Alex Ovechkin scored twice to reach the 20-goal mark for the 19th time in his career and help the resurgent Washington Capitals earn an important 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Monday.

Ovechkin's 20th and 21st goals of the season, both of which came on power plays in the second period, sparked the Capitals' third straight win. Washington is now 10-4-1 since Feb. 17 and one point ahead of the slumping Detroit Red Wings in the race for the Eastern Conference's final wild-card spot.

Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson each contributed a goal and an assist to the victory, with Strome recording the lone goal of a first period in which Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 12 of his 34 saves.

Ovechkin's goals came 3:18 apart in the second period and pushed the Capitals' lead to 3-0. The future Hall of Famer became the sixth player in NHL history with 19 seasons of 20 or more goals.

Kevin Rooney put Calgary on the board with 9:19 remaining in the second before Hendrix Lapierre restored Washington's three-goal advantage with 5:38 left in the period.

The Flames fought back by recording 13 third-period shots and pulled to within 4-2 when MacKenzie Weegar rocketed the puck past Lindgren 7:13 into the frame.

Lindgren stood tall the rest of the way, however, before Wilson put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal with 2:29 left.

Dustin Wolf stopped 28 of 32 shots for Calgary, which had a two-game winning streak halted. 

Skinner's hat trick helps Sabres rout Kraken

Jeff Skinner recorded a hat trick and helped the Buffalo Sabres to a fast start which carried them to a 6-2 drubbing of the Seattle Kraken.

Skinner, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch all had goals in the first 5:41 of the game to spark Buffalo's fourth win in its last five outings. The surge has moved the Sabres within four points of a play-off spot in the Eastern Conference.

Thompson and Tuch added assists during Buffalo's early barrage, which came after Jordan Eberle gave Seattle a quick 1–0 lead just 24 seconds into the contest.

Thompson tied the game a mere 25 seconds later, however, and Skinner and Tuch soon followed with goals as the Sabres scored on three of their first four shots to prompt the Kraken to pull goaltender Joey Daccord less than six minutes in.

Seattle got one goal back before the conclusion of the period when Matty Berniers converted a power play, but failed to solve Buffalo's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen the rest of the way.

Luukkonen stopped 32 shots, including all 18 he faced in the third period.

After Owen Power's goal midway through the second period put Buffalo up 4-2, Skinner fired a shot past Seattle replacement netminder Philipp Grubauer just 42 seconds later.

Skinner completed his first hat trick of the season by beating Grubauer on a rush with 1:59 left to play.

Grubauer finished with 23 saves in Seattle's fifth consecutive loss (0-4-1).

 

For the second game in as many nights, the Winnipeg Jets came out flat over the first two periods.

And for the second game in as many nights, the Jets stormed back in the third period to rally for a victory.

Winnipeg erupted for four goals in the final 10 minutes Sunday to beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2.

With their ninth win in 11 games, the Jets (39-16-5) moved into a tie with the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division.

Winnipeg's latest third-period outburst came one night after it tallied all five goals in the final period against the Carolina Hurricanes to rally from a 3-0 deficit to pull out a 5-3 road victory.

 

Josh Morrissey started the rally with a goal at 10:38 of the third period to tie the score and Morgan Barron put the Jets ahead on a partial breakaway with 6:05 remaining.

Vladislav Namestnikov and Sean Monahan capped the scoring with empty-net goals in the final 81 seconds.

Nino Niederreiter scored the Jets' first goal with six seconds to go in the first period and Laurent Brossoit stopped 17 shots to win his third straight start.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 of the 33 shots as Buffalo (29-29-4) lost for just the second time in seven games.

JJ Peterka opened the scoring for the Sabres with his 20th goal of the season and Eric Robinson also scored.

 

Canucks end mini skid with win over Ducks to move back atop West

Conor Garland and Nils Hoglander each scored goals to help the Vancouver Canucks beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1.

The Canucks (39-17-7), who arrived in Anaheim having lost back-to-back games and six of seven, moved back into sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.

Both teams scored on their first shot, with Hoglander opening the scoring at 1:37 of the first period and Alex Killorn tying things up at 4:15.

Garland broke the tie at 3:34 of the second period when he redirected a pass from Nikita Zadorov for his first goal in nine games.

Casey DeSmith stopped 17 shots to end a personal four-game losing streak to win for the first time since January 9.

