WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 888th career goal to continue his pursuit of the NHL record, and the Washington Capitals clinched a playoff berth by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Thursday night and getting some help from around the league.
Ovechkin beat Samuel Ersson with 5:35 left in the first period to move eight goals back of passing Wayne Gretzky's career mark of 894. Chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” filled the arena as the goal counter in one corner flipped from 887 to 888.
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Washington Capitals right wing Brandon Duhaime (22) celebrates his goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Cam York (8) battles for the puck against Washington Capitals defensemen Trevor van Riemsdyk (57) and Jakob Chychrun (6) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Andrew Mangiapane (88) celebrates after his goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
The goal counter reads 888 for the number of career goals by Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin after he scored during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Flyers center Rodrigo Abols (18) battles for the puck against Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin celebrates after his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) scores during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Brandon Duhaime and Andrew Mangiapane also scored and Charlie Lindgren made 26 saves for the Capitals, who became the first NHL team to wrap up a playoff spot this season when Montreal rallied from a two-goal third-period deficit to keep the New York Islanders from winning in regulation.
Washington has won eight of its last nine games to reach 100 points and pass Winnipeg atop the standings.
The Flyers have gone the other way, losing nine of 11 to plunge into last place in the Metropolitan Division. Ryan Poehling and Sean Couturier scored, and Ersson allowed three goals on 16 shots.
Flyers: Late in a lost season, word that defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is considered week to week with an upper-body injury only matters if that somehow affects their chances of trading him this summer.
Capitals: With a comfortable cushion atop the Eastern Conference, getting Ovechkin the record over the next 13 games is a priority.
The puck bounced off Aliaksei Protas in front, and he quickly passed the puck to Ovechkin for his 35th goal of the season.
The Capitals became the first team since 16 teams qualified beginning in 1979-80 to clinch a playoff spot after being the last to do it the previous season.
The Flyers visit Dallas on Saturday, while the Capitals host defending champion Florida a few hours later.
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Washington Capitals right wing Brandon Duhaime (22) celebrates his goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Cam York (8) battles for the puck against Washington Capitals defensemen Trevor van Riemsdyk (57) and Jakob Chychrun (6) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Andrew Mangiapane (88) celebrates after his goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
The goal counter reads 888 for the number of career goals by Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin after he scored during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Philadelphia Flyers center Rodrigo Abols (18) battles for the puck against Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin celebrates after his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) scores during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
BOSTON (AP) — A Turkish student detained by federal officers as she walked along a street in a Boston suburb is the latest supporter of Palestinian causes to be swept up in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants who express their political views.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, a doctoral student at Tufts University, was swiftly moved out of Massachusetts, another case of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sending immigrants taken into custody to detention centers or deporting them altogether before a federal judge has a chance to weigh in and possibly halt the actions.
Ozturk, who was detained Tuesday shortly after she left her home in Somerville, had been moved to an ICE detention center in Louisiana by the time her lawyer went to court and a judge ordered her to be kept in Massachusetts, U.S. government lawyers said in a court document Thursday. They said they made her lawyers aware that she was being moved and facilitated contact with her Wednesday night.
A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said federal authorities detained Ozturk after an investigation found she had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” The department did not provide evidence of that support.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has revoked the visas of at least 300 people, including Ozturk: “We do it every day."
“We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist, to tear up our university campuses," Rubio told reporters during a stop in Guyana.
Friends and colleagues of Ozturk said she was not closely involved in pro-Palestinian protests that broke out on campuses last spring. Her only known activism, they said, was co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that called on Tufts University to engage with student demands to cut ties with Israel.
“The only thing I know of that Rumeysa organized was a Thanksgiving potluck,” said Jennifer Hoyden, a friend who studied with Ozturk at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “There’s a very important distinction between writing a letter supporting the student Senate and taking the kind of action they’re accusing her of, which I’ve seen no evidence of.”
Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in an attack that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and during which about 250 hostages were seized. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed much of the enclave.
Ozturk’s arrest appears to be part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport students he said engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” a label the administration has applied broadly to those who criticize Israel and protest its military campaign in Gaza.
Earlier this month, immigration enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who played a prominent part in protests at Columbia last year. He is now facing possible deportation.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney specialist from Lebanon who was due to start as an assistant professor at Brown University, was deported this month — after a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held. Homeland Security officials said Alawieh was deported despite having a U.S. visa because she “openly admitted” supporting a Hezbollah leader.
A University of Alabama student was also detained this week by ICE, his lawyer confirmed. There was no indication that Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student from Iran studying mechanical engineering who was detained Tuesday, was involved in any protests, said attorney David Rozas.
“With the words of his fiancé, he is a nerd. All he does is study and is literally trying to fulfill his dream, the American dream, of becoming a researcher and professor of mechanical engineering,” Rozas said.
On Thursday evening, a few hundred people turned out at Somerville City Hall to rally for Ozturk’s release and for the greater Palestinian cause.
Speakers railed against Israel over the war in Gaza as well as the ICE raids that protesters said have left immigrant communities terrified. They also sang songs supporting the Palestinians — sometimes accompanied by a horn section — and led the crowd in chants of “Resistance Is justified when people are occupied.”
Among the speakers was Lebanese American Carina Kurban who said she was furious when she heard about the arrest of Ozturk and other scholars.
“I was born here. I’m a U.S. citizen, and I need to use that privilege that I have to speak up for those who can’t because of everything that’s happening with this administration,” Kurban said.
“America was built on free speech, so if we don’t have that, then what?” she added. “Then where do we go?”
Video obtained by The Associated Press appeared to show six people, all but one with their faces covered, taking away a shouting Ozturk’s phone before she was handcuffed on Tuesday.
“We’re the police,” members of the group are heard saying in the video.
A bystander is heard asking, “Why are you hiding your faces?”
Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.
Khanbabai, who said no charges have been filed against Ozturk, filed a petition seeking her release Tuesday and then an emergency motion Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani initially issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice.
The government said in its response Thursday that it “will set forth the timeline” of Ozturk's arrest and transfer from Massachusetts.
The facility where she's being held is one of nine in Louisiana that house immigrants waiting for legal proceedings or deportation, according to a 2024 report on ICE’s website. It's situated on the outskirts of Basile, a rural town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Lafayette.
“We are in touch with local, state, and federal elected officials and hope that Rumeysa is provided the opportunity to avail herself of her due process rights,” Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said in a statement Wednesday night.
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily last March criticizing the university’s response to student demands that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.
After the op-ed was published, Ozturk’s name, photograph and work history were published on the website Canary Mission, which describes itself as documenting people who “promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
Associated Press writers Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.
Hundreds of people gather in Somerville, Mass., on March 26, 2025, to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
Hundreds of people gather in Somerville, Mass., on March 26, 2025, to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
Hundreds of people gather in Somerville, Mass., on March 26, 2025, to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
Hundreds of people gather on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Somerville, Mass. to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
Hundreds of people gather on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Somerville, Mass. to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
