NHL roundup: Caps drop seventh straight

Nazem Kadri posted a hat trick plus an assist as the host Toronto Maple Leafs defeated Washington 6-3 on Wednesday night, handing the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals a seventh consecutive loss. Kadri scored once in the first period and added two more in the third as Toronto broke open a close game. He also had an assist on Nikita Zaitsev's first goal of the season as the Maple Leafs broke a two-game losing streak. Washington continues to struggle on defense, falling to 0-5-2 in its past seven and 3-7-3 in its past 13. The Capitals have allowed an opponent to get a hat trick in four of the last five games. On the positive side for the Capitals, Alex Ovechkin scored a second-period goal to tie him with Sergei Fedorov as the leader in NHL points amongst Russian players with 1,179. Predators 2, Golden Knights 1 Juuse Saros had a career-high 47 saves as Nashville moved into a tie for first place in the Central Division with a win in Las Vegas. Nick Bonino and Ryan Johansen scored goals for Nashville, which picked up its 30th win victory the season. The Predators go into the All-Star break tied with Winnipeg at 64 points, though the Jets have four games in hand. Max Pacioretty scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights, who lost back-to-back regulation home games for the first time this season and limp into All-Star break having lost four of their last six games. Hurricanes 5, Canucks 2 Nino Niederreiter scored twice and Teuvo Teravainen tallied three points to help goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic win his first NHL start as visiting Carolina used a five-goal second period to win in Vancouver. Nedeljkovic, Carolina's 2014 second-round draft choice, stopped 24 shots for the victory. The Hurricanes, who last won in Vancouver on Oct. 15, 1999, and had lost their last 10 visits, finished 2-0-1 on a road trip through Western Canada. Goalie Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves for the Canucks, who went into the game on a 3-0-2 run. Wild 5, Avalanche 2 Eric Staal had two goals and an assist, Charlie Coyle and Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist each, and Minnesota knocked off Colorado in Denver. Jared Spurgeon also scored, and Devan Dubnyk made 20 saves for the Wild. Minnesota, which has won four of its past five games, sits in third place in the Central Division heading into the All-Star break. Carl Soderberg and Tyson Barrie scored, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 shots for the struggling Avalanche. Colorado has gone 5-13-3 since Dec. 8. Blues 5, Ducks 1 Zach Sanford and Tyler Bozak scored goals in their return from injured reserve, and visiting St. Louis went on to an easy win over Anaheim in the final game for each team before the All-Star break. Vladimir Tarasenko, Oskar Sundqvist and Sammy Blais also scored goals as the Blues overcame an early deficit to clinch their first winning month of the season (7-4-1). Jordan Binnington made 12 saves for St. Louis, which ended a three-game road losing streak. Daniel Sprong scored for the Ducks, who have put up two goals or fewer in 11 of their past 16 games. Anaheim took just two shots in the first period, with Sprong delivering his eighth goal on the Ducks' first shot 6:44 into the contest. Canadiens 2, Coyotes 1 Carey Price continued his mastery of Arizona, stopping 30 shots to lead host Montreal to a narrow win. Price improved to 11-1-0 with a 1.91 goals-against average in 12 career starts against the Coyotes. He got a little help when a late Arizona goal was nullified on a video review because the Coyotes were offside when they entered the offensive zone. Mike Reilly and Jonathan Drouin scored for the Canadiens, who have won five of their past six games. Montreal moved past idle Boston and into third place in the Atlantic Division heading into the All-Star break. Conor Garland scored for the Coyotes, who were 6-1-1 in their previous eight games. --Field Level Media