Flynn’s Daily: Nelson Nets 2; Ovechkin 7 Away From Historical Record; Cats Win in OT

Brock Nelson scored his first two goals since joining the Colorado Avalanche in the 5-1 dominating win over the Ottawa Senators Thursday night.

Alex Ovechkin scored another goal inching closer to breaking an ultimate NHL record and the Florida Panthers barely squeezed out a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Details on the Avs win and how the team they face next fared in Thursday night’s matchups in the March 21 edition of Flynn’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

It was a full-team effort with 11 players earning points and Scott Wedgewood stood tall in net for the Avs’ victory. Head coach Jared Bednar switched up the lineup, which proved successful with points from 11 different players and four points each coming from the top three lines.

Read More: Good & Bad: Avs Buzzing After 5-1 Victory Over Sens

Around the NHL

The Gr8 Chase: Ovechkin notched goal No. 888 in the Washington Capitals’ 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. He is now seven goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career record of 894.

The Caps have 13 more games in the regular season — plenty of hockey to play for Ovi to reach the milestone.

Florida Hockey Now: The Florida Panthers dodged a loss with a 1-0 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Cats are 16 points ahead of the Blue Jackets but that didn’t stop Columbus from turning up the heat on the reigning Stanley Cup champs.

It was a goalie battle between Sergei Bobrovsky against his former team and their go-to netminder Elvis Merzlikins. Bob was perfect in net stopping 25 shots while Merzlikins faced 28. Aleksander Barkov scored the game-winner 29 seconds into the extra period to give the Panthers another two points in the standings.

Vegas Hockey Now: Pavel Dorofeyev scored a hat trick to help the Vegas Golden Knights earn a 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins. Adin Hill stopped 18 of 19 shots and the Golden Knights earned two points to put them three points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division.

“He’s got a great shot, great release, and good deception,” Hill said about Dorofeyev after the game. “He just finds those right spots on the ice. You can’t teach it.”

Montreal Hockey Now: The Habs fell 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders to set them three points behind the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference wild-card chase.

The Isles scored the first goal setting the tone for the back-and-forth game.

“Some blamed Samuel Montembeault’s use of the infamous reverse VH, while others suggested Brendan Gallagher’s penalty was the crux of the issue,” Montreal Hockey Now’s Marc Dumont wrote in his postgame wrap-up.