WASHINGTON (AP) – Rookie Wade Allison scored twice. Brian Elliott made 28 saves. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Capitals 4-2 on Friday night to prevent Washington from reclaiming first place in the East Division. The Capitals trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by two points with two games left on their regular-season schedule. A Penguins victory in their regular-season finale against last-place Buffalo on Saturday and another Washington loss to Philadelphia hours later would clinch the division for Pittsburgh.
Long since being eliminated from playoff contention, the Flyers nevertheless outplayed the Capitals, who were again without captain Alex Ovechkin, defenseman Justin Schultz because of lower-body injuries, and top center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who’s on the NHL COVID protocol list. Rookie goaltender Vitek Vanecek allowed three goals on 28 shots in his third consecutive start, with Ilya Samsonov also out for protocol reasons.
Daniel Sprong scored his 13th goal of the season and sixth in his past six games, mostly in Ovechkin’s usual spot in the lineup. Since their father’s death, TJ Oshie added his fourth in the past two games, but the Capitals’ comeback bid fell short of a 3-1 deficit. Joel Farabee took advantage of a defensive-zone miscue by Washington to open the scoring 1:44 into the game, and Sean Couturier sealed it for Philadelphia with an empty-net goal with 30.1 seconds left.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/VX7B4SXXXVC7DI6A7NY6GDFECY.jpg "Rookie Wade Allison scores twice, Flyers beat Capitals 4-2 1")
STARS 5, LIGHTNING 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Joe Pavelski had two goals and two assists to help, and Dallas beat Tampa Bay to keep its postseason hopes alive. Dallas is within two points of Nashville heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The Stars play Chicago on Sunday and Monday, while the Predators host Carolina on Saturday and Monday. Roope Hintz added a goal and two assists for Dallas. Joel Kiviranta and Jamie Oleksiak scored, and Anton Khudobin made 26 saves.lift Minnesota past Anaheim.
Kaprizov, the rookie sensation with 27 goals this season, snapped a quick shot that was stopped by goalie John Gibson but drove the net, found the puck on a rebound, and quickly scored with Gibson unable to recover.
Victor Rask, Nico Sturm, and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for Minnesota, and Kaapo Kahkonen made 22 saves. Max Comtois, Adam Henrique, and Derek Grant scored for Anaheim. The teams finish their season series Saturday in Minnesota.
RED WINGS 5, BLUE JACKETS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Thomas Greiss made 22 saves, and Detroit scored three goals in the second period to beat Columbus. Jakub Vrana had a goal and an assist, and Joe Veleno and Danny DeKeyser also scored in the second period for the Red Wings. The latter are dueling with the Blue Jackets to stay out of the Central Division basement as they play out the final weekend. Detroit leads Columbus by one point in the standings ahead of Saturday’s finale.
Gavin Bayreuther and Nathan Gerbe scored for the Blue Jackets. They have lost 12 of their last 14.
