Tuesday's NHL Capsules

WASHINGTON (AP)- Alex Ovechkin scored 1:55 into overtime after Brooks Laich tied the game with a minute left in regulation and the Washington Capitals snatched a 2-1 win from the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Ovechkin picked up a loose puck near the boards and made a mad dash down the beating goalie Nathan Lawson with a backhand shot.

Lawson made 40 saves and kept the Caps at bay until Brooks Laich scored with 47.2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Laich redirected a pass from recently acquired Jason Arnott into the net.

Washington improved to 11-0-3 in its last 14 games against the Islanders, who have lost four straight overall.

Oilers 2, Predators 1, SO

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Linus Omark and Jordan Eberle scored in a shootout for Edmonton.

Jim Vandermeer scored in the first period to tie it less than a minute after Blake Geoffrion made it 1-0 with his first career NHL goal.

Martin Gerber stopped 34 shots - 18 in the first period alone - for the Oilers, who have won five of eight.

Geoffrion is the first fourth-generation player in the NHL. Great-grandfather Howie Morenz, grandfather Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion - both Hall of Famers - and father Dan Geoffrion all played in the league, too.

Gerber also stopped two shots in the shootout, and David Legwand missed right before Omark scored in the fourth round for the Oilers. He is 3-0 this season with the Oilers while Nikolai Khabibulin heals from an eye injury.

Canucks 2, Blue Jackets 1, SO

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Raffi Torres scored in the eighth round of the shootout, and Roberto Luongo stopped six shooters.

Mason Raymond scored for Vancouver in regulation, and Luongo made 30 saves in the first 65 minutes.

Despite alternating wins and losses for the past 11 games, Vancouver extended its lead atop the NHL to three points over Philadelphia and five ahead of Detroit in the Western Conference.

Scott Upshall scored in his Blue Jackets debut after being acquired in a trade Monday, then watched nervously as his new teammates killed off the four-minute high-sticking penalty he took with less than five minutes left.

Sharks 2, Avalanche 1, SO

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Antti Niemi was perfect in the shootout just hours after getting a contract extension, and Ryane Clowe scored in the first round of the tiebreaker.

Joe Thornton tied it with 2:58 remaining in regulation for the Sharks, who have won seven straight and 16 of 19. Niemi made 18 saves to cap a day that began with him signing a $15.2 million, four-year extension.

It was the second consecutive game in which Clowe scored the deciding goal in a shootout and the second straight time he did it with his forehand instead of his usual shootout move to the backhand.

Niemi stopped Milan Hejduk after Clowe's goal and then Matt Duchene hit the post and David Jones shot wide for the Avalanche, who have lost 14 of 15.

Hurricanes 2, Panthers 1

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Cory Stillman had a goal and an assist for Carolina five days after the Panthers traded him to the Hurricanes.

Eric Staal had Carolina's other goal. Stephen Weiss scored for Florida.

Tuesday's game was also the first for Carolina defenseman Bryan Allen and Florida left winger Sergei Samsonov after the teams traded them for each other at the deadline on Monday.

Staal, the Hurricanes' captain, was back in the lineup after missing Saturday's game at Montreal following a hard upper-body check from Pittsburgh's Matt Niskanen that had taken him out late in the second period on Friday.

Carolina goalie Cam Ward stopped 41 shots.

Flames 6, Blues 0

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Miikka Kiprusoff shut out the St. Louis Blues for the second time in three days and Jarome Iginla had two goals and two assists.

Iginla's line totaled 10 points, with Alex Tanguay getting a goal and two assists and Brendan Morrison adding three assists. The Flames finished 3-0 against the Blues, outscoring them 11-1, and have won eight of the last 10 in St. Louis.

Making his 17th consecutive start, Kiprusoff stood out against a team that hadn't been blanked in an NHL-high 110 games before losing 1-0 Sunday night in Calgary. Kiprusoff stopped 25 shots for his sixth shutout of this season and 40th of his career, and hasn't allowed the Blues to score in 132 minutes and 11 seconds.

Canadiens 3, Thrashers 1

ATLANTA (AP) - Carey Price made a quick recovery from the flu to stop 40 shots and help the Montreal Canadiens beat Atlanta for the first time in three tries this season.

Max Pacioretty, James Wisniewski and Brian Gionta scored for Montreal, which has won three of four.

Price stopped Atlanta's first 35 shots before Nik Antropov finally scored 14:14 into the third period to cut Montreal's lead to 2-1. Gionta scored an empty-net goal with 45 seconds remaining.

The loss was another setback to the Thrashers' playoff hopes. Atlanta ended a five-game skid by beating Toronto 3-2 in overtime on Sunday. The Thrashers rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Toronto but couldn't complete the comeback attempt against Montreal.

Bruins 1, Senators 0

OTTAWA (AP) - Tuukka Rask made 33 saves for his second shutout, Nathan Horton scored early in the third, and Boston won a season-high sixth straight, all on the road.

Rask stopped 10 shots in the first period, 14 in the second and nine in the third for his eighth career shutout, his first since a 41-save effort in a 4-0 win over Florida on Nov. 18.

Horton scored his 18th goal 1:43 into the third when he put a loose puck into a gaping net off a goalmouth scramble.

Boston's 6-0 trip matched the team's longest perfect trip since 1971-72, when the eventual Stanley Cup champions won six straight from Feb. 17-26.

Sabres 3, Rangers 2

NEW YORK (AP) - Brad Boyes scored a power-play goal in his Sabres debut and Buffalo made the tight Eastern Conference playoff race a bit more crowded.

Boyes, acquired from St. Louis over the weekend, gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead with seven minutes left in the second period by scoring his 13th goal. Tyler Myers put the Sabres in front 1-0 during a first-period power play. Last season's NHL rookie of the year has 10 goals.

The ninth-place Sabres kicked off a franchise record-tying, seven-game road trip by moving within three points of the seventh-place Rangers. Buffalo has played three fewer games than New York, which has dropped the first two of a three-game homestand.

Ryan Miller made 29 saves, and defenseman Andrej Sekera had two assists for the Sabres, 7-3-2 in their last 12. Jochen Hecht added a goal in the third period.

Stars 3, Coyotes 2

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Jamie Benn scored a power-play goal for Dallas with 4.8 seconds left after Phoenix tied it late.

The Stars appeared to be in control, ahead 2-0 on goals by Tom Wandell in the first period and Jamie Langenbrunner in the third.

The Coyotes, just like they did against Chicago on Sunday, came roaring back, getting goals by new defenseman Rostislav Klesla and Ray Whitney with less than 4 minutes left.

Benn made sure Dallas didn't come away disappointed, taking advantage of a hooking penalty on Phoenix's Radim Vrbata with 13 seconds left by scoring on a one-timer from Loui Eriksson to give their Stars their third straight win after losing nine of 10.