The Tampa Bay Lightning have answered the cross-state-rival and defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers’ first couple of additions ahead of the NHL trade deadline with a big move of their own.

The NHL salary cap is making a big jump next season, with even larger increases happening in the coming years.

Alex Ovechkin moved within 20 goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record with an empty-netter, helping the Washington Capitals beat the Seattle Kraken 3-0 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, Philipp Grubauer was stellar in stopping 33 shots and the Seattle Kraken eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 win in Game 7.

Andre Burakovsky had two goals, including the winner in overtime, and the Seattle Kraken defeated the Los Angeles Kings 9-8 in the highest-scoring NHL game this season.

Alex Ovechkin got his 742nd career goal, Conor Sheary scored with 1:22 left and the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3.

Its tiring for sure but then it gets fun at some point," Point said. Don't ask me about the non-call, Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. Asked what advice he had given his team, which played an overtime game for the third time in six days. The Blue Jackets expect to rebound. You're going to lose games, and this was just a long overtime game that we lost.