Lukas Dostal turned aside 29 shots for the Ducks (22-36-3), who lost for the first time in three games.

 

 

Danault scores three goals as Kings beat Devils

Phillip Danault recorded his second career hat trick to help lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.

Kevin Fiala assisted on two of Danault's goals, and added a goal of his own, while Alex Laferriere also scored for the Kings (31-19-10), who won for the eighth time in 12 games under interim coach Jim Hiller.

New Jersey's Timo Meier opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the first period and Danault tied it at 7:56 on a breakaway.

Danault finished the scoring with an empty-netter with 2:13 remaining to notch his first hat trick since December 22, 2018, when he played for the Montreal Canadiens.

 

Meier's goal - his second goal in as many games after scoring two goals in his previous 20 contests - was the only score allowed by Cam Talbot, who finished with 30 saves.

Akira Schmid stopped all nine shots he faced after replacing an ineffective Nico Daws, who was lifted in the second period after giving up four goals on 13 shots.

The Devils (30-27-4) have lost two in a row and five of seven.

Matt Boldy scored twice and Filip Gustavsson stopped 41 shots to lead the surging Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.

Jonas Brodin and Mats Zuccarello also scored to help the Wild improve to 6-1-1 in their last eight games.

Boldy has been a key catalyst for Minnesota with six goals and seven assists in his past seven contests.

Leon Draisaitl scored one goal and set up another and Connor McDavid had a pair of assists for the Oilers, who have lost two straight for the first time since a three-game skid from Dec. 14-19.

Edmonton is 4-4-1 since winning a franchise-record 16 straight games.

McDavid has gone eight games without a goal but has 19 assists during that span.

Connor lifts Jets over Blackhawks in OT

Kyle Connor scored 25 seconds into overtime and the Winnipeg Jets recovered after squandering a two-goal lead in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks

Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice for his first goals in 11 games as the Jets won their fifth in six games to pull within one point of Central Division-leading Dallas.

Colin Blackwell scored in the second period and Tyler Johnson netted the equaliser with 43 seconds left in regulation, but the league-worst Blackhawks dropped to 1-9-2 in their last 12 games.

Sabres edge Blue Jackets

Connor Clifton scored his first goal in nearly a year to snap a tie and the Buffalo Sabres held on for a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Clifton’s goal at 3:05 of the third period was his first since March 2, 2023, when he played for Boston.

Zemgus Girgensons had the other goal and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 25 shots as Buffalo won its second straight and fourth in six games.

Dmitri Voronkov tallied for the last-place Blue Jackets, who failed to win consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 22 and 24.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 45 shots for his first shutout of the season and the Florida Panthers extended their franchise record road winning streak to 10 games with a 4-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

Carter Verhaeghe scored twice for the Panthers, who became the 11th NHL team to win 10 consecutive road games.  Their run is two short of matching the record held by Detroit (2005-06) and Minnesota (2014-15).

Florida improved to 19-7-2 on the road, where it hasn’t lost since a 3-1 defeat at Calgary on Dec. 18. The Panthers are 17-3-2 in their past 22 games overall and moved into a tie with Boston atop the Eastern Conference.

The Sabres failed to build off a 7-0 win over Los Angeles on Tuesday after announcing prior to the game that goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen would be out with a lower-body injury.

Eric Comrie stopped 27 shots in his place and dropped his sixth straight start.

 

Kreider leads Rangers to sixth win in row

Chris Kreider notched his first hat trick of the season and Adam Fox had four assists to propel the New York Rangers to their sixth consecutive victory, 7-4 over the Montreal Canadiens.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists and Artemi Panarin added three assists as the Rangers pulled within one point of Boston and Florida for the Eastern Conference lead.

Jonathan Quick, 38, stopped 31 shots for his fourth straight win. He is the oldest goaltender in Rangers history with a four-game winning streak and is three victories away from tying Ryan Miller for most among American-born goalies at 391.

Cole Caufield scored twice for Montreal, which has lost three of four.

 

Matthews scores 3 more in Leafs’ OT win

Auston Matthews increased his league-leading goal total to 45 with his fifth hat trick of the season and William Nylander scored in overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Matthews completed his 12th career hat trick in a 7:49 span in the second period. He’s on a 71-goal pace through 51 games, seeking to become the first player to hit 70 since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each had 76 in 1992-93.

Matthews tied the franchise record for hat tricks in a season, matching Reg Noble (1917-18), Babe Dye (1924-25) and Darryl Sittler (1980-81).

Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist as the Flyers battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to move to 4-0-1 in their past five games.

Nathan MacKinnon notched the first four-goal game in Avalanche history and extended his point streak to 17 games Thursday as Colorado rallied for a 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators.

MacKinnon opened the scoring 2:43 into the game and tallied again with 1:32 left in the first period for his 300th career goal. 

He completed his hat trick at 6:16 of the third period to lift the Avs into a 4-4 tie and scored into an empty net with 23 seconds left.

MacKinnon has 12 goals and 21 assists during his 17-game streak, the longest of his career.

Mikko Rantanen had a pair of power-play goals and Cale Makar had two assists in his return from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for three games.

Drake Batherson had a goal and an assist as the Senators lost their sixth in a row, the last two coming under interim coach Jacques Martin, who replaced the fired D.J. Smith on Monday.

Sabres respond with rout of Maple Leafs

Jeff Skinner returned from a three-game absence with two goals and an assist and the Buffalo Sabres responded to their worst loss of the season with a 9-3 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists and captain Kyle Okposo scored twice for the Sabres, who were coming off a 9-4 loss to Columbus on Tuesday, when the team was booed off the ice.

Rookie Devon Levi shook off allowing Auston Matthews’ league-leading 26th goal in the first period from a bad angle to stop 25 shots. He improved to 4-1-1 in his past six appearances.

Ilya Samsonov surrendered five goals on 19 shots before he was replaced in the second period by Martin Jones, who allowed four goals on 16 shots.

Toronto has allowed 14 goals in consecutive losses following a nine-game point streak.

Ovechkin ends drought in Capitals’ win

Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal in 15 games on a power play with 53 seconds left in overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ovechkin’s sixth goal of the season and 828th of his career was his first since Nov. 18 and his 26th in overtime, extending his NHL record. It was also his 125th game-winner overall, second in league history behind Jaromir Jagr’s 135.

Anthony Mantha scored twice and John Carlson had three assists as Washington won its third straight.

 

Owen Tippett scored with 1:35 remaining in overtime to lead the surging Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Ryan Poeling, who entered with two goals in 25 games this season, had the other two goals and Samuel Ersson stopped 24 shots as the Flyers improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine games.

Philadelphia already has 39 points in 31 games this season after it had 75 all last season and missed the playoffs.

Michael McLeod and Jesper Bratt tallied for New Jersey, which has points in nine of its last 12 games (8-3-1).

Rangers snap Maple Leafs’ point streak

Mika Zibanejad scored two goals and Igor Shesterkin turned aside 31 shots as the New York Rangers ended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ nine-game point streak, 5-2.

Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin also had goals to help the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers win their third straight.

Auston Matthews scored two more goals for Toronto, giving him 11 in his last seven games and a league-high 25.

The Leafs had been 6-0-3 in their last nine games.

Marchenko has hat trick as Blue Jackets roll

Kirill Marchenko had a natural hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 9-4 rout of the reeling Buffalo Sabres.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, who had the second-highest scoring game in franchise history.

Columbus set the record in a 10-0 win over Montreal on Nov. 4, 2016.

Casey Mittelstadt had three assists as the Sabres dropped to 3-7-1 in their past 11 games. The nine goals were the most allowed by Buffalo since a 10-4 loss to Dallas in March.

Devon Levi was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots and was replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 11 of 16 shots the rest of the way.

Casey Mittelstadt scored twice in a four-goal third period to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.

Zach Benson and former Golden Knight Alex Tuch also scored in the third and Dylan Cozens had a first-period goal and added two assists to help Buffalo improve to 3-1-1 in its last five games.

Devon Levi turned aside 32 shots and is 3-0-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average since he was recalled from the AHL earlier this month.

Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel had goals for Vegas, which had a nine-game point streak stopped (6-1-3).

Pastrnak lifts Bruins over Islanders in shootout

David Pastrnak scored the deciding shootout goal to lift the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins to a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders.

Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, James van Reimsdyk and Mason Lohrie scored in regulation, with Lohrei netting the equaliser with 3:09 left in regulation on a bank shot from behind the goal line.

Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat, Alexander Romanov and Simon Holmstrom had goals for the Islanders, who had won four straight but moved to 6-0-2 in their last eight games.

