of his NHL career (all w/ VAN) and trails only Sami Salo (7) and Mattias Ohlund (6) for the most among defensemen in franchise history.

* The Canucks overcame a multi-goal deficit in the third period to win a regular-season game for the 39th time in franchise history. The first time Vancouver ever accomplished the feat was against Toronto on Jan. 16, 1973 (6-4 W); Andre Boudrias (3-0—3) and Bobby Schmautz (2- 2—4) each scored twice in the final frame to help the Canucks rally from a 4-2 third-period deficit and defeat the Maple Leafs.

* Josh Leivo, who was traded by Toronto to Vancouver on Dec. 3, 2018, scored in his first game against his former team. He became the first former Maple Leafs player to score in his first regular-season game against Toronto since John-Michael Liles on Jan. 9, 2014 (w/ CAR).

DID YOU KNOW?

Defensemen combined for three game-winning goals on Wednesday. It marked the 11th four game day in NHL history to feature at least three game-winning goals scored by defensemen and first since Feb. 18, 2008, when blueliners had the decisive markers in each contest (Chris Chelios, Ed Jovanovski, Freddy Meyer and Mike Motte).

QUICK CLICKS

* NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says game in a good place following GM Meetings

* NHL World Gaming Championship returns. Registration now open

* NHL participates in player safety summit with other hockey associations

SNEAK PEEK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION

PRICE CAN ESTABLISH NEW CANADIENS RECORD FOR WINS

Carey Price, who tied Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Jacques Plante for the most wins in Canadiens history with his 314th career victory in Los Angeles on Tuesday, can establish a new franchise record with a win on Thursday in San Jose. Plante had held the franchise mark since the 1959-60 season.

* Price is one of 16 goaltenders in NHL history to record 300+ wins with one franchise and sits three shy of matching Chris Osgood (317 wins w/ DET) for the fourth most career wins by a goaltender with an Original Six franchise.

BRUINS AIM TO KEEP WIN AND POINT STREAKS ALIVE

The streaking Bruins (40-17-9, 89 points) look to stretch their overall winning streak to five games, their home winning streak to nine contests and their point streak to 18 games when they host the Panthers at TD Garden.

* The Bruins, who have not suffered a regulation loss since Jan. 19, look to extend their point streak to 18 contests (13-0-4 in last 17 GP). Boston also had an 18-game point streak last season (14-0-4 from Dec. 16, 2017 – Jan. 25, 2018) - one of six teams since 2000-01 to record a point streak of 18 or more games (CBJ: 18 GP in 2016-17; CHI: 24 GP in 2012-13; SJS: 20 GP in 2007-08; DET: 20 GP in 2005-06; TBL: 18 GP in 2003-04).

MULTIPLE TEAMS CHASING WILD CARD SPOTS IN WEST

The Avalanche (29-26-12, 70 points), Coyotes (32-29-5, 69 points) and Oilers (29-30-7, 65 points) are all in action on Thursday as they chase the Stars (34-27-5, 73 points) and WIld (32- 27-8, 72 points) for the two Wild Card positions in the Western Conference.