CAPITALS EXTEND WINNING STREAKS, HONOR OVECHKIN
Braden Holtby turned aside 29 shots to guide the Capitals to their fifth straight win overall as well as their 11th consecutive victory at Verizon Center, their longest such run since a franchise-record 13-game home winning streak Jan. 5 – March 6, 2010.

* At 33-7-3 (69 points), the League-leading Capitals continued their best start to a season – in terms of wins and points – in the franchise’s 41-year history. They also improved to 21-2-2 in their last 25 games dating to Nov. 21.

* The Capitals became the second team to post an 11-game home winning streak this season, following the Flames’ franchise-record 11-game run Nov. 5 – Dec. 27. At 17-3-1 (35 points), Washington trails only Chicago (19-5-1, 39 points) in home wins and points in 2015-16 – but has played four fewer games on home ice.

* Holtby – who leads the NHL with 28 victories, ranks second with a 1.90 goals-against average and places third with a .933 save percentage – extended his personal point streak to 22 straight decisions dating to Nov. 12 (20-0-2). Only one goaltender has posted a longer such run over the past 20 NHL seasons: Jose Theodore, who set a Capitals record with a 23-game stretch Jan. 13 – April 9, 2010 (20-0-3).

* Holtby, who has spent his entire NHL career with the Capitals, also earned his 129th career win to move past Don Beaupre (128) and into sole possession of second place in franchise history, behind only Olie Kolzig (301).

* ICYMI: The Capitals held a pregame ceremony in honor of captain Alex Ovechkin, who on Sunday became the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to reach the 500-goal milestone (801 GP). The presentation included messages from other members of the League’s 500-goal club.

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT . . .
A pair of teams overcame multi-goal, third-period deficits to force overtime on Thursday:

* Down 2-0 after 40 minutes, Pavel Datsyuk registered 1-2—3 – including an assist onDanny DeKeyser’s goal at 2:08 of overtime – to propel the Red Wings to their fifth victory in their last six games. Via Elias, Detroit won a game in which it faced a multi-goal deficit in the final 10 minutes of regulation for the first time since Feb. 21, 2015 at DAL (7-6 OT W). Datsyuk posted his second consecutive multi-point performance (also Monday at LAK: 0-2—2) and first three-point game since that comeback win last season at DAL (2-2—4).

* The Predators erased a three-goal deficit in the third period – including the tying goal with 13.5 seconds left in regulation – but Blake Wheeler scored 51 seconds into overtimeto lift the Jets to their seventh victory in their past 10 games at MTS Centre. Elias says that Winnipeg/Atlanta won a game in which it surrendered a three-goal lead in the third period for the first time since Feb. 16, 2009 at LAK (7-6 SO W). Wheeler notched his 25th career game-winning goal and third in overtime.

. . . DID YOU KNOW?
Per Elias, NHL teams have overcome multi-goal deficits to earn at least one point 86 times this season – that includes 49 victories. Of those clubs, 21 earned wins when facing a multi-goal deficit in the third period.

TEAMS SURGE UP STANDINGS . . .
The Islanders and Avalanche both recorded wins to improve their playoff positioning:

* The Islanders scored three unanswered goals in the third period, including the tiebreaker by Nick Leddy, to earn their second win in as many meetings with the Rangers this season and improve to 9-3-0 in their last 12 contests at Barclays Center. At 24-15-5 (53 points), the Islanders leapfrogged the Rangers (23-15-5, 51 points) for second place in the Metropolitan Division. These teams will face off two more times this season: March 6 and April 7, both at Madison Square Garden.

* Calvin Pickard made 27 saves to post his first career shutout and backstop the Avalanche to a 10-4-2 record in their last 16 games. At 22-20-3 (47 points), Colorado leapfrogged Nashville (1917-8, 46 points) – who lost in overtime – for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. The Avalanche ranked last in the Western Conference and were nine points outside a playoff spot when this 16-game run began on Dec. 12.