Stars rally past Senators after Oettinger injured

Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene scored 44 seconds apart in the third period to rally the Dallas Stars to a 5-4 win over the Ottawa Senators after losing goalie Jake Oettinger to an early injury.

Oettinger left eight minutes into the game with a lower-body injury after allowing goals on the Senators’ first two shots on net. Scott Wedgewood entered and stopped 25 of 27 shots for the win.

Joe Pavelski, Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley also had goals for Dallas, which won its second straight.

Drake Batherson scored twice for Ottawa and Jake Chychrun had three assists in the Senators’ third consecutive loss.

Ryan Johansen scored two goals to back 37 saves from Alexandar Georgiev as the Colorado Avalanche extended their winning streak to four games with Monday's 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cale Makar added a goal and an assist for the Central Division-leading Avalanche, who also received an empty-net goal from Valeri Nichushkin and two assists from Nathan MacKinnon to stop the Lightning's five-game point streak. Tampa Bay came in 4-0-1 over its last five outings.

Georgiev had 13 saves in the first period and Johansen scored unassisted 7:12 in to put Colorado in front. Johansen struck again 1:48 into the second before Makar made it a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal less than two minutes later.

Anthony Cirelli scored the Lightning's lone goal in the final minute of the second period, but Georgiev stopped all 12 Tampa Bay attempts in the third before Nichuskin scored into an empty net with 3:14 left.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 of 22 shots in the Lightning goaltender's second game back from offseason back surgery.

Blue Jackets send skidding Bruins to third straight loss

Spencer Martin made 31 saves and Yegor Chinakhov had a goal and an assist as the surging Columbus Blue Jackets dealt the suddenly slumping Boston Bruins a 5-2 loss.

Dmitri Voronkov, Ivan Provorov, Kirill Marchenko and Justin Danforth also had goals as Columbus won for the third time in four games following a 4-11-4 start to the season.

The Bruins, meanwhile, have suffered three straight regulation losses following a sizzling 14-1-3 start. 

Voronkov scored the lone goal in the first period before the Blue Jackets extended the lead to 3-0 on goals by Provorov and Chinakhov in the second. Marchenko pushed the margin further with a power-play goal 4:51 into the third.

Matthew Poitras and John Beecher had third-period goals for Boston, which pulled starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman after Provorov scored 5:38 into the second.

Swayman stopped 17 of 19 shots before departing, while Linus Ullmark turned back 18 of 20 chances in relief.

Tuch scores twice as Sabres pull away from Rangers

Alex Tuch had a pair of goals and the Buffalo Sabres scored three times late in the third period to pull away for a 5-1 win over the New York Rangers.

Tuch, Casey Mittelstadt and Kyle Okposo all scored in the final 4:29 of the game after New York cut its deficit to 2-1 on Mika Zibanejad's goal with just over eight minutes elapsed in the third period.

Mittelstadt, Victor Olofsson and Owen Power each had two assists to help Buffalo move to 3-1-1 over its last five games. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished with 25 saves for the Sabres.

Buffalo had taken a 2-0 lead on JJ Peterka's goal in the first period and Tuch's first of the night, which came with 27 seconds left in the second.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 of 38 shots for the Rangers, who had a three-game winning streak snapped and sustained just their fourth regulation loss of the season. 

John Tavares set up two goals and scored one of his own with 5:33 remaining to complete the Toronto Maple Leafs’ comeback in a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday at the NHL’s Global Series in Sweden.

Toronto entered the third period down 2-0 but Tyler Bertuzzi scored at 3:50 and William Nylander netted the equalizer with 6:57 left before Tavares’ seventh goal of the season 1:24 later gave the Maple Leafs their first lead of the game.

Nylander also had a goal and two assists to extend his franchise-record season-opening point streak to 16 games.

Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves as Toronto won its third straight and fourth in five games.

Daniel Sprong scored on a penalty shot and Lucas Raymond had the other goal for Detroit, which dropped to 1-2-2 in its last five.

The game was the second of four over five days at Avicii Arena in Stockholm. Ottawa beat Detroit on Thursday, and Minnesota will play the Senators on Saturday and the Maple Leafs on Sunday in the first four-team series outside North America.

Perfetti scores again as Jets win

Cole Perfetti scored in a fifth straight game and the Winnipeg Jets held off the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2.

Mason Appleton and Nikolaj Ehlers had the other goals and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots as Winnipeg notched its fifth win in six games.

Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres, who have lost three in a row.

