Caps Coach Gets Milestone Win; Teams Improving for Playoff Runs

(AP) — Marcus Johansson had two goals and an assist to help Washington beat the New York Rangers 4-1 in Kevin Shattenkirk's first game with the Capitals.

Brett Connolly and Nicklas Backstrom also scored. Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots as the NHL-best Capitals gave Barry Trotz his 700th career victory. Evgeny Kuznetzov and Matt Niskanen had two assists each.

Shattenkirk, who was acquired from St. Louis on Monday night, had four shots on goal in 17:57 of ice time but didn't score.

In other hockey:

— The Boston Bruins pulled away with a three-goal second period to beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-1. Riley Nash scored a short-handed goal.

— Wayne Simmonds scored a pair of first-period goals and Steve Mason made 32 saves in the Philadelphia Flyers' 4-0 whitewash of Colorado.

— Milan Lucic and Mark Letestu scored and Cam Talbot made 25 saves to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

— Antoine Roussel capped Dallas's three-goal third period and the Stars rallied for a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

— Alex Galchenyuk scored in overtime for the second straight night, Carey Price made 26 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0. The Habs have won three in a row.

— Calgary edged the L.A. Kings 2-1 in overtime. T.J. Brodie got the game-winner.

— Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the shootout and the Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.

— Jason Zucker scored a short-handed goal with 2:10 left in the third period to lift the Minnesota Wild over the Winnipeg Jets 6-5.

— Filip Forsberg scored 2:45 into overtime and the Nashville Predators came back to beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-4 for their fourth straight win.

— Justin Abdelkader scored an overtime goal to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 win at Vancouver.

— And the San Jose Sharks posted a 3-1 win over Toronto. Tomas Hertl got the game-winner with 1:24 left. Joe Pavelski added an empty-netter, his 21st goal.

NHL-TRANSACTIONS

Teams looking to improve for playoff runs

(AP) — The New York Rangers have acquired defenseman Brendan Smith in a trade with Detroit. In return the Red Wings got two draft picks, a third round choice this year and a number-2 next year. Detroit drafted Smith in the first round in 2007 and in 291 games he has 67 career points.

In other hockey moves the day before the Wednesday trading deadline:

— The Chicago Blackhawks are reuniting with veteran defenseman Johnny Oduya, who was part of their last two Stanley Cup championships. Oduya was traded by the Dallas Stars to the Blackhawks in exchange for young forward Mark McNeill and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2018 NHL draft.

— The Ottawa Senators have acquired forward Viktor Stalberg from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Ottawa's third-round pick this year. Stalberg, an unrestricted free agent after the season, signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with Carolina last July. He had nine goals and three assists in 57 games with the Hurricanes.

— The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed 36-year-old defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron to a two-way AHL-NHL contract for the rest of the season. He has spent this season playing for the American Hockey League affiliate in Cleveland. Bergeron has 82 goals and 153 assists in 490 career NHL games with Carolina, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Minnesota, Anaheim, New York's Islanders and Edmonton from 2002-13.

— Montreal has acquired defenseman Brandon Davidson for forward David Desharnais.