Lightning Panthers Hockey

Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (86) celebrates with Pat Maroon after scoring in the first period Sunday against the Florida Panthers. Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

SUNRISE, Fla. — Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos each had two goals and two assists, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots and the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped Florida’s franchise-record 13-game winning streak with a 8-4 win over the Panthers on Sunday night.

Victor Hedman had four assists for Tampa Bay. Nicholas Paul scored twice and Brayden Point and Cal Foote also scored for the Lightning, who remained alive in the race with Toronto for the No. 2 spot behind Florida in the Atlantic Division.

Florida lost on home ice for the first time since Feb. 26, but remained four points ahead of Colorado in the race for the President’s Trophy – awarded for the best NHL regular-season record.

The Panthers finished 34-7-0 at home, by far the best record in franchise history.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, CAPITALS 3: Alex Ovechkin was injured, and Washington missed a major opportunity to move up in the standings by blowing a lead and losing to visiting Toronto in a shootout.

Ovechkin crashed hard into the boards early in the third period and was ruled out with what the team called an upper-body injury. His status moving forward was not immediately clear.

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The Capitals coughed up a two-goal lead they build not long after Ovechkin left the game in obvious pain. They ended up with just one point after Toronto’s Alex Kerfoot scored to end the seven-round shootout.

Washington had a chance to move into third place in the Metropolitan Division with three games left to play after Pittsburgh lost at Philadelphia earlier in the day. An unsuccessful power play in OT cost the Capitals after the Maple Leafs were called for too many men on the ice.

HURRICANES 5, ISLANDERS 2: Max Domi scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Carolina got help from a rookie goaltender, boosting its Metropolitan Division lead by winning at New York.

The Hurricanes won their fourth in a row and extended their edge over the second-place New York Rangers to four points. Carolina has two games left, including a visit to Madison Square Garden to face the Rangers on Tuesday night. New York has three games remaining.

Carolina tied franchise records for victories (52) and points (112). Both marks were set in the 2005-06 season, which culminated in the team’s sole Stanley Cup championship.

Seth Jarvis, Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast, and Brendan Smith also scored for the Hurricanes.

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JETS 4, AVALANCHE 1: Adam Lowry, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor scored in a span of 3:21 in the third period to help Winnipeg hand visiting Colorado its season-high fourth straight loss.

Nikolaj Ehlers also scored a late third-period goal for the Jets, who halted a four-game losing skid.

BLUE JACKETS 5, OILERS 2: Rookie Nick Blankenburg scored his first NHL goal and added an assist to help Columbus win at home, breaking a five-game losing streak and keeping Edmonton from clinching second place in the Pacific Division.

Eric Robinson and Jack Roslovic also scored, Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and two assists, and Cole Sillinger added a goal and an assist for Columbus.

RED WINGS 3, DEVILS 0: Alex Nedeljkovic made 17 saves, Oskar Sundqvist and Tyler Bertuzzi each had a goal and assist and Detroit won at Newark, New Jersey.

Sundqvist scored in the first period, and Bertuzzi and Michael Rasmussen added late empty-net goals.

FLYERS 4, PENGUINS 1: Noah Cates had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made 37 saves in Philadelphia’s win at home.

Morgan Frost added a goal and an assist and Travis Konecny scored an empty-netter for the Flyers, who won their second straight after losing six in a row.

Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins.

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