Eric Comrie made 15 saves in his first action since suffering a lower-body injury on Oct. 27.

Stolarz the difference in Panthers’ win

Anthony Stolarz stopped 33 shots to make two first-period goals hold up as the Florida Panthers held on for a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Stolarz allowed only Frank Vatrano’s power-play goal in the second period before turning away all 16 Anaheim shots in the third period.

Jakob Silfverberg thought he scored the tying goal midway through the third period, but there was no conclusive evidence to show that the puck crossed the goal line.

Anton Lundell set up goals by Eetu Luostarinen and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the first period as Florida rebounded from Thursday’s loss to Los Angeles and won for the sixth time in seven games.

David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and the Boston Bruins scored the game’s first five goals in a 5-2 win Tuesday over the Buffalo Sabres, who lost star forward Tage Thomspon to injury.

Pastrnak’s 11th goal was the second of five straight by Boston, which improved to 3-0-1 in its last four games and leads the NHL with 26 points.

Thompson will miss significant time after he was injured blocking a shot by Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy in the second period.

The shot went off Thompson’s left wrist, and he winced in pain before heading back to the bench. He did not return.

Thompson is third on the Sabres with six goals and six assists for 12 points. He was among the league leaders last season with career highs of 47 goals and 94 points.

 

Crosby’s hat trick powers streaking Penguins

Sidney Crosby notched his 16th career hat trick and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the reeling Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 for their fifth consecutive victory.

Crosby extended his point streak to nine games and completed his hat with the tiebreaking goal with 5:32 remaining before sealing the win with an empty-net tally.

Pittsburgh is 9-0-1 in its last 10 meetings wit Columbus, which has lost six straight (0-4-2).

 

Lindgren, Capitals shut out Golden Knights

Charlie Lindgren turned away 35 shots to lead the surging Washington Capitals to a 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

Lindgren made a one-goal lead stand up until Washington scored twice in the final minute, including Connor McMichael’s empty-net goal.

Dylan Strome and Beck Malenstyn also scored to help the Capitals win their third straight and seventh in nine games (7-1-1).

Vegas lost in regulation for the third time in four games after opening the season 11-0-1.

 

Chris Kreider scored two goals and the New York Rangers rolled to a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Peter Laviolette’s debut as coach.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist and Igor Shesterkin stopped 23 shots for his 100th career victory, becoming the first Rangers goalie to reach 100 wins in fewer than 187 appearances.

JJ Peterka had the lone goal for the Sabres, who came out flat in what they hope will be the season where they end an NHL-worst 12-season playoff drought.

Kreider’s power-play goal in the first period extended New York’s lead to 2-0 and he tallied short-handed midway through the third to make it 4-1.

 

Wild’s Gustavsson turns aside 41 in shutout

Filip Gustavsson stopped 41 shots and Brock Faber scored his first NHL goal to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 2-0 victory over the Florida Panthers.

Joel Eriksson Ek assisted on Faber’s goal and scored on the power play in the second period.

Minnesota improved to 9-1-1 in season openers at Xcel Energy Center and 11-2-3 at home against the Panthers.

 

Golden Knights beat Sharks for 2-0 start

Nicolas Hague and Nicolas Roy scored late in the second period and Logan Thompson made 22 as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-1.

After Michael Amadio and San Jose’s Filip Zadina traded first-period goals, defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas took control late in the second.

Hague snapped the tie with 1:29 left in the period and Roy extended the lead 53 seconds later.

Brayden Pachal tallied his first NHL goal early in the third for the Knights, who haven’t trailed in winning their first two games.

Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has learned to normalise the success of his team this season, even as they made NHL history on Thursday.

In beating the Buffalo Sabres 7-1, the Bruins improved to 48-8-5 and 101 points for the year.

The Bruins passed 100 points in their 61st game, beating the previous record set by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, who reached that mark in 62 games.

But Montgomery was relatively unmoved by the achievement, having grown used to his brilliant team setting the benchmark over the course of the campaign.

"For me personally, it doesn't mean that much," the Boston coach said. "We try to stay in the moment, and we've been doing that.

"We started off 11-1, and I was like, 'man, that's unreal,' and then you catch yourself and you go back into the moment, and we've probably gone 11-1 every 12 games to have the record we have.

"It's been really amazing to watch them want to be great, because with the schedule and everything, it's really impressive."