. . . AS OTHERS CONTINUE CLIMBS
The Hurricanes and Sharks both extended their winning streaks to four games to continue their marches up the standings:

* Eddie Lack turned aside 23 shots to power the Hurricanes to their fourth straight win as well as a 7-2-2 record in their last 11 games. At 20-18-7 (47 points), Carolina tied idle Boston (21-16-5, 47 points) – in terms of points – for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins, however, have played three fewer games. Lack improved to 5-1-2 in his past eight outings and 6-0-0 in six career appearances vs. STL (1.63 GAA, .938 SV%, 1 SO).

* Martin Jones made 24 saves and denied both shootout attempts he faced to backstop the Sharks to their fourth consecutive victory and spoil the return of Oilers head coachTodd McLellan to San Jose. At 22-18-2 (46 points), the Sharks moved within three points of the Coyotes (22-16-5, 49 points) – who lost in overtime – for second place in the Pacific Division, where teams Nos. 2-6 are separated by seven points.

MILESTONES & BENCHMARKS
* Captain Shane Doan, who has spent his entire NHL career with the Coyotes/Jets, notched his 121st career power-play goal to move within one of tying Dale Hawerchuk(122) for the most in franchise history.

* Predators forward Kevin Fiala, the 11th overall selection in the 2014 NHL Draft, scored his first career goal (2 GP).

* Predators forward James Neal (1-1—2) recorded his 200th NHL goal.

* Avalanche defenseman Chris Bigras, a second-round selection (32nd overall) in the 2013 NHL Draft, and Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, a third-round selection (88th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft, both made their League debuts.

* Jets forward Bryan Little (600) and Blues goaltender Brian Elliott (300) also played in milestone games.

* Alain Vigneault (NYR) coached his 1,013th career game to move past Terry Murray(1,012) and into sole possession of 20th place on the NHL’s all-time games coached list.

LOOSE PUCKS
Despite suffering the overtime loss, the Coyotes extended their point streak seven games (5-0-2). Goaltender Louis Domingue (22 SV) fell to 7-0-3 in 10 starts this season . . . Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov (2-1—3), Predators forward Ryan Johansen (1-2—3) and Jets captain Andrew Ladd (0-3—3) all collected three points . . . Sharks forwardJoe Thornton (0-1—1) has registered at least one point in 12 of his past 13 outings (5-12—17) to surpass his production from the first 29 games of the season (4-12—16) . . . Canucks forward Bo Horvat (0-1—1) extended his point streak to five games (4-3—7) . . . Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek (27 SV) extended his winning streak to five games . . . Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (2-0—2) posted his 10th career multi-goal game and first since March 29, 2015 vs. CHI (2-0—2) . . . Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak (34 SV) improved to 12-6-0 in 19 career games vs. NYR, including an 8-0-0 record in his last eight head-to-head starts against Henrik Lundqvist . . . The Rangers suffered their first loss of any kind when leading after two periods this season (15-1-0). Only the Penguins have yet to suffer a loss of any kind in that scenario in 2015-16 (15-0-0) . . . ICYMI: The Predators acquired defenseman Patrick Mullen from the Senators in exchange for defenseman Conor Allen . . . The NHL fined Devils forward Jordin Tootoo$2,000 as supplementary discipline under NHL Rule 64 (Diving/Embellishment).

SNEAK PEEK AT FRIDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Boston @ Buffalo, 7:00 p.m., NESN, MSG-B, BELL TV
Chicago @ Toronto, 7:00 p.m., NHLN-US, CSN-CH, TSN4
Vancouver @ Carolina, 7:00 p.m., SNP, FS-CR
Pittsburgh @ Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m., TVAS, ROOT, SUN
Winnipeg @ Minnesota, 8:00 p.m., TSN3, FS-N
Dallas @ Anaheim, 10:00 p.m., SN, FS-SW+, PRIME, FS-D

the information above was provided by the NHL PR department