WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 888th career goal to continue his pursuit of the NHL record, and the Washington Capitals moved to the verge of clinching a playoff berth by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 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.

Brandon Duhaime and Andrew Mangiapane also scored and Charlie Lindgren made 27 saves for the Capitals, who awaited other results from around the league to see if they become the first team to wrap up a playoff spot this season. Washington has won eight of its last nine games to reach 100 points and pass Winnipeg atop the standings.

The Flyers have gone the other way, losing nine of 11 to plunge into last place in the Metropolitan Division. Ryan Poehling and Sean Couturier scored, and Ersson allowed three goals on 16 shots.

PANTHERS 1, BLUE JACKETS 0, OT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — 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.

The win snapped a two-game road losing streak and kept Florida level with Toronto atop the Atlantic Division.

Florida swept the season series between the teams and has won eight straight against Columbus since Dec. 13, 2022.

Elvis Merzlikins, back in the lineup after missing two games for the birth of his second child, made 27 saves for Columbus, which has lost five straight and has fallen out of the Eastern Conference wild-card race.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, RANGERS 3

NEW YORK (AP) — John Tavares scored twice and an added an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves as Toronto defeated the New York Rangers.

Bobby McMann and Matthew Knies also scored to help Toronto win its third straight game. Jake McCabe had three assists and William Nylander contributed two.

Will Borgen, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, who lost their third game in a row at home in regulation and fell to 2-5-2 in their last nine overall.

AVALANCHE 5,

SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, Cale Makar and Joel Kiviranta all scored in Colorado’s first-period barrage and the Avalanche cruised to a victory over Ottawa.

Nelson finished with two goals — his first two since being acquired by Colorado from the New York Islanders — and Scott Wedgewood made 15 saves.

Wedgewood’s shutout bid being ended by Dylan Cozens’ power-play goal with 4:41 left in the game.

The Avalanche chased Linus Ullmark from the game just 17:29 in after he allowed four goals on 13 shots.

It was the Senators’ second straight loss following a six-game winning streak.

Nelson scored his second of the night on the power play 1:54 into the middle frame after tipping Artturi Lehkonen’s shot to beat Anton Forsberg, who allowed one goal on 19 shots in relief of Ullmark.

FLAMES 5, DEVILS 3

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jonathan Huberdeau scored with 3:20 left to play to lift Calgary to a come-from-behind 5-3 victory over New Jersey.

Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, Daniil Miromanov and Nazem Kadri also had goals for Calgary, which erased a two-goal deficit in the third period with four unanswered goals for its second straight road win.

Rookie Dustin Wolfe made 26 saves in the victory.

Nico Hischier recorded a goal and an assist for the Devils, extending his points streak to five straight games. Erik Haula and Paul Cotter also scored and Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.