The latest win came on an eventful day for the Bruins, who tied David Pastrnak to an eight-year, $90million extension earlier on Thursday.

Pastrnak then had a goal and two assists against the Sabres just hours later.

The Bruins also traded for forward Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings ahead of Friday's deadline.

Buffalo Bills co-owner Kim Pegula is recovering from suffering a cardiac arrest last June, but "where she ends up is still unknown".

American tennis star Jessica Pegula, the world number four, provided an update on her mother's condition in a long Players' Tribune article on Tuesday.

The five-time grand slam singles quarter-finalist revealed her sister, Kelly, saved their 53-year-old's mother live by giving her CPR after their father woke up to her going into cardiac arrest nine months ago.

Kim, co-owner and president of both NFL franchise the Bills and NHL team the Buffalo Sabres, is back at home and doctors are "blown away" by her "miracle" recovery.

She is, however, suffering from significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues and the family have come to the realisation that she is unlikely to resume her roles with the Bills and Sabres.

Jessica revealed that three months before her mother fell ill, her sister had decided to learn CPR.

She wrote: "Kelly called me one day and said she was going to get her CPR certification as a requirement for a job she wanted. I said: 'No way, I have been meaning to do that but haven't gotten around to it.”

"She relayed to me how nervous she was about it and hoped she passed the class. I remember her telling us what she was doing in our family group chat, and my mom even responded: 'Nice Kells! Now if we have a heart attack, you can revive us.'"

She added: "Today, my mom is still in recovery, and although it is the same answer every time someone asks me, it is true, she is improving every day. She is dealing with significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues.

"She can read, write, and understand pretty well, but she has trouble finding the words to respond. It is hard to deal with and it takes a lot of patience to communicate with her, but I thank God every day that we can still communicate with her at all. The doctors continue to be blown away by her recovery, considering where she started, and her determination is the driving force of that."

Jessica was a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open last month, having been considering whether she should call time on her career.

She stated: "Suddenly, I went from 'Let's celebrate top 10 in the world' to 'Do I need to start thinking about my career after tennis a lot sooner than I thought?' 'Does my dad and family need help?' 'Maybe I should just go back to school and work for the family.'

"I am 28 and I take pride in being able to handle every situation thrown at me, but this was A LOT."

She was also hit hard by seeing Damar Hamlin collapse on the field while playing for the Bills last month.

"Then in January we came to some bizarre, messed-up, full circle moment." she wrote. "Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field during the Monday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals. My stomach sunk because it felt like the exact same thing all over again."

Last year's French Open women's doubles runner-up continued: "It has been a tough year, but at the same time I feel lucky and blessed. I am thankful she is still with us when other families may not have been so lucky.

"That she even had a chance at recovery when the first week in the hospital seemed so dim. Thankful for the doctors that aided in her recovery. Thankful that she is now home, that she gets to watch the Bills, Sabres and my tennis matches. She never watched my matches before, because she got too nervous. Now she watches all of them.

"Thank you to the Buffalo community for your patience. I know you have wanted answers and it took us a while to get there, but it finally felt like it was time. Thank you to everyone who has respected privacy and shown me and my family tremendous support throughout this ongoing journey."

The Buffalo Sabres will honour long-time goaltender Ryan Miller by retiring his No. 30 jersey next season.

Miller joined the Sabres in 2002-03 and spent 10-plus seasons with the franchise, becoming Buffalo's leader in wins (284) and games played by a goaltender (540).

He went on to eventually set the record for wins by an American-born goalie (391) and retired after the 2020-21 season.

The team made the announcement by releasing a video on Friday, which showed Miller being informed of the honour while touring the Sabres' arena with his wife, mother, sister and two children.

The announcement coincided with Miller's trip to Buffalo where he took part in a news conference to discuss being inducted into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame later this year.

"Ryan Miller embodied what people in Western New York expect from those who wear a Buffalo Sabres uniform: on-ice excellence, commitment, and authentic love for this community," Sabres general manager Kevyn Adam said.

"We are thrilled for Ryan to take his rightful place alongside his fellow Sabres legends and look forward to celebrating his career."

Miller, who also played for the St Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks, had his best season in 2009-10 when he won the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender and earned Olympic MVP honours for helping the United States to a silver medal at the Vancouver Games.

Miller joins NHL Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek as Sabres goalies to have their numbers retired. Miller's 391 career wins rank 14th in NHL history, two ahead of Hasek.

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.