Kaprizov Ends It in 21 Seconds, Saros Blanks Los Angeles: Tuesday Night in the NHL

Kirill Kaprizov ended the night's best goaltending duel 21 seconds into overtime in Montreal, and Juuse Saros finished a 30-save shutout in Los Angeles. Across a seven-game Tuesday that was the standard — two overtime winners, a two-goal night from a captain in Toronto, and a grudge match in Winnipeg.

The loudest moment at Bell Centre on Tuesday came before the puck dropped. Montreal added Carey Price to its Ring of Honour, one day after his Hockey Hall of Fame induction, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation that ran nearly four minutes. Then two goaltenders spent two periods playing like they wanted a plaque of their own.

Minnesota's Jesper Wallstedt and Montreal rookie Jacob Fowler matched each other save for save through a scoreless 40 minutes. The deadlock finally broke 2:53 into the third, when Bobby Brink picked off a puck Josh Anderson could not glove cleanly near the blue line and scored unassisted on a breakaway — his second goal of the season and his first since October 25.

Montreal pulled even with 1:38 left in regulation, Nick Suzuki knocking the puck inside the left post for a 1-1 tie. But Cole Caufield took a slashing penalty at 19:04, and the Wild needed almost no time with the 4-on-3 advantage in overtime: Matt Boldy's diagonal seam pass found Kaprizov deep in the right circle, and his one-timer beat Fowler 21 seconds into the extra period. It was Kaprizov's 17th goal of the season. Quinn Hughes picked up the second assist, extending his point streak to nine games, the same streak Kaprizov is riding.

Wallstedt finished with 27 saves and Fowler with 22. Minnesota (13-3-4) has a point in nine straight (7-0-2) and matched its franchise record with 13 wins through 20 games. Montreal (11-3-4) took the overtime loss but still extended its point streak to 11 games (8-0-3).

Mercer burns his old team in Winnipeg

The night's other grudge match lived up to it. Dawson Mercer scored twice against New Jersey — including the tiebreaking power-play goal with 8:02 left in the third — as Winnipeg beat the Devils 4-2 for its fourth straight win after a nine-game skid. Kyle Connor added a power-play goal in the first and an empty-netter with 58 seconds left, Cole Perfetti had two assists, and Nico Daws, the other player Winnipeg got in the Connor Hellebuyck trade, made 19 saves.

Hellebuyck, back in his old building as a Devil, dressed as the backup and never played — Jake Allen made 21 saves — while the home fans chanted at him anyway. Jesper Bratt and Cody Glass scored 44 seconds apart early in the second to tie it for New Jersey (13-6-0), whose five-game winning streak ended. We covered that one in full: Mercer made New Jersey pay for the Hellebuyck trade.

Ovechkin sets up the winner — and ties Backstrom

Washington needed overtime in Ottawa and got its winner from a defenseman. Cole Hutson scored 1:14 into overtime, off feeds from Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome, to give the Capitals a 3-2 win. The assist pulled Ovechkin into a tie with Nicklas Backstrom (762) for the franchise lead in assists.

Matt Roy opened the scoring in the first. Ridly Greig, back after missing two games, and Hayden Hodgson put Ottawa ahead 2-1 in the second, with Thomas Chabot assisting on both. Pierre-Luc Dubois tied it in the third before Hutson — who also had an assist — ended it. Logan Thompson made 24 saves for Washington (10-6-0), winners of two straight. Samuel Ersson stopped 14 shots for the Senators (11-6-2).

Landeskog leads Colorado's pull-away in Toronto

Toronto's homestand keeps getting heavier. Gabriel Landeskog scored twice — at 16:09 of the first and again for the winner in the third — and Colorado scored the final three goals of the night to beat the Maple Leafs 6-3 at Scotiabank Arena.

Devon Toews had a goal and an assist, Cale Makar added two assists, and Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas (empty net) closed it out late. Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves for the Avalanche (11-6-2), who have won two straight and five of seven. Jack Roslovic, Darren Raddysh and Easton Cowan each had a goal and an assist for Toronto (8-10-2), and Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves.

The Leafs have now lost four straight, and the news got worse before puck drop: TSN reported forward Colton Sissons is out week-to-week and defenseman Morgan Rielly is day-to-day, both with lower-body injuries.

Saros slams the door in Los Angeles

A night after Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi and Juuse Saros were in Toronto for Pekka Rinne's Hall of Fame induction, Saros played like his old mentor was watching. He stopped all 30 shots as Nashville blanked the Kings 3-0 at Crypto.com Arena — the 28th shutout of his 12 seasons with the Predators.

Forsberg scored once in the first and once in the second, with Nils Hoglander assisting on both, and Adam Wilsby added an empty-net goal with 2:17 left. Nashville (9-4-5, 23 points) has won five straight, matching its longest streak in three seasons, and moved into third place in the Central Division. Anton Forsberg made 27 saves for Los Angeles (5-9-2), which was shut out for the first time in 108 games — its first blanking since March 27, 2025, the third-longest active run in the league.

Bennett, Markstrom carry Florida; Snuggerud lifts St. Louis

Florida got outshot 38-28 in Columbus and won comfortably anyway. Sam Bennett scored twice, Lars Eller and Sam Reinhart (empty net) added the others, Aaron Ekblad had two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 37 saves as the Panthers beat the Blue Jackets 4-1 to snap a two-game losing streak. Ivan Provorov scored for Columbus (7-9-0), which has dropped two straight.

In St. Louis, Jimmy Snuggerud had a goal and an assist in the Blues' 3-2 win over Detroit. Andrew Copp opened the scoring for the Red Wings in the first, Pius Suter and Justin Barron answered in the second, and Snuggerud deflected in the winner with 4:02 remaining. Moritz Seider cut it to one with 1:14 left, but Joel Hofer — 30 saves — stopped Emmitt Finnie's jam attempt at the crease as time expired. Robert Thomas had two assists for St. Louis (8-8-2), which snapped a three-game slide (0-2-1). Detroit (7-9-3) has lost four in a row.

What Wednesday brings

The Golden Knights get their turn. Vegas (12-5-2) opens its next homestand Wednesday night against the Utah Mammoth at T-Mobile Arena — its first game since Sunday's 4-1 win in Buffalo, where Mitch Marner became the fastest player in franchise history to 100 points. Nashville, meanwhile, finishes its Southern California back-to-back in Anaheim. Monday's roundup is here if you missed it: McDavid's streak hit 19.