OTTAWA (AP) -Alexander Ovechkin had four goals and an assist to lead the Washington Capitals to an 8-6 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Russian star, who needed stitches to close a left leg cut one night earlier, scored a power-play goal 4:45 in to put Washington up 2-0. He added his second of the game early in the second before completing his first hat trick of the season in the third.
Michael Nylander scored twice for Washington. Mike Fisher had a hat trick for Ottawa, drawing the Senators within 7-6 with his third goal of the third period with 2:05 remaining.
Ovechkin got his 30th goal of the season for his first career four-goal game on an empty net with 27.6 seconds remaining after he hit the outside of the net with a long shot moments earlier.
Wild 5, Oilers 4, OT
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Petteri Nummelin capped a Minnesota comeback from three goals down by scoring on an overtime power play to send the Wild to a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
Brent Burns tapped in the tying goal with 5:16 left in regulation for the Wild, who trailed 4-1 late in the second period.
Joni Pitkanen and Jarret Stoll scored short-handed goals for the offense-starved Oilers, whose losing streak reached five. They scored only five times in their previous four games.
Kings 3, Avalanche 1
DENVER (AP) – Derek Armstrong and Scott Thornton scored goals 1:17 apart in the third period and Los Angeles broke an eight-game losing streak.
The Kings had only 10 shots on goal through the first two periods, but picked up the pace in the final 20 minutes, peppering Jose Theodore with 13 shots.
Theodore was filling in for Peter Budaj, who had made seven straight starts, going 5-1-1.
Jean-Sebastien Aubin stopped 29 shots for the Kings, including a skate save on a wrist shot by Jaroslav Hlinka late in the final period.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Ty Conklin, in the minors a month ago, won his fourth in a row and Sidney Crosby set up both Pittsburgh goals.
In the front end of a back-to-back series that ends with Tuesday’s much-hyped Winter Classic outdoor game before the largest crowd in NHL history in Buffalo, this was no classic despite strong goaltending by Conklin and Buffalo’s Ryan Miller.
Conklin, a Buffalo backup briefly last season, made 26 saves in his second win in three days and his first shutout since Jan. 3, 2006, with Edmonton against Chicago.
Colby Armstrong and Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins, who won their third in a row and 12th in 17 games since they were a season-worst 8-11-2 six weeks ago.
Rangers 6, Maple Leafs 1
TORONTO (AP) – Petr Prucha powered the suddenly potent New York power play, scoring two of the Rangers’ season-high five with the man advantage.
Backup goalie Steve Valiquette nearly earned his first NHL shutout.
Jaromir Jagr had a goal and three assists, linemate Martin Straka had one of each, Brendan Shanahan added a power-play tally, and Blair Betts scored for the first time in 12 games – New York’s only even-strength goal – as the Rangers enjoyed their biggest scoring outburst of the season.
Islanders 5, Devils 2
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Andy Sutton scored his first goal of the season with 8:17 left in the third period to give New York its fourth win of the season over New Jersey.
Chris Campoli and Marc-Andre Bergeron also scored for New York, which improved to 4-0 against New Jersey this season.
Goalie Wade Dubielewicz filled in for injured Rick DiPietro, and earned his first win as a starter, stopping 27 shots.
Zach Parise and John Madden scored for New Jersey.
Blue Jackets 4, Hurricanes 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)- Nikolai Zherdev scored two spectacular goals and had a career-best four points.
Rostislav Klesla and Kris Beech also scored for Columbus, and Pascal Leclaire made 23 saves.
Eric Staal scored for Carolina, which hasn’t won consecutive games since Nov. 10-12.
Thrashers 5, Bruins 0
ATLANTA (AP) – Slava Kozlov, Bobby Holik and Pascal Dupuis scored in a three-goal first period and Kari Lehtonen earned his second shutout.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored his league-leading 32nd goal on a power play and added an assist on Alexei Zhitnik’s first goal of the season in the second period, extending Boston’s winless streak to a season-high six.
Lehtonen made 26 saves for his ninth career shutout, including an outstanding stop on a breakaway by Marco Sturm midway through the second period.
Flyers 4, Lightning 2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Joffrey Lupul scored on a penalty shot and added two assists.
Mike Knuble, Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen also scored for Philadelphia, who have won two in a row following a six-game losing streak. Martin Biron made 31 saves.
Tampa Bay, which has lost nine of 11, got goals from Vincent Lecavalier and Vinny Prospal. The Lightning have lost to the Flyers just twice in the last 14 meetings between the teams.
Sharks 5, Predators 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Matthew Carle and Steve Bernier each had a goal and an assist to help San Jose win its a franchise-record ninth straight road game.
Joe Thornton had two assists for San Jose, and Marcel Goc, Craig Rivet, and Torrey Mitchell also scored for the Sharks. J.P. Dumont and Kevin Klein scored goals for the Predators.
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