Alex Ovechkin scored his 872nd career goal to move 23 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record, and the host Washington Capitals beat the struggling New York Rangers 7-4 Saturday.

Ovechkin has four goals in five games since returning from missing the previous 16 because of a broken left leg. The 39-year-old has 19 goals this season and is on pace to pass Gretzky’s mark of 894 this spring.

Dylan Strome, Lars Eller, Andrew Mangiapane, Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas also scored against Jonathan Quick, who remains stuck on 399 career wins. Tom Wilson sealed it with an empty-netter with 37.5 seconds left, and Logan Thompson made 28 saves to compensate for giving the puck away to Chris Kreider for his goal into a wide-open net.

RED WINGS 4, JETS 2: Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond each scored power-play goals to help lead visiting Detroit to a victory over Winnipeg that extended its winning streak to a season-high four games.

Josh Morrissey and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets.

WILD 4, HURRICANES 0: Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves for his third shutout this season, Marco Rossi had four assists and visiting Minnesota beat Carolina.

The Wild improved to 16-5-2 when scoring first this season as Mats Zuccarello beat Pyotr Kochetkov on a slap shot for a 1-0 lead with 6:57 left in the first period.

BLUE JACKETS 6, BLUES 4: Dmitri Voronkov scored two goals and host Columbus beat St. Louis.

Kirill Marchenko, Adam Fantilli, Mathieu Oliver and Mikael Pyyhtia also scored for the Blue Jackets, who are 5-2-1 in their past eight games.

Brayden Schenn, Jordan Kyrou and Cam Fowler each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, and Colton Parayko also scored.

SHARKS 3, DEVILS 2: Cody Ceci scored with 24 seconds left in the third period and host San Jose beat New Jersey.

With the game tied 2-2, Ceci’s slap shot from the point beat Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

CANADIENS 2, AVALANCHE 1, SO: Kirby Dach and Cole Caufield scored in the shootout, Jakub Dobes had 22 saves in regulation and visiting Montreal beat Colorado.

Caufield had the regulation goal for the Canadiens.

MAPLE LEAFS 6, BRUINS 4: Matthew Knies had three goals and two assists, Mitch Marner had a goal and four assists and host Toronto beat Boston.

David Pastrnak had two goals, and Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic also scored as the Bruins lost their third straight.

STARS 3, UTAH 2, OT: Defenseman Thomas Harley scored on a rebound at 3:01 of overtime and host Dallas beat Utah.

Jamie Benn and Oskar Bäck also scored for the Stars, who have won four straight.

Matias Maccelli scored twice as the Hockey Club lost for the sixth time in seven games.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, SABRES 1: First-period goals by Tanner Laczynski and Mark Stone were all host Vegas needed to beat Buffalo.

Jason Zucker had the Sabres’ goal on a power play in the third period.