Capitals 3, flyers 2

Alex Ovechkin scored his 888th career goal to continue his pursuit of the NHL record, and Washington clinched a playoff berth by beating Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Ovechkin beat Samuel Ersson with 5:35 left in the first period to move eight goals back of passing Wayne Gretzky’s career mark of 894. Chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” filled the arena as the goal counter in one corner flipped from 887 to 888.

PANTHERS 1,

BLUE JACKETS 0, OT

Aleksander Barkov scored a power-play goal 29 seconds into overtime and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for his 49th career shutout to lead Florida to a victory over Columbus.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, RANGERS 3

John Tavares scored twice and an added an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves as Toronto defeated the New York Rangers.

FLAMES 5, DEVILS 3

Jonathan Huberdeau scored with 3:20 left to play to lift Calgary to a come-from-behind victory over New Jersey.

BLUES 4, CANUCKS 3, OT

Philip Broberg scored 3:42 into overtime and St. Louis beat the Vancouver for their fourth straight victory.

Ducks 4, Predators 1

Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist on his 24th birthday, John Gibson made 33 saves and Anaheim defeated Nashville.

Islanders 4,

Canadiens 3, OT

Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game 3:37 into overtime to lift New York past Montreal for their third straight victory.

Kings 3, Blackhawks 1

Trevor Moore and Alex Turcotte scored in the first period, and Los Angeles held on to beat Chicago for their sixth win in seven games.

Joel Edmundson fired from deep in the Kings’ zone and scored into an empty net with 19 seconds left to seal the win.

Lightning 3, Stars 2, so

Gage Goncalves scored Tampa Bay’s third goal in the fourth round of the shootout and the Lightning beat Dallas.