The Buzzer: Predators keep rolling; Ovechkin moves closer to Dionne

THREE STARS

1. Viktor Arvidsson / Roman Josi, Nashville Predators

Arvidsson and Josi each had three points as Nashville stomped the Lightning 7-2. The Predators have now won 13 of their last 16 games and hold a four-point lead on the Blackhawks for fourth in the Central Division. Juuse Saros made 21 saves for his fifth straight win and ninth in his last 10 starts.

2. Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers

The netminder stopped all 27 shots he faced as the Rangers blanked the Devils 3-0. The shutout was Shesterkin’s first of his NHL career. Pavel Buchnevich, whose empty net goal was the 20,000th goal in franchise history, had a two-point night along with defenseman Adam Fox.

3. Ilya Samsonov, Washington Capitals

Conor Sheary had three points, and Alex Ovechkin, Anthony Mantha, Tom Wilson, Nick Backstrom, and John Carlson each had two points, but it was the goalie who stood out. Samsonov improved his record to 10-3-1 with a 27-save effort during a 6-1 win over the Flyers. It was quite a bounce back effort for Samsonov, who had allowed at least four goals in his previous four starts.

SOME FACES IN NEW PLACES

• Taylor Hall / Curtis Lazar / Mike Reilly - Bruins: Both forwards were held pointless and combined for four shots in Boston’s shootout win over the Sabres. Meanwhile, Reilly had five shots on goal in 22:17 of ice time.

• Anders Bjork - Sabres: He picked up an assist and had a chance in overtime in the loss.

• David Rittich - Maple Leafs: Rittich faced his old mates in his Toronto debut, making 25 saves in an OT loss to the Flames.

• Anthony Mantha - Capitals: A goal and an assist on the Capitals’ second line during their rout of Philadelphia.

• David Savard - Lightning: The new Tampa defenseman was minus-4 in his debut.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT

• Here’s Ovechkin scoring career goal No. 728 to move to within three of Marcel Dionne for fifth on the NHL’s all-time list:

The goal was also Ovi’s 267th on the power play, putting him seven behind Dave Andreychuk (274) for the most all-time.

• Tuesday was apparently Fight Night in the NHL. First, Chris Kreider and Damon Severson dropped them early in Devils-Rangers, then Milan Lucic celebrated game No. 1,000 by scrapping with Scott Sabourin:

Tage Thompson met Kevan Miller and will likely re-think any future fights with the Bruins veteran:

• What an overtime winner by Johnny Gaudreau:

• What a streeeeeeeeeeeetch by Chris Driedger:

Holy bleep, @ChrisDriedger! 🙀

Amazing. pic.twitter.com/qMKiG1hSha

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) April 14, 2021

STATS OF THE NIGHT

Milan Lucic is one of four active players to play in at least 1,000 career games and have at least 1,000 penalty minutes (1,166). The others:

Joe Thornton (1,667 GP & 1,254 PIM)
Zdeno Chara (1,596 GP & 1,983 PIM)
Corey Perry (1,077 GP & 1,210 PIM)#NHLStats https://t.co/6TGVM6jovt

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 14, 2021

Nicklas Backstrom recorded his 714th career assist on the Capitals' fifth goal, passing Daniel Alfredsson for the fourth-most assists by a Swedish born player in NHL history. pic.twitter.com/f7O0nu73uf

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 14, 2021

Alex Ovechkin has scored 40+ career goals against:

◾ Thrashers/Jets (48)
◾ Lightning (48)
◾ Hurricanes (43)
◾ Maple Leafs (41)
◾ Islanders (40)

And @ovi8 has just added the Flyers (40) to that list. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/VzoxnfYgPF

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 14, 2021

SCORES
Rangers 3, Devils 0
Capitals 6, Flyers 1
Bruins 3, Sabres 2 (SO)
Flames 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT)
Predators 7, Lightning 2
Panthers 3, Stars 2 (OT)

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at [e-mail] or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.