Alex Ovechkin tied Canadiens great Maurice "Rocket" Richard with his 544th career goal and had two assists, leading the Washington Capitals to a 4-1 victory over host Montreal on Monday night for their sixth straight win.
Ovechkin, who has won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league's goal-scoring leader six times, tied Richard for 29th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list. His three points moved him within one of 1,000.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Brett Connolly and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for Washington, and Braden Holtby finished with 22 saves. Holtby's career-best shutout streak ended at 169 minutes, 12 seconds when Tomas Plekanec scored at 7:18 of the third period.
Capitals coach Barry Trotz worked his 1,400th regular season game, tying Pat Quinn for eighth place all time and picked up his 684th win, tying Quinn for sixth. Trotz is one behind Ron Wilson for seventh place with 1,401 games coached.
More NHL: Holtby was named the league's Third Star of the Week. ... Washington recalled forward Paul Carey from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League.
Horse racing
Md. breaks records; total handle up 19.7 percent
The Maryland Jockey Club announced Monday that total handle was up 19.7 percent from 2015 and in-state wagering was up 18.4 percent. Maryland horse racing continued its year-over-year growth with total wagering of $559 million, up from $466 million in 2015. In-state wagering climbed from $119.7 million to $141.8 million. Total handle in 2015 was up 19.7 percent over the previous year. The Preakness set all-time records for its 141st running May 21 as a record crowd of 135,256 wagered $94,127,434; Black-Eyed Susan Day drew a record crowd of 47,956 while wagering $19.4 million, a 4.7 percent increase over the previous year; and Maryland Million Day drew a crowd of 21,722 on Oct. 22 and produced a handle of $4.476 million, a 59-percent increase over the handle from 2014. "We're pleased with our progress, but we still believe there's more room for improvement and more room to grow this incredibly exciting sport," Sal Sinatra, president and general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club said in a statement. "We want to continue our capital improvements on the front side and back and we will continue in our efforts to play host to Maryland's first Breeders' Cup."
Et cetera
Maryland's Wild returning for junior soccer season
Maryland men's soccer forward Gordon Wild announced that he is returning to school for his junior season, giving a reloading Terps team one of the top goal scorers in the country. Wild, who finished tied for second nationally with 17 goals in 21 games, was mulling an offer from Major League Soccer, according to The Washington Post, but said on Instagram that he would hold off on turning pro for now. Wild, the Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Year, was one of three finalists for the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy. Wake Forest midfielder Ian Harkes won the award Friday, given to the best player in college soccer. Maryland loses senior goalkeeper Cody Niedermeier (Broadneck) and three starting defenders to graduation but again should have one of the top attacks in the nation next season.
— Jonas Shaffer
Men's college lacrosse: Maryland leads the way for local schools in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association preseason coaches poll. The Terps, the national runner-up each of the past two seasons, received four first-place votes and are No. 2 overall behind defending NCAA champion North Carolina. Loyola Maryland is No. 6, followed by No. 8 Johns Hopkins (tied with Yale), No. 10 Navy and No. 12 Towson.
Girls lacrosse: Orange Crush, composed primarily of McDonogh players, finished 6-0 and defeated GC Maroon (N.Y.) in the high school division championship game, 10-8, on Sunday at the inaugural Inside Lacrosse Women Indoor National Championships at Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster, Pa. The Blazers, made up of mostly Notre Dame Prep players, finished 2-1 and fell just short of advancing to the quarterfinals, losing 12-11 to GC Maroon. In the middle-school division title game, M&D Black, formally the Maryland and District of Columbia Lacrosse Club, defeated Skywalker's Blue, 25-8, to finish 5